DreamWorks Animation/20th Century Fox Rated PG for mild thematic elements. Running time: 93 minutes. One and a half stars out of four. A few quick thoughts on “Home,” which I inadvertently have seen twice now in less than a week: 1. The first time I saw it was by myself...
Read more
Reviews
RogerEbert.com — The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
This second feature-length film based on the long-running “SpongeBob Squarepants” TV series is as zippy and zany as fans have come to expected. The animated, underwater sequences are a blast. It’s the back-and-forth to live action on dry land that’s the problem. My mixed RogerEbert.com review. Read the review...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Penguins of Madagascar
“Penguins of Madagascar,” a spin-off from the “Madagascar” franchise, is zippy and zany and much funnier than you might expect. I laughed the whole way through — because the vast majority of the humor is for us and not our kids. Still, this animated comedy is super family-friendly. My RogerEbert.com...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — The King and the Mockingbird
This beautiful and beautifully strange animated film, which originally was released in France in 1980, has taken a long and tortured road to reach the United States. It’s a surreal satire of the perils of tyranny, told in twisted fairy tale form. Try and find it if it comes anywhere...
Read moreWhat the Flick?! — Big Hero 6
“Big Hero 6” is lively and lovely and all kinds of adorable. Not groundbreaking, necessarily, but enjoyable, with themes of friendship and teamwork as well as a dark streak. I actually liked “Feast,” the short that plays beforehand, way better....
Read moreWhat the Flick?! — The Boxtrolls
They’re trolls … in boxes. The painstaking stop-motion animation is impressive, but the overall tone of this family-friendly action comedy is rather grim and joyless. There’s a grotesquery to the characters and settings that can be darkly amusing at times but eventually feels smothering. We’re all kinda scattered on this...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Rocks in My Pockets
Latvian-born artist Signe Baumane dares to trace the origins of her depression and suicidal urges throughout her family, and she does so through colorful animation and darkly humorous narration. Her film is both bold and exhausting, but Baumane’s candor is refreshing. My mixed RogerEbert.com review. Read the review here...
Read moreMovies With Friends — Planes: Fire & Rescue
It’s been a few months since I’ve done one of these Movies With Friends things so I thought it was time, and I thought I’d try it again with Nicolas. About a year ago, I took him to see “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2” and we talked about...
Read moreWhat the Flick?! — How to Train Your Dragon 2
The sequel “How to Train Your Dragon 2” is wondrous, colorful and vibrant. But it also dares to present some very serious themes and see them through to their completion. I took Nicolas to see it and he was only slightly frightened of the character Djimon Hounsou voices: a villain...
Read moreWhat the Flick?! — Maleficent
The evil fairy who cursed Aurora in “Sleeping Beauty” gets an origin story, as so many iconic characters have in recent years. It’s a role that would seem to be tailor-made for the formidable talents of Angelina Jolie, and while she does look striking, she seems strangely hemmed in. I...
Read more