Who would have thought that a British claymation effort with no (intelligible) dialogue would end up being on of the funniest films of the year? Well, when the competition is “Spy,” “Trainwreck,” “Vacation” and “Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2,” among others, the victory wasn’t difficult to achieve. Still, there is certainly something to be said…
Imagine if you will that dinosaurs didn’t go extinct due to an asteroid impact and that humans evolved alongside them. Now imagine an unlikely friendship being forged between a young Apatosaurus dinosaur (voice of Raymond Ochoa) and a young cave-boy (voice of Jack Bright). And with that you have at least the bare bones of…
I don’t mind telling you, when I hear the words, “spin-off,” regarding film or television, I don’t get the best of feelings. The history of the term (which I will not go into here) conjures up as many negative thoughts as does the phrase, “third movie in a film franchise series.” Still, being the profession…
Not since 2009’s “Up” has Pixar Animation Studios/Walt Disney Pictures fashioned a clever, emotional, family-friendly film that could be embraced by children and adults alike; one that has not only a heart and brain, but a conscience, as well. After commercially-successful and Oscar-winning — but bland and unfulfilling — features such as “Brave” and “Big…
You can say Po, the lovable panda of “Kung Fu Panda” and “Kung Fu Panda 2” is a lot of things, smart just isn’t one of them. Apparently, it isn’t a strong suit of his birth father’s either. In this third installment aptly titled Kung Fu Panda 3, Po (voiced again by Jack Black) now…
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is famed film director Isao Takahata’s first movie in 15 years. A labor of love that’s been eight years in the making, it draws inspiration from the 10th century tale “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter,” one of Japan’s oldest surviving narratives about a girl who magically comes to…
Wolfy: The Incredible Secret is a family film that tries to straddle the divide between entertaining younger viewers and not boring parents to tears. The best family films are those that succeed in this straddling act while those that fall into the gap can fail to impress anyone. Wolfy: The Incredible Secret mostly succeeds in…
