For years, Wes Anderson has created separate cinematic universes, different but oddly familiar, in which to tell his offbeat tales of family dynamics. In FANTASTIC MR. FOX, he has taken the next logical step and created an actual alternate reality. Using stop-motion animation, and a tale of excesses unbound by Roald Dahl, he has concocted… Read More »
PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS — THE LIGHTNING THIEF
The classical Greek myths has persisted in the collective imagination since they first sprouted in ancient Hellene. That they have infused themselves into popular young adult fiction in the Percy Jackson series is no surprise, nor is it a surprise that a cinematic rendering should spring from it. The only surprise is that it took… Read More »
MEGAMIND
MEGAMIND is a sophisticated story told with a droll, unpretentious air. The humor is broad, the philosophy subtle, and the animation is strictly for fun. The result is a film that kids can grow up with, and that adults can use to relive the best days of childlike innocence. The titular character, voiced with a… Read More »
JUDY MOODY AND THE NOT BUMMER SUMMER
JUDY MOODY AND THE NOT BUMMER SUMMER is a diverting flick, full of bright colors and lively animation, that is calibrated to synch up with, and only with, the attention span of smaller children. The characters are of the stock variety, but, in the spirit, if not the strict interpretation, of the Cammedia dellArte, they… Read More »
MR. POPPER’S PENGUINS
MR POPPERS PENGUINS contains that ineffable quality of both whimsy and heart that makes it as irresistible to kids as it is to adults. Based on the novel by Richard and Florence Atwater, it is time-honored tale of a man who has lost the wonder of childhood only to regain it in the most unexpected… Read More »
AGENT CODY BANKS
AGENT CODY BANKS proves that it’s possible to make a smart kid’s film that adults will like, too. And this is all the more satisfying because when you see a hefty team of screenwriters in the credits, in this case , Zack Stenz, Ashley Miller, Scott Alexander, and Larry Karaszweski, it usually doesnt bode well… Read More »
SPY KIDS 3-D: GAME OVER
We live in an age when pretty much any film aimed at kids will have tie-ins that include toys, t-shirts, and, possibly, a computer game of some sort. Few films exploit the merchandising angle as cynically as SPY KIDS 3-D: GAME OVER. This film is little more than an instruction manual for how to play… Read More »
THE INCREDIBLES
Ive been looking forward to THE INCREDIBLES ever since I saw the superbly antic trailer for it that accompanied FINDING NEMO. Thats what makes the experience of having seen it last all the more deflating. Despite first-rate CGI animation and some clever atomic 50s-style art direction, THE INCREDIBLES commits the worst cinematic sin of all,… Read More »
NATIONAL TREASURE
There are many things that an action-adventure flick should be and NATIONAL TREASURE manages to not be most of them. For over two hours, there are car chases, shoot-outs, snarling bad guys, a snarky side-kick, and, because this is the typically overproduced Jerry Bruckheimer effort, explosions, the first a restrained 15 minutes into the proceedings.… Read More »
SON OF THE MASK
SON OF THE MASK is a slam-bang festival of live-action cartoon hi-jinks and screwball violence, yet it aims right for the heart and against all reason, succeeds. Jaime Kennedy turns in a nicely sensitive and sweet performance as Tim Avery, an animation star who hasnt been discovered yet. In the meantime, he toils at an… Read More »