Animation

WONDER PARK

Cert PG 85mins Stars 3

This bright and breezy animated adventure is a rollercoaster of fun for younger kids which will keep them entertained while it lasts but probably won’t have them pestering you for a second ride.

June is fearless young inventor who emotionally withdraws when her mother is taken ill, but running into a magical forest she encounters the Wonderland theme park which previously existed only in her imagination.

It’s strangely overgrown and deserted except for five talking animals trying to save the park being destroyed by a swarm of zombie monkey toys, who are a lot cuter and less scary than they sound.

YouTube stars Joe Sugg and Caspar Lee join an impressive voice cast of Jennifer Garner, Matthew Broderick and Mila Kunis, but they’re all outshone by my favourite Dr Who, Tom Baker, who’s enjoying himself immensely as a big blue bear.

Although not as ‘splendiferous’ as characters repeatedly insist, any film which encourages children to value their dads is OK with me.

 

PAW PATROL: MIGHTY PUPS

Cert U 70mins Stars 2

Super powered puppies bounce into action with boundless enthusiasm in this eager-to-please animation aimed at pre-schoolers.

A spin-off from the Nickelodeon TV series with no discernible increase in quality, it’s a mercifully brief adventure full of harmless buffoonery, bad puns and robot dancing from an err, giant robot.

A moon rocket belonging to the blundering mayor Humdinger and his nefarious nephew causes cartoon canine chaos among the inhabitants of Adventure Bay when it collides with a meteor which crashes to Earth.

Seeing it bestows super powers of speed, strength, flight and so on, on our plucky puppy heroes, the baddies steal the meteorite to gain its powers for themselves and kidnap the Paw Patrol’s human leader for good measure.

So the pups to launch an audacious rescue from the villains’ flying lair and attempt to save the day.

There are sufficient uncomplicated, colourful, and cheap looking capers to occupy the little ones, while parents do their best to have a catnap.

THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2

Cert U 85mins Stars 3

A tiger comes to tea in this super-cute animated adventure sequel to 2016’s monster hit and serves up the lions share of holiday family fun for your very little ones.

Max and Duke are confirmed New York City dogs who have a fish out of water experience when taken by their owners on a countryside holiday.

Meanwhile back home Max’s poodle friend has to rescue a prized toy from a litter of feral felines, and their bunny neighbour dreams of being a carrot munching crime fighter.

They’re brought back together in a looney tunes-style caper which results in our heroes on board a circus train chased by a pack of wolves in order to save a tiger cub from it’s cruel owner.

It often feels more a loose collection of jokes and sketches than a fully fleshed-out feature, but the quality of the animation is top dog and Harrison Ford delivers a droll turn as the voice of a Welsh Sheepdog.

 

ALADDIN (2019)

Cert PG 128 mins Stars 4

Will Smith unleashes his magic charm in Disney’s confident, colourful and crowd-pleasing live action remake of their 1992 classic Oscar winning musical animation.

Hollywood’s once biggest star delivers a larger than life performance as the giant magic genie of the lamp, and burns charisma, warmth and heartfelt maturity in the role originally played by the comic, Robin Williams.

The story very closely follows the original, with street thief Aladdin teaming up with a genie to win the heart of the princess Jasmine and help save the desert kingdom of Agrabah from the unfettered ambition of Marwan Kenzari’s villainous vizier, Jafar.

Unlike Tim Burton’s lumbering Dumbo remake, this is full of fun, excitement and of course glorious songs, with fresh sparkle given to the diamond tunes of ‘Friend Like Me’ and ‘A Whole New World’, with ‘Prince Ali’ is delivered in grand show-stopping style.

Mena Massoud is an earnest and endearing romantic lead as Aladdin, and is game for the thankless task of playing the straight man to not just Smith and the rest of the human cast, but a flying carpet and the adorable monkey, Abu.

I wish his opposite number Naomi Scott, had more to do as Jasmine, but she makes the most of her screen time with constant bridling at the constraints of her gilded cage existence in a star-making performance.

She has enjoyable chemistry with Nasim Pedrad’s handmaiden and knocks her solo song out of the park. ‘Speechless’ is one of two new numbers, and is an assertive anthem about challenging authority which Scott delivers with impressively fierce defiance.

Director Guy Ritchie desperate for a hit as his last box office success was nearly a decade ago, with the second of his and Robert Downey, Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes adventures, so it’s  a canny movie to style the climax in the CGI manner of a Marvel superhero film.

This rarely feels like a Ritchie movie and whether you consider that a good thing, he’s certainly put a shift in with this huge production, which sees him successfully negotiate the different demands of action, romance, comedy, special effects and big song and dance numbers.

The two eight year olds I took to the screening had a great time even though they aren’t familiar with the original animated version, or with Smith’s lengthy TV, music or movie career, and he’s certainly won two new fans of the next generation.

And as Smith swaggers into silver screen musical theatre, it’s great to see the Fresh Prince discover a whole new jam.

SMALLFOOT

Cert U Stars 3

Discover the secret life of the yeti in this warm-natured animated family adventure based on a book by the creator of the Despicable Me franchise.

Channing Tatum voices Migo, a member of a Bigfoot tribe who live in peaceful isolation in a mountain above the cloud line.

After falling out with the village elder, Migo is banished and meets a supposedly mythical Smallfoot, that is a human.

Percy is a video blogging naturalist voiced by James Corden, and in portraying a character conflicted between his integrity and achieving huge internet ratings, the Carpool Karaoke crooner proves he is indeed a great actor.

Pop star Zendaya plays Migo’s love interest, and contributes a couple of tunes which could have come from her previous film, The Greatest Showman.

Their hair-raising escapades are fast-paced and carry a message of openness and honesty, and though there’s not enough of the Wile E. Coyote-style slapstick, it’s a lot of amiable fun for the kids.

The Lego Batman Movie

Director: Chris McKay (2017) BBFC cert: U

The Caped Crusader returns in a dynamically entertaining spin-off from 2014s The Lego Movie.

Brightly coloured, rapid fire and full of jolly stupidity, I was laughing from the first word of dialogue. And by the end of the opening titles I was a giggling mess.

The fun is powered by state-of-the-art animation and the camp sensibility of the 1960s Batman TV show. It lovingly sends up Batman’s many screen portrayals and his bromance with his arch-enemy The Joker.

In order to prove he is Batman’s number one bad guy, The Joker unleashes a horde of villains from Hollywood history. To save Gotham City from Godzilla, King Kong and err, Daleks, Batman must confront his greatest fear.

The crime fighter is once again voiced by a gravel-throated Will Arnett, who brings the superhero to life with a deliciously angry delivery.

It’s stuffed with super-enjoyable cameos and revamped Bat-tunes, and the Bat-cave is a treasure trove of potential merchandise for your kids to drool over.

They will love this daft Bat-adventure, I definitely did.

★★★★☆

@ChrisHunneysett

Sing

Director: Garth Jennings (2017) BBFC cert: PG

This giddy animated musical comedy is stuffed with silly sparkling fun and will make you grin until the top of your head falls off.

Produced by the inspired creators of the Minions Movie and The Secret Life of Pets, it’s a gloriously mad musical mashup of TV’s The X Factor and Gene Wilder comedy The Producers.

Buster is a cuddly Koala whose theatre is going to be closed by the bank unless he has a hit show. He advertises a singing competition but a typo means the winnings are far more than he can afford.

As creatures of every stripe and hue perform a dizzying number of pop, rock and soul tunes, the story squeezes in bank robberies and car chases among the first night nerves and pushy showbiz parents.

The animals are stuffed with Judy Garland’s ‘lets do the show right here’ spirit and just about keep Buster’s show on the road. Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Hudson are among those providing the pipes.

★★★★☆

@ChrisHunneysett

Ballerina

Director: Eric Summer, Eric Warin (2016) BBFC cert: U

This dancing twist on the Cinderella story tangos with the Strictly format, but fails to impress the judge, me.

Felicie is an eleven-year-old girl who dreams of becoming a ballerina. Escaping the orphanage for a prestigious dance school in Paris, she must survive several elimination rounds in order to audition for a role in The Nutcracker ballet.

Her main competition is a spoiled, rich girl with a murderously pushy showbiz mother. Among the other, crudely drawn characters, are a snaggletoothed hunchback and a limping cleaning lady.

It’s a French/Canadian production with Elle Fanning dropped in to voice the lead and add a light sprinkle of Hollywood sparkle.

The animation is mediocre, the humour is broad slapstick, and it has a relaxed attitude to its young heroine being at the sharp end of a love triangle.

Lagging in the wake of Moana, Disney’s forward looking and far superior recent offering, this seems strangely old fashioned.  And not just because it’s set in 1879.

Offering limited fun for dance-mad tweens, everyone else may find themselves wishing Ballerina would foxtrot off.

★★☆☆☆

@ChrisHunneysett

 

 

Moana

Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker (2016) BBFC cert: PG

If you thought Zootropolis (2016) was this years high water mark of Disney animation, this awesome ocean going adventure leaves it in its wake.

The sturdy story is streamlined for efficiency, ferried along at pace by by toe-tapping songs and buoyed by a sea so gorgeous you’ll want to dive in.

Newcomer Auli’i Cravalho demonstrates powerful pipes and a sparky spirit as our heroine, Moana. It rhymes with Joanna. She’s the headstrong sixteen year old daughter of an overly protective Pacific island chief.

To save her island from disaster and find her own sense of identity, Moana must brave the open sea and combat storms, pirates, and a lava monster.

Moana is accompanied by a shapeshifting trickster Demi-god, Maui. Voiced by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, the outsized physique of the former wrestling champ is strangely less ridiculous as a cartoon than it is in reality.

Nicole Scherzinger and Rachel House play Moana’s mother and grandmother, Jemaine Clement adds a touch of camp as a bling-tastic killer giant crab.

Moana is very much in charge of her own destiny as she runs, dances, jumps, climbs, sails and fights. There is a squabbling sibling rivalry with Maui but never a hint of romance. Moana is fighting for her independence, her tribe, the environment, and her future.

The messages of the importance of challenging personal and career boundaries are never laboured. They’re an integral part of the story, not something ungainly and bolted on. If arbitrarily appointed tests are your thing, Moana turns to her grandmother for advice meaning the Bechdel test is passed with flying colours.

Combining elements of classic films such as Aladdin (1992), and The Sword In The Stone (1963), this musical mystical folktale is a joyous tidal wave of fun which will leave you with absolutely nothing to Moana about.

★★★★★

@ChrisHunneysett

 

 

Storks

Director: Nicholas Stoller, Doug Sweetland (2016) BBFC cert: U

Swooping into cinemas in time for half term, this bird brained animated adventure offers loopy entertainment for the little ones.

The animation is great, the slapstick is fun and its good natured energy propels the silly story along.

Storks have moved out of baby delivering and now operate a delivery service to rival Amazon. In their vast corporate eyrie of a warehouse, the promotion of the top sales rep is threatened when the firm’s adopted human orphan accidentally creates a baby.

Together they set off to deliver the cute bundle of joy to the right address, suffering setbacks and pursued by a wacky pack of wolves along the way.

Kelsey Grammer and Jennifer Aniston are the voices you’ll recognise as the stork CEO and a career minded mum.

Your kids will learn how to guilt trip you into spending time with them and afterwards you should be prepared to answer a few questions as to where babies really come from. So good luck with that.

★★★☆☆

@ChrisHunneysett