Reviews

RogerEbert.com — Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway

By indulging in the exact same instincts it insists are problematic artistically, “Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway” wants to have its carrot and eat it too. Director Will Gluck’s sequel places its farm characters in outrageous situations while simultaneously sneering at such selling out. The furry, CG-animated creatures are seamlessly integrated into...

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RogerEbert.com — Spirit Untamed

If you are an eight-year-old girl and/or you love horses, you will fit into the slim Venn diagram sliver that constitutes the ideal audience for “Spirit Untamed.” It’s a harmless animated adventure that will provide a bland diversion to young viewers. They won’t recognize how it wastes the abilities of...

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RogerEbert.com — The War With Grandpa

What were these people thinking? That’s the question I asked myself over and over again while watching “The War with Grandpa,” a straining family comedy featuring the wildly overqualified Robert De Niro, Uma Thurman, Christopher Walken, Cheech Marin and Jane Seymour. No one needs a paycheck this badly. This goes...

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RogerEbert.com — Smallfoot

The animated “Smallfoot” is full of big ideas: Question authority. Question religion. Think for yourself. Don’t accept the status quo. If only its visuals and dialogue were so ambitious. Channing Tatum, Common, James Corden and Zendaya are among the starry voice cast in this musical comedy in which yetis and...

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Christy by Request — The Pagemaster

“The Pagemaster” is the kind of movie first-grade teachers would have popped into the VCR in the 1990s to kill time on a rainy afternoon. With its rudimentary animation and lame pop-culture puns, it’s simultaneously ghastly and inoffensive. It does what it aims to do for its (very young) target...

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RogerEbert.com — A Kid Like Jake

“A Kid Like Jake” handles a complicated topic with sensitivity and grace. This is not an after-school special. In depicting the life of a Brooklyn couple (Jim Parsons and Claire Danes) whose kindergarten-bound son, Jake (Leo James Davis), enjoys dressing in tutus and pretending he’s a Disney princess, director Silas...

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RogerEbert.com — Nostalgia

Mark Pellington’s “Nostalgia” is an extremely personal exploration of death, loss and memory. It features a strong cast giving their all, including Jon Hamm, Ellyn Burstyn, Bruce Dern and Catherine Keener. But it is just relentlessly somber. My review, at RogerEbert.com. Read the review here...

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RogerEbert.com — Paddington 2

“Paddington 2” is completely charming and exactly what we need right now. And it proves that the wonderful, original “Paddington” was no fluke three years ago. Maybe it’s not the revelation that the first film was, but its central message of being kind to others, even during the most troubling...

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Wine the Flick?! — Coco

It’s a very special day-drinking edition of Wine the Flick?! One of my dearest friends, the brilliant film critic Amy Nicholson, joins me to talk about “Coco” over a couple of glasses of cabernet. We met up at the Snow White Cafe, down Hollywood Boulevard from the historic El Capitan...

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