Let’s compare R.L. Stine’s Zombie Town to past adapted media based on the work of the titular author: if Netflix’s Fear Street trilogy was for adults, and the 90s era Goosebumps television show was for teenagers, and the recent Goosebumps films (featuring Jack Black) are for kids, then Zombie Town is for really young children. I’m wondering what the next level down would be – short stories for fetuses about expectant mothers who eat too…
While the troublemaking cat-and-mouse duo Tom and Jerry run amok in the United States, their opposite (and far removed) distant cousins of the North, a confident mouse named Toopy and a mute kitty named Binoo, are teaching children wholesome lessons and having lighthearted fun.
If a poppin’ and lockin’ Willy Wonka owned a music studio instead of running a chocolate factory, perhaps he would’ve run a contest like the one featured in the hokey Build-A-Bear Entertainment co-production Honey Girls.
By: Trevor Chartrand Everyone’s favorite spooky family is back in The Addams Family 2, the sequel to 2019’s animated stinker featuring a re-imaged version of the classic Addams family characters. This go-round is, surprisingly, a slight improvement on the first installment (which isn’t saying much), but ultimately both titles in this series so far feel like ‘babysitter’ movies – stuffed full of filler and thin on the narrative front. It’s something parents can plop their kids…
After some minor big screen stints and continuing with its long-running success on television, PAW Patrol makes a flawless leap to feature-length with PAW Patrol: The Movie – essentially cobbling together four missions into an entertaining movie for families.
Spirit Untamed is a cute movie with endearing friendships and a really sweet message.
Netflix’s adventure flick Finding ‘Ohana is a Hawaiian twist on the classic 80s kids caper The Goonies. It’s a movie connection the filmmakers want you to be aware of either through easter eggs (casting Ke Huy Quan who played Data in The Goonies, another character bellowing “hey you guys!”), or in the film’s direct lifting of an undoubtably similar story following young adventurers pursuing hidden treasure.
I’m laying my cards out on the table: I have an unconditional love for Nickelodeon. The network defined my childhood, helped diversify my media and sense of humour, and it was an outlet for truly unique entertainment. As much as I tried to enter Scott Barber and Adam Sweeney’s documentary The Orange Years: The Nickelodeon Story without an enamouring bias, it was impossible.
It’s fitting that Trolls World Tour is about accepting outsiders for who they are because, here I am, I’m a critic watching a sequel to an original film I never saw. I heard 2016’s Trolls was a pleasant surprise, but I never got around to finding that out for myself. Luckily for me, I could hop into Trolls World Tour and quickly get the gist of the characters, the imagination, and the amazing animation that…
By: Trevor Chartrand The beloved and monstrous Addams Family returns to cinemas this Halloween; animated for the first time ever on the big screen, and directed by the duo who brought adults Sausage Party. This new film focuses on a real estate mogul trying to drive monsters out of town (à la Shrek), Pugsley Addams’ bar mitzvah, Wednesday Addams’ teenage rebellion, Lurch endlessly playing pop songs on a piano, and a never-ending slurry of other superfluous subplots…