Weekend Event Planner

Stevie Wonder headlines music-heavy lineup of Dallas weekend events

With South by Southwest in Austin coming to an end this weekend, it'll be a music-heavy time in Dallas-Fort Worth. Not one but two different festivals take advantage of the glut of bands in the state, while three legendary music acts also make appearances.

If it's Savor Dallas you seek, we have info about that here.

Below are the best options for your precious free time Thursday through Sunday. Don't like what you see? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, March 19

Frontiers of Flight Museum presents Wings of Freedom Tour
Historical airplanes are the bread and butter of the Frontiers of Flight Museum, and this week the museum gets even more historical thanks to its annual Wings of Freedom Tour. Visitors can check out authentically restored aircraft every day through Sunday, and even take rides on a bomber or a Huey helicopter.

The Beach Boys in concert
Aside from the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, you'd be hard-pressed to come up with a '60s band more iconic than the Beach Boys. Hits like "I Get Around," "Help Me Rhonda" and "Good Vibrations" remain as relevant today as they were 50 years ago. Mike Love and Bruce Johnston front this version of the band that plays at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie.

Friday, March 20

2015 South by So What?! Music Festival
Although the name may indicate otherwise, organizers of this music festival actually love SXSW and showcase a lot of bands that played in Austin this week. Among the bands playing at the three-day festival at QuikTrip Park in Grand Prairie are Circa Survive, Motionless in White, Atreyu, Mayday Parade and Hatebreed.

Dallas Summer Musicals presents The King and I
Although Dallas Summer Musicals usually brings in national tours of Broadway shows, this presentation of The King and I is a rare self-production by DSM. It features all the songs you know and love, but the script has been revamped in this reinterpretation of the classic. It plays at Music Hall at Fair Park through April 5.

Hozier in concert
You can chart the status of Irish singer Hozier by the venues he's played or will play in Dallas. Back when he played at the Kessler on October 4, his song "Take Me to Church" had yet to become a hit. But it's been a top 10 mainstay since November, thus this move up to the House of Blues. If you don't catch him here, you can see him as part of Edgefest at the end of April.

Saturday, March 21

Dallas Opera presents La Boheme simulcast
For the past four years, the Dallas Opera has been bringing the world of opera to the people with free simulcasts of productions at AT&T Stadium. It returns this year with a performance of Puccini's La Bohème, upon which the musical Rent was based. The simulcast also features a screening of the classic Bugs Bunny cartoon What's Opera, Doc?

Bill Medley in concert
A few hit songs can sometimes make a person's entire career, as Bill Medley has proven. As part of the Righteous Brothers, Medley and Bobby Hatfield delivered immortal songs like "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" and "Unchained Melody." Medley sings songs from throughout his career at this special concert at Granada Theater.

Sunday, March 22

Spillover Music Fest 2015
As you can tell by the name, the parade of bands leaving Austin spill over into this festival in Deep Ellum. Venues like Trees, Club Dada, Off the Record and Three Links welcome a variety of bands, including LIARS, Pianos Become the Teeth, King Tuff, Jeff the Brotherhood, Viet Cong, The Shrine and Weedeater.

Stevie Wonder in concert
The career of Stevie Wonder has been so prolific that a listing of his five best songs is likely to cause an argument between fans. Luckily you won't have to choose at this concert at American Airlines Center, as Wonder sings every song from arguably his greatest album, Songs in the Key of Life, which include "Sir Duke," "Knocks Me Off of My Feet" and "Isn't She Lovely."

Stevie Wonder play at American Airlines Center on March 22.

Courtesy photo

Stevie Wonder play at American Airlines Center on March 22.

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Movie Review

The Magic Faraway Tree is a whimsical family lark that fails to take root

Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment

Andrew Garfield, Delilah Bennett-Cardy, Claire Foy, Phoenix Laroche, and Billie Gadson in The Magic Faraway Tree.

With kids and families always on the hunt for entertainment, it’s typically a safe bet for a movie studio to offer up something new, even if it is a film based on an old property. The Magic Faraway Tree, based on a series of books that started in the 1930s, is a very old property, one that its filmmakers have tried to liven up with a few stars, a lot of whimsy, and a boatload of CGI.

The Thompson family, led by stay-at-home dad Tim (Andrew Garfield) and breadwinner mom Polly (Claire Foy), are forced to move to a rundown country home when Polly gets laid off. The kids - Joe (Phoenix Laroche), Fran (Billie Gadson), and Beth (Delilah Bennett-Cardy) - are used to the perks of city life like wifi and electricity, and each of them rebels in their own way to their new lot in life.

Fran, enticed by a fairy named Silky (Nicola Coughlan), is the first to venture out of the house, making her way to a magic tree that transports her to a world full of strange characters like Moonface (Nonso Anozie), Saucepan Man (Dustin Demri-Burns), Dame Washalot (Jessica Gunning), and more. Her adventures there not only broaden the world she thought she knew, but may be the key to helping her ailing family.

Directed by Ben Gregor and written by Simon Farnaby (Paddington 2, Wonka), the film is a pleasant enough lark, but it fails to fully capture the imagination. The five-member family has a lot going on, from an initially-mute Fran to a domestic situation that raises more questions than it answers. The film tries to incorporate an anti-technology message through Tim’s hatred of a smart refrigerator (voiced by Judi Dench!) and the kids' addictions to devices, but it’s quickly shed in favor of other options.

Once Fran makes it to the Magic Faraway Tree, there’s a nice shift in the storytelling, but it’s unclear what the ultimate goal is. It’s a good idea to have Fran, the youngest of the children, convince her older, more cynical siblings about the virtues of the magic world, but the conflict in the real world doesn’t seem to rise to the level needed for the escape the tree provides.

There also seems to be a missing link in the storytelling for viewers to understand the importance of the fantastical characters. The visuals of seeing Moonface and his crescent moon-shaped hair, a man with a suit full of banging pots, and more are fun for a while, but not enough to carry the whole film. A last-minute revelation feels like it was something that should have been disclosed much earlier to help strengthen the emotions of the story.

A two-time Oscar nominee, Garfield is making his first foray into family movies (if you don’t count playing Spider-Man), and while he does a good job, he doesn’t make the best fit for the semi-goofy role. The same goes for the Emmy-winning Foy, who isn’t given much of anything to do. The movie puts the story on the shoulders of the three child actors, and while each of them acquit themselves well, none of them are so outstanding as to be noteworthy.

With nearly 90-year-old source material, The Magic Faraway Tree needed to be something truly special to stand out in the 21st century movie world. Unfortunately, it features a mostly forgettable story that features some fun visuals, a couple of cute kids, and not much else.

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The Magic Faraway Tree is now playing in theaters.

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