The premiere of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland made its debut in Dubai yesterday. The Reel Cinemas at the Dubai Mall put on two special screenings before it opens to the public today.

The film is in 3D and absolutely spectacular – from the elaborate makeup to the couture inspired dresses – that create the  magic of Wonderland.

The story of Alice In Wonderland is one that has been enthralling children and adults  since its publication in 1865. Many would have read about her adventures and number of editions are still bestsellers. Most people, however, are familiar with the 1951 Disney animated feature. Now,  Tim Burton has taken the helm to bring a new Alice to an entirely new generation of audience.

Set a few years on from the original story, Alice is now 19-years old and is an outsider in the stuffy Victorian society she has been bought up in. She is a dreamer and constantly thinks about a world which is full of talking animals and where anything is possible.

With an impending proposal from a  lord on the horizon, Alice does what every normal girl would – run after a white rabbit in a blue coat and fall down a magical rabbit hole.

A sequel of sorts to the original book, and taking on elements of  Alice Through the Looking Glass and the original source material, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is a magical, spectacular, grand vision of the world of Wonderland brought to vibrant life with the use of CGI and 3D.  The landscape looks like it could have come out of The Nightmare Before Christmas, and his use of colour is both visually engaging and engrossing.

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Books for Children and young adults are are always in, and so are their authors. Between March 10th and 13th, during the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, international children favorites such as Jacqueline Wilson, Tony Ross, Ian Whybrow, Korky Paul, Caroline Lawrence, Garth Nix and Darren Shan may be spotted around the festival grounds, giving talks and demonstrations of their craft. They will be joining childrens’ writers from the Arab world, like Taghreed Najjar and Fatima Sharaffeddine, and locally based writers of English stories such as Julia Johnson.

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Majid, the region’s highest-circulated children’s weekly publication, today celebrates 32 years of captivating the imaginations of generations of young Arab readers. Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC), the publisher of Majid, is celebrating the brand’s anniversary issue with the introduction of a fresh look, a 100% eco-friendly format, and several exciting initiatives for its audiences.

The magazine showcases a wealth of new sections and features, competitions, jokes and riddles, new stories and new characters. It also pays tribute to its legacy, by bringing some gems from the past to today’s young readers, such as the witty and intriguing Kalila wa Domna series, and creating a new multidimensional exploration storyline that takes Majid, the title character, on a journey on the Silk Road.

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Majid gets Augmented Reality Persona in Anniversary Issue

In a first for the Middle East, the popular Arabic children’s comic book character Majid is all set to move a step closer to his audiences with a new Augmented Reality (AR) game, in celebration of its 32^nd year anniversary.  The Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC), the publisher of Majid, announced today that the February 24 and March 3 editions of the magazine will feature a ‘magical’ page which, when held up to a webcam, will overlay the users’ real world surroundings with computer generated imagery, creating an interactive ‘mixed reality’ environment.

AR technology, which has been taking the media and entertainment industry by storm over the past few months, will allow fans to enter a Majid-themed world on their computer screens and even play an interactive racing game with Majid. Readers will have access to the mixed reality world by downloading special software from Majid.ae and holding up the designated magazine page to their webcams. This will launch an environment, which users will be able to explore simply by rotating the magazine in front of the webcam, while the game will be controlled via a keyboard.

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They say you’re never too young to learn the value of money, but how about at the age of 5? In Dubai, they’ve launched KidZania – a fictional town where children can ‘work’ to earn money. The town has its own streets and houses, its own currency and even its own banks. But whats it all for?

SEGA Republic, the Middle East’s first and largest of its kind indoor theme park, managed by Emaar Retail at The Dubai Mall, is setting new benchmarks in indoor entertainment with a never-before array of amusement games and thrilling rides.

SEGA Republic recently celebrated the overwhelming public response since its opening in August 2009 by hosting SEGA Corporation Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mr Hajime Satomi. He was accompanied by President and Chief Operating Officer Mr Okitane Usui; Location Based Entertainment Division Senior Executive Producer Mr Yasuo Tazoe, Department General Manager Mr Yasutaka Sato and Project Leader Mr Shoji Mori.

Mr Mohamed Alabbar, Chairman, Emaar Properties, and Mr Arif Amiri, Chief Executive Officer, Emaar Retail, welcomed the delegation and highlighted the impressive success of SEGA Republic.

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Deira City Centre’s junior visitors will have the opportunity to express their creative side through fun and play this Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF), as the mall introduces a Children’s Creative Centre featuring Disney’s most popular characters.

The Deira City Centre Children’s Creative Centre will thrill and excite kids this DSF with a host of arts and crafts – including colouring, puzzles and blocks, face painting, story telling and an interactive dress-up area where children can adorn the costume of their favourite cartoon character and pose for their very own fairytale picture!

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Ben 10, the ever-popular cartoon character, will make its Middle East premiere of the latest production titled Power of the Omnitrix on February 19. The show is one of the highlights organized during the 15^th edition of Dubai Shopping Festival and will go till February 26^th.

A gathering held at Dubai Festival City on Tuesday, February 16, gave several children the rare chance to meet Ben 10 and the characters of the show.  Ibrahim Saleh, Coordinator General of Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment, said that the staging of this particular Ben 10 production showed that “Dubai Shopping festival has always been a great platform for mega international shows to come and present their premieres in Dubai.”

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As part of the Watani children’s spring camp, a group of children spent an entire day at the unique Kidzania attraction in Dubai Mall, an amazing environment of mini cities with jobs, role play and a fun sense of responsibility in the community.

The trip was one of the dozens of educational and entertaining activities of the Watani programme during Dubai Shopping Festival, specifically designed to help develop the children’s practical skills.

Kidzania was the perfect example of the goals Watani is hoping to achieve, linking the traditional values of independency, leadership, and decision making with the practical skills of a modern world to make a brighter future.

Ben 10, the ever-popular cartoon character, is back in Dubai for a Middle East premiere of the latest production titled Power of the Omnitrix. The show is one of the highlights organized during the 15^th edition of Dubai Shopping Festival that runs till Feb 28.

The show will open at The Palladium – Dubai Media City on 19^th February 2010 and go on till 26^th February (no show on Feb 22) with two shows per day, at 4pm and 8pm. The show will then go on a tour across the Middle East throughout the summer of 2010.

Ben 10: Alien Force is currently the number one show on Cartoon Network in the Middle East and is due to launch on terrestrial channel NBC3 in April 2010.

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