If you remember what the folks at PIXAR did with a pair of Luxo lamps and a bouncing ball 20 or so years ago, then you know that these animation wizards have an uncanny ability to imbue to the most unlikely of inanimate objects with a complex emotional life. Two decades on, a state-of-the art… Read More »
KIT KITTREDGE — AN AMERICAN GIRL
KIT KITTREDGE: AN AMERICAN GIRL is a kid’s film, but one that resonates for adults as well, delving as it does into the harsh economic realities of Kit’s world. Based on one of the entries in the “An American Girl” series designed to teach history to modern kids by telling stories firmly set in times… Read More »
FLY ME TO THE MOON
FLY ME TO THE MOON, rendered in 3-D animation rife with possibilities, has exactly one thing to recommend it, but it is something that is so completely enchanting, that it almost made up for the dreck that composes the rest of it. It’s something that I have never seen before and always wondered about. Specifically,… Read More »
PONYO (GAKE NO UE NO PONYO)
Hayao Miyasakis PONYO is a sweet-natured flight of fantasy that lacks any real sense of conflict or danger. It makes up for it, at least for the younger set, with a delightfully absurd internal logic that is perfectly keyed into the way small children see the world. All things are possible, including a little girl… Read More »
OCEANS
Disneynature’s OCEANS, the follow-up to its earlier EARTH, does a very clever thing by way of getting across its environmentalist message. Instead of hitting the audience over the head with disturbing, heartbreaking images of animals being exterminated in all manner of unpleasant ways by actions of an indifferent humankind, it presents all the equally emotional… Read More »
TOY STORY 3
Since his introduction by Pixar over a decade ago, Woody the toy cowboy (Tom Hanks) has faced dangers and adversaries of many varieties. In TOY STORY 1, it was Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) stealing the number one position in owner Andys heart, and that psychotic kid next door who did unfortunate things to the toys… Read More »
FANTASIA/FANTASIA 2000: 2-Movie Collection Special Edition
Finally together and on both DVD and Blu-Ray format, the deluxe, 4-disc, release of FANTASIA and FANTASIA 2000 is more than the chance to see both features in all their glory. It’s a chance to marvel that the old-fashioned hand-drawn animation, for all its limitations, has none when it comes to imagination. It is the emotional… Read More »
THE SANTA CLAUSE 2
You have to admire the folks behind THE SANTA CLAUSE II. In this sequel-happy world, they didn’t rush right out to cash in on the success of the original. Instead, they waited eight whole years for a good premise before venturing back, and when you consider that in kids’ years that’s a whole generation, it was a… Read More »
MIGHTY MACS, THE
It took two years for THE MIGHTY MACS to finally make it to theater screens. It also took a title change from OUR LADY OF VICTORY. Granted, a G-rated film is a tough sell in the current marketplace, but this wholesome fare, based on a true story, is not as dull as its familiar idioms… Read More »
SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY, THE
Studio Ghibli has taken Mary Nortons classic novel, The Borrowers and made it uniquely its own, but its done so without losing what is best in Nortons story. The adaptation by Hayao Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa may have been transferred the action to Japan, but the basic elements of loneliness, friendship, and the fragility of… Read More »