Drama/Family, 117 Minutes, 2012
I’ve unfortunately lost track of anime in the last few years. I’d keep up with the latest releases from Studio Ghibli and the odd TV show, but overall I just didn’t maintain my interest as I once had. Dipping my toe back in, I looked for recommendations and this kept getting mentioned.
I’m so glad it was.
Animation/Family, 96 Minutes, 2014
LAIKA, the studio behind the classics “Coraline” [IMDB] and “ParaNorman” [My Review at MoreBrains.com], continues its mostly thankless efforts to elevate the quality family cinema. Lighter than their previous offerings, this still provides the intelligence and depth that we’ve come to expect from them.
“Mr Peabody and Sherman” on IMDB
Family, 92 Minutes, 2014
Hey kids, it’s a computer animated family film based on an old cartoon! There are topical references! There are nostalgic references! There are puns! Surprisingly, it’s not that bad. I mean, hell, it’s not that great either, but in the vast technicolor sea of computer-vomited slop it’s… not that bad.
Most people over the age of 40 will likely remember this as a weird little filler cartoon thrown between “Bugs Bunny” and “The Road Runner” on any number of random cartoon shows. As a child I remember liking this immensely, but not truly understanding it. Now that I’m older and, dare I say, wiser, I can truly appreciate it as a classic piece of film-making.
Based on the book of the same name the short was directed by the legendary Chuck Jones and was one of the last MGM shorts to be produced. In addition to many other honors, it won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
Adventure, 100 Minutes, 2014
This is a completely formula, by-the-numbers family film. Bright, colorful animated characters voiced by famous people. Lots of jokes with popular references. Fast action! A simple plot! A super-sappy emotional message!
Folks, sometimes formula works. Sometimes formula works really, damn well.
Comedy/Family, 91 Minutes, 2013
Hey, kids: want to watch a completely bland, totally mediocre, computer animated family comedy! It stars famous people! It has topical references and horribly bastardizes history! It’s 90 minutes long! It’ll cost just as much as a good movie to watch, and you’ll never get the time you spent with it back!
Adventure, 102 Minutes, 2013
Hey kids, it’s time to dig up Hans Christian Anderson and carve another chunk from his desiccated flesh! Sure, we’ve left him alone for awhile, but it’s time. We’ve been gouging at the Grimm boys for a while. We even did some Japanese imports! The crew over at Pixar’s been good to us but, dammit, we need a new princess to feed the machine! And this is a two-fer!
Animation, 96 Minutes, 2013
This is the latest installment of DreamWorks Animation’s unofficial series of things that would rather be other things. Like the other installments, this movie is just full of life lessons!
Family/Comedy, 105 Minutes, 2013
The Smurfs, like French Fries, are often mistakenly assumed to have originated in France. In fact both are Belgian! So, if you want to thank somebody for unleashing a swarm of little blue nitwits with shared speech impediments and mono-cultured personalities, find yourself a Belgian! They apparently also have a carrot museum.
So, yeah. Belgium.
Family, 91 Minutes, 2013
It used to be that companies like “Pixar” had to suffer poor imitators. Other companies would come along and produce, at best, paint-by-numbers knock-offs that hit all the same notes but couldn’t hope to match the music. For every “A Bug’s Life” [IMDB] there was an “Antz” [IMDB] and for every “Finding Nemo” [IMDB] there was “A Shark’s Tale” [IMDB]. These big-budget semi-clones where never terrible but they were always missing something.
