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Reimagined Family Fun

Pinstack wins over all ages with so much awesome under one roof

CultureMap Create
Jul 27, 2015 | 1:10 pm

It’s a tall order, finding an entertainment destination where kids and adults can be equally thrilled (and keep cool!) in one place. But Pinstack manages to fulfill that goal, with 52,000 square feet of awesome under one big roof, just off the Dallas North Tollway in Plano.

From the chef-inspired menu and 24 beers on tap, to a massive games area and 28 bowling lanes, Pinstack has the whole family covered.

Opened in January of this year, Pinstack has reimagined family entertainment by providing the best of all worlds. Kids can play on dozens of arcade games, including the largest Transformer game machine in the world. Twenty feet above, they are climbing along the High Ropes Challenge Course.

Nearby, a six-lane climbing wall has them dangling from colorful LED grips as they race to the top. There’s also a two-story laser tag room that can accommodate up to 40, a bumper car arena and a laser maze, where kids roll and crawl over and under laser beams.

In the nearby 200-seat restaurant, modern wire pendant lamps glow over cozy wood tables where diners are feasting on fare that looks nothing like typical bowling alley food. This is a chef-inspired menu, where food such as burgers, panini, pizza, salads and entrées are elevated to distinctive dishes.

The blackened mahi mahi is served with pineapple pico, sweet chile sauce and steamed jasmine rice. A pizza dubbed Whole Hog is topped with Italian sausage, applewood bacon, pulled pork and chili flakes.

Grown-up drinks include local craft beers, like Peticolas Velvet Hammer and Lakewood Temptress, as well as eight wines on tap and a fully stocked bar. Massive televisions hang high around the room, and Nano Windows fold open to the covered patio outside, which can accommodate another 100 people.

The great eats are available for lane-side food and beverage service at any of the 28 bowling lanes too. Pinstack’s bowling area almost has a hotel feel, it’s so posh and pleasant. Neon lights illuminate the pins, and bowlers sip on the same craft beers available from the restaurant. The nearby granite-topped bar also has a high-end coffee bar and sweets created by an in-house pastry chef.

A private bowling area holds eight of the lanes, with rooms behind them, a setup perfect for a birthday celebration. In fact, Pinstack offers onsite party coordinators to help you plan any kind of fête, from an intimate bowling soiree to an all-out bash for you and 2,000 of your friends.

Pinstack reimagines family fun, making it easy for the whole family to find their new favorite entertainment destination.

Pinstack is 52,000 square feet of awesome.

Pinstack plano
Photo courtesy of Pinstack
Pinstack is 52,000 square feet of awesome.
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Movie Review

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

Alex Bentley
Aug 21, 2026 | 11:44 am
Andrew Garfield, Delilah Bennett-Cardy, Claire Foy, Phoenix Laroche, and Billie Gadson in The Magic Faraway Tree
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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