BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE is a ramshackle effort trading on goodwill and nostalgia. What made the original so disarming and anarchic 36 years ago burbles to the surface from time to time, but as a whole, it is a mawkish thing following formulas that that original eschewed with raucous glee. We find Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) older… Read More »
DESPICABLE ME 4
Again let us praise the giddy delight that the minions provide. Sure, they have trouble carrying their own films, but as the dada-esque relief, particularly of a middling film, they are a tonic for the soul that gives us the strength to hang on until the final credits, where they provide some of the best… Read More »
HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS
If, in a parallel universe that I would very much like to visit, Chuck Jones hired Guy Maddin to create a Looney Tunes cartoon, the result might not be too different from Mike Cheslik’s HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS. This gleefully unhinged excursion into intrigue, romance, and the call of the wild transcends, and transgresses, many genres… Read More »
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM
Seth Rogan has given us a refresh on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, that 80s TV phenom that delivered as advertised. In TMNT: MUTANT MAYEM, we have the origin story of the unusual Chelonians and their equally mutant rat father, Splinter (Jackie Chan). Unlike the previous TMNT films, and the iconic Nickelodeon series, the visuals… Read More »
MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU
There is a great deal of mileage to be had with characters as intrinsically adorable the Minions. And MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU takes it as far as it can go with a script that wobbles as uncertainly as Otto, the most loyal and least competent of little yellow creatures, does on the steep streets… Read More »
THE BOB’S BURGERS MOVIE
THE BOB’S BURGER MOVIE gives us a few origin stories for the long-running animated sit-com artfully woven into a brand-new musical adventure. Far from playing out as an extended episode of the series, it expands to fill its feature-length running time with a murder mystery, a financial crisis, and a nifty low-speed chase involving an… Read More »
HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA: TRANSFORMANIA
HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA: TRANSFORMANIA is a relentlessly obvious and overplayed exercise in draining the last dregs from a moribund franchise. Let me put it this way. Adam Sandler, not known for discriminating taste in projects, took a pass on this material that continues the saga of Drac, the vampiric proprietor of the titular establishment that caters… Read More »
THE ADDAMS FAMILY 2
There are many words that spring to mind when viewing THE ADDAMS FAMILY 2, and few of them are laudatory. The twisted humor of Charles Addams’ original cartoon, or of the cult-classic of the 60s television series, or of the previous incarnation of the franchise are little in evidence in this dreary exercise in, of… Read More »
CRYPTOZOO
CRYPTOZOO is a touching throwback to the animated films of the late 60s and early 70s in both style and in substance. Set in that time frame, it is full of idealism about the possibilities of human society and wonder at the natural world, while also tempered with poignant cynicism about both. Writer/director Dash Shaw… Read More »
THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE ON THE RUN
There has always been an archly hallucinogenic element to Spongebob Squarepants. I don’t mean the conceit of a sentient aggregate life form living in a pineapple under the sea. No, Spongebob has used it to tackle the existential from time to time while also being deliciously silly and being unapologetically full of heart. One need… Read More »
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