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family/kids

Pokémon: Detective Pikachu movie review: destined to be Legendary

Tue, May 07, 2019
13 comments

Designed to cash in on the popular mobile game, this kiddie noir nevertheless sparkles with charming originality. Gentle enough for tykes but with satirical bite for grownups, too. Downright adorable.

| 13 Comments

Missing Link movie review: unevolved throwback

Sat, Apr 06, 2019
32 comments

A quite literally cartoonishly awful protagonist, a plot that makes no sense, lowbrow humor, and terrible gender dynamics add up to an unpleasant retro mess.

| 32 Comments

Shazam! movie review: unmarvelous

Tue, Apr 02, 2019
104 comments

Nothing matters in this literal adolescent-male power fantasy, a cheesy mishmash of nonsense and low stakes. Anyone who needs at least a bit of meat in their superhero tales will be disappointed.

| 104 Comments

Dumbo (2019) movie review: you will not believe an elephant can fly

Wed, Mar 27, 2019
28 comments

The most soulless of the live-action Disney remakes yet, weighted down by too many blah characters, too much convoluted plot, unconvincing CGI, and a message that doesn’t say what it thinks it does.

| 28 Comments

Doctor Who: “Logopolis” Fathom Event review: it’s the end, but the moment has been prepared for

Wed, Mar 06, 2019
5 comments

An iconic story from the classic era of the British cult TV favorite comes to US big screens for one night only… and the cleaned-up FX as well as its deceptively simple tale hold up rather well.

| 5 Comments

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World movie review: dragon its feet to a blah finale

Fri, Feb 15, 2019
19 comments

The gorgeous and once glorious fantasy series comes to a flat conclusion, one in which the stakes feel way lower than they should and the spark that once animated and elevated the story is missing.

| 19 Comments

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part movie review: everything is still (mostly) awesome

Thu, Feb 07, 2019
16 comments

Our expectations are a lot higher now after the unexpectedly wildly inventive first movie… and this sequel delivers, digging with witty subversion into Hollywood’s glorification of its male heroes.

| 16 Comments

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse movie review: animation gets reanimated

Wed, Dec 12, 2018
48 comments

Has a verve rare in big-budget movies at the moment. Fun and fresh and legitimately engages with its source material on the levels of story, visuals, and mythology all at once. It feels like discovering storytelling anew.

| 48 Comments
Mirai

Mirai movie review: and baby ruins everything

Thu, Nov 29, 2018
49 comments

This tenderly animated Japanese film about sibling rivalry is lovely with its fantasy, but too convoluted for children and too slight for adults.

| 49 Comments
The Christmas Chronicles Netflix Kurt Russell

The Christmas Chronicles movie review: the Kurt Russell–as–Santa Claus movie you didn’t know you needed

Thu, Nov 29, 2018
9 comments

Kurt Russell’s hot biker Santa is naughty and nice, but this otherwise discount holiday schmaltz is only half onboard with him.

| 9 Comments
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