Animation

ATTACK ON TITAN: THE ROAR OF AWAKENING

Cert 15 120mins Stars 3

There’s a nicely nightmarish and Grimm feel to this animated fantasy sequel which sees grotesque giants threaten the human race with extinction.

The Attack On Titan franchise began life as Japanese manga comic before becoming a two full length feature films, and was followed up with two TV series, and a third is promised in July.

Despite this big screen adventure being stitched together from the 12 episode second TV series, even if you’re totally unfamiliar with it, it’s surprisingly coherent and enjoyable.

In a medieval universe, young Eren Jaeger of the Scout Regiment is ordered to the front line to find a member of the Trainig Corps called Christa. She may hold the key to victory in their ongoing war against the human-eating titans.

The streamlined plot means it’s non-stop action all the way, and there’s lots of graphic bloody violence in the exciting battles as the giants don’t spare the horses in any sense.

TAD THE LOST EXPLORER AND THE SECRET OF KING MIDAS

Cert U 85mins Stars 2

This is an unlooked for sequel to a best forgotten Spanish animated adventure.

Tad is a gormless archeology student, part-time construction worker and Indiana Jones wannabee,

Accompanied by a dog, a parrot and an ancient mummy dressed as Carmen Miranda, he blunders off in search off the magical collar of the mythic King Midas. 

Despite the mummy’s many manic declarations of everything being awesome, I was far from convinced.

Instead I found it provocatively wacky, unfunny and loud enough to wake the dead. And possibly even parents having a cheeky nap.

Meanwhile Tad’s love interest has been kidnapped by a limping villainous bad guy, who also wants the collar.

The globetrotting story is a trail of secret passages, underground tombs, creepy crawlies and the mangled debris of historical accuracy.

It rattles along at a rickety pace sufficient to distract younger kids with its knockabout slapstick. My advice would be to get lost before Tad unearths any more exploits.

FERDINAND

Cert U 106mins Stars 3

Films featuring bulls are rare but this one is reasonable well done, so take a butchers at this enjoyably silly animation which has a strong Spanish flavour.

With its goofy characters and lively slapstick there’s no mis-steaking it’s from the same stable as the Ice Age franchise.

Former WWE wrestler John Cena voices a bull caught in the horns of a dilemma between his pacifist nature and his matador fighting physique.

As a calf Ferdinand was adopted by a farmers daughter. But now grown up there’s an incident in a china shop and he’s sent back his birth farm where the other bulls have an historic beef with him.

The beasts battle to take on a preening matador, very akin to turkeys voting for Christmas. However the unsuccessful ones are sent to be mincemeat at the local abattoir.

But it’s all sweet not scary and this will easily cut the mustard with kids too young to see Star Wars.

LOVING VINCENT

Cert 12A 91mins Stars 4

Step into the mind of troubled maestro Vincent Van Gogh in this intriguing and masterful composition.

One of the founders of modern art, the Dutch post-impressionist painter had a history of mental illness and self harm.

On July 27 1890 shot himself and died two days later aged 37, in the Parisian suburb of Auvers-sur-Oise.

Animated in the style of his paintings, over a 100 artists painstakingly hand crafted each of the nearly 65,000 individual frames. The bold colour and brushstroke create a liquid kaleidoscopic effect which is dreamily trippy and hypnotic.

This dazzlingly feat of technical virtuosity explores Van Gogh’s life, art and the mysterious circumstances of his death, framing the story as a murder mystery.

We’re asked to consider whether his death was a cry for help, a crime of passion or an act of commercial aggression.

A cast which includes Aidan Turner and Eleanor Tomlinson from TV’s Poldark, ensures by the end you’ll be loving Vincent, too.

TOY STORY 4

Cert U 99mins Stars 5

Woody and Buzz Lightyear make a triumphant and tearful return in this terrifically fun-packed and gorgeously animated sequel which is guaranteed to win the toys a whole new generation of fans.

Tom Hanks and Tim Allen return again to voice our loveable heroes and the new characters are funny and adorable, especially the new baby of the group, Forky. and Keanu Reeves speeds by to deliver a wonderfully comic turn as the Evel Knievel-style stuntman, Duke Caboom.

While on a road trip one of the gang is captured by some very sinister dolls in a creepy old antiques shop and the friends rush the rescue, aided by a revitalised Bo Peep, whose absence from the previous film is fully explained.

Her newly independent spirit is a great example of how these characters have been allowed to grow since first appearing in, gulp, 1995, just as we’ve also grown.

Many of the parents who took their kids to the first film will be grandparents now, and the script is careful to speak to members of every generation, with a powerful emphasis on the importance of loyalty to family and friends.

Plus it works as a standalone adventure so little kids will enjoy it even if they haven’t yet seen the first three films.

The practically perfect previous film so comprehensively passed the bar for a five star film, it left enough leeway for this one to be not quite as incredible but still qualify as superb entertainment in its own right.

Rather than go bigger to try and blow our cinematic socks off, this gorgeously animated adventure goes a little smaller to focus on the characters, but still provides as much giddy excitement, joyous humour and heart-melting charm as you’d expect, and delivers a hugely emotional finale which will have you in tears. You have been warned.

THE NUT JOB 2: NUTTY BY NATURE

Cert U 91mins Stars 1

It’s never a positive sign when reviews are embargoed until the day of release, as they were for this animated adventure.

The first movie was a solid win at the box office taking £94m on a £23m budget, and so here we are three years later with an unlooked for sequel to an unloved but reasonably successful movie.

An evil mayor has plans to turn the tranquil green oasis Liberty Park into a cash generating amusement park to line his own pockets. So reluctant hero Surly the squirrel rallies his friends to fend off the diggers.

The first was dim witted and this one aims for lowest common denominator in most departments.

However this does have Chinese megastar Jacki Chan voicing a ninja mouse, presumably parachuted in by the Chinese producers in order to market the film to their local audience.

This may be tolerable only if you’ve exhausted every other avenue of entertaining the kids during the holidays.

 

DESPICABLE ME 3

Cert U 90mins Stars 3

Funny man Steve Carell returns as the voice of despicable villain turned secret agent Gru, and gets into the groove of this bubble gum coloured animated sequel which has a heavy 1980’s influence.

It’s a typically fast paced affair but the madcap charm and invention of earlier episodes is diluted by a jaundiced pandering to parents, a piecemeal plot and a tendency to soap opera.

Plus the real stars have always been the little yellow minions, and would be better off continuing their own spin-off series. They have great moments but are unwisely elbowed aside in favour of a couple of new, less funny characters.

Gru and his family head off to the European backwater of Freedonia, where his long lost brother Dru, lives.

Meanwhile back in the US Balthazar Bratt is a mullet wearing, break dancing, super villain.

He was a 1980s child TV star who wants revenge on Hollywood for cancelling his show. His lair is littered with Rubik cubes and suchlike, while famous songs of the decade from Madonna and so on are crowbarred onto the soundtrack.

This is all a disappointingly cynical attempt to keep the parents and grandparents in the audience happy, while the comic violence entertains the kids. The minions fart jokes are far funnier than the warmed over nostalgia intended to keep me occupied.

With new characters added with every film, the script has a lot of juggling to do to keep everyone occupied, and it feels as if we’re watching a couple of different scripts less than seamlessly stitched together.

I was bored by the scenes where Gru worries about his job and his new wife frets about bonding with their three daughters.

With the Illumination studio developing new films such as mega hit movie Sing, this feels more a stale contractual obligation than a labour of love. And it’s as not as despicably great as previous films.

IN THIS CORNER OF THE WORLD

Cert 12A 130mins Stars 3

Find a quiet place in the corner of your heart for this gentle Japanese animation.

Melancholy and reflective in tone, the script encourages us to consider the effect of conflict on the least privileged in society and is full of stealthy anti-war rhetoric.

With the war kept at arms length for much of the time, there is an emphasis on the wonder of the natural world and the simple pleasures of drawing and cooking.

Naive, uneducated and impoverished, young Suzo is married off in haste at the outbreak of the Second World War.

She leaves her family in Hiroshima and moves to a farm above a military port, where her husband works as a lowly clerk.

The filmmakers respect our knowledge of the horrors which lie in Suzo’s future, and by focussing on the details of her day by day drudgery, they create a heavy cloud of tension which looms over the film.

 

ROCK DOG

Cert PG 86mins Stars 1

Tone deaf humour and off-key animation characterise this incoherent and tuneless hymn to the unifying magic of music.

It’s a discordant mix of eastern mysticism, western music, Tibetan mountains, Texas accents, analogue technology and giant robot mice. The original songs are uninspired auto tuned pop rock.

Luke Wilson voices Bodi, a naive pup who leaves his village of sheep at the mercy of wolves to pursue dreams of stardom in the big city.

Narrator Sam Elliot riffs on his cowboy persona from The Big Lebowski, while Eddie Izzard channels his inner Osbourne as a thin white rock legend with a robot servant called Ozzie.

Bodi’s father is an incompetent disciplinarian who frowns on his son’s ambition and wants him to remain at home, working at the family firm.

Personally, the sooner my son leaves home on a tour bus to find fame, fortune and a mansion full of adoring groupies, the more proud I’ll be.

 

MY LIFE AS A COURGETTE

Cert PG 66mins Stars 4

Plant yourself in front of this charmingly original fable, which was Oscar nominated for the best animated film.

This complex, gentle and often sad delight has the social commentary and sentimentality of the work of Charles Dickens.

Hero is an orphan with a clown-like face. Though creative and kind, he has little to laugh about after being placed in a care home. We see how his kindness of spirit has an empowering effect on his fellow inmates.

The skilful storytelling is deceptively simple and technically complex. Small gestures carry great meaning and the use of traditional stop motion animation allows for some dark material to be smuggled in.

Inmates behaviour stems from their experiences. These are communicated with sufficient vagueness so children won’t be scared, but adults will fully comprehend the horrors implied.

The filmmakers tend to their characters with care, and as they bloom we’re given a feast of emotion to tuck into.