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.
Following up on my horrible time watching (and trying to keep up with) The Boss Baby: Family Business, I prepared for Peter Rabbit 2 with trepidation considering I hadn’t seen its predecessor and I wasn’t sure what would be in store. But, to my surprise, Peter Rabbit 2 was breezy and amusing. Absolutely innocuous, but it’s a cute children’s film that maintains its momentum and sets up some great slapstick and sustains its heartfelt themes.
The Mitchells vs.The Machines is very much cut from the same talented cloth as Sony Pictures Animation’s Oscar-winning hit Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The brilliant artists at Sony Pictures Animation, yet again, set a new bar for computer animation; offering audiences indescribably energetic visuals that astonishingly never lose the film’s lightning-fast pace. But just like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the story struggles to keep up with the film’s skill. The movie assuredly commits its general theme to the…
Family films that feature kids “makin’ all the rules” isn’t exactly fresh or inventive. So, why did I like Yes Day so darn much when I know that it follows this same template? Did this sub-genre improve? Have I gotten softer? While these reflections are valid, it sounds like I have to blame either the movies that came before this one or myself to justify liking Yes Day. Embracing Yes Day shouldn’t be driven by…
DreamWorks Animation hits another homer with The Croods: A New Age, a sequel that’s on par with its clever Oscar nominated predecessor, that’s just as funny but so much weirder.
100% Wolf is a thought-free zone for kids and adults alike. A plus for viewers wanting to look at bright colours and flashing lights, but a bit of a bummer for those who like their animation a little less hyper. Even if young movie goers enjoy the mindless entertainment that 100% Wolf is dishing out, they still might have a hard time grasping the storyline and the type of frenetic fantasy it relishes in.
The only type of comedy worse than an unfunny one is a mean-spirited one. The War with Grandpa is so mean that I was frequently taken out of the film to feel bad for the characters.
The Willoughbys tries to straddle the line between being playfully grim and downright bizarre but, instead, alternates from being one or the other. Based on Lois Lowry’s children’s book and evoking memories of stranger family fare like James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Willoughbys is a unique endeavour that will make you laugh as much as it will straight-up weird you out.
Part way through Playmobil: The Movie, I was settling into a marginal recommendation. As a colourful distraction for young kids who are starting to show interest in action flicks, it’s generic yet harmless entertainment. But as the story dragged on through shameless attempts to emulate The Lego Movie franchise, Playmobil: The Movie began to pick at my patience.
