Tag Archives: animation

Cat in the Hat (2026)

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I hated the trailers for this movie. I love Dr. Seuss, but I dreaded every time they showed the trailer for the new animated Cat in the Hat film featuring Bill Hader as the feline protagonist. It made me really not want to see the film. I just did not want to go see it. Nevertheless, I put aside my lack of anticipation and went to Cinemark tonight to see the new film.

Unexpectedly, I found myself enjoying the movie.

While it was nowhere near as epic as some of the other animated movies this year, I was entertained by the movie. Perhaps it was because my expectations were so low heading into it that I thought the new Cat in the Hat was worthwhile.

Cat in the Hat (Bill Hader) was here with shenanigans as he was given one final chance to show that he could help his clients raise their emotional stakes without causing complete chaos. He wound up with a family who had moved to a new neighborhood and the young girl Gabby (Xochitl Gomez) was struggling with the transition. The Cat in the Hat brought his own brand of kookiness into Gabby’s and her brother Sebastian’s (Tiago Martinez) world.

The voice cast was interesting as it included America Ferrera, Giancarlo Esposito, Paula Pell, Matt Berry (who was Laszlo from What We Do in the Shadows- a voice that I was trying to place all through the movie), Tituss Burgess, Bowen Yang, Ryan Gaffney, and the late, great Eric Bauza.

There are some creative montages in the movie. The look of it is spectacular. I liked the ideas behind much of the film. The concept of the Cat in the Hat singing his own theme song through the movie was funny. The story did have some heart to it and I appreciated the effort it gave to make it as emotional that it was.

The story itself was rather messy, and the character of the Cat in the Hat felt inconsistent at times. There were times where it seemed as if the Cat in the Hat had his own secret agenda when it came to Gabby and it seemed as if the Cat knew what he was doing. However, there were a couple of times when the movie explained to us that the Cat was doing the stuff he was doing for his own benefit, and that never came across in the film. That bit of storytelling was confusing.

The whole stuff with Mr. Hoogeboom (Giancarlo Esposito) made little sense and did not seem to really give any reason for the choices that were made. Everything about the company that Cat in the Hat worked for did not work well for me.

Still, overall, I thought this was an entertaining way to spend a early Friday evening. I do believe that I entered with such low expectations that the movie couldn’t help but exceed them. However, exceed them, it did. It may not be on the level of a Wildwood, Toy Story 5, Hoppers, Forgotten Island or Coyote vs. Acme, but it is definitely better than Goat or Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

I also want to shout out to the short that led off the film, “Daffy Season.” It was starting the Looney Tunes, especially Daffy Duck, who wanted the attention of Duck Season, only to find Elmer Fudd entranced by soccer season. Seeing the Looney Tunes characters back in these shorts was such a treat, although, again, it made me sad thinking about the loss of Eric Bauza as this will be his final voice performance.

3.4 stars

Wildwood

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The new Laika top-action animation film was released this weekend. It was named Wildwood, and the trailers for this film looked tremendous. After seeing the whole film, it was even better than tremendous.

According to IMDB, “The adventures of Prue McKeel as she sets off to the forests outside Portland to find her kidnapped brother.“

Prue McKeel was voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee, and she was the main protagonist as she attempted to enter the Impassable Forest to save her little brother Mac, who had been abducted by a murder of crows.

The story is a master class in narrative storytelling. Everything combines together in such a perfect way and there are no loose ends or unimportant moments. Every character had an arc and the story did not leave anyone out. It is a top notch, emotional film that had me teary eyed in several moments of the third act.

It is also a masterpiece in stop-motion animation. It was the best stop-motion animation that I think I have ever seen. Every moment on the screen was gorgeous and filled with imagery and amazing color. I think this may be my favorite animation of the year.

The voice cast was powerful too. Along with Peyton Elizabeth Lee, the cast included Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Richard E. Grant, Mahershala Ali, Jemaine Clement, Tom Waits, Charlie Day, Tantoo Cardinal, Marc Evan Jackson, Jake Johnson, Angela Bassett, Awkwafina, Maya Erskine, and Amandla Stenberg.

This is an epic fantasy that does not spare on the violence because it is animated. Several characters are killed and it is right up front about it. This is not a film for the youngest of the kids, but mid to teen would love this. It is such an amazing feature that showed what filmmakers are capable of with the medium. Director Travis Knight, who directed Kubo and the Two Strings, Bumblebee, and new Masters of the Universe, was also a producer on ParaNorman and Missing Link. He clearly has some skill when it comes to animation.

There are not many flaws to this magnificent movie. It may be a touch long, but it did not feel that way.

5 stars

Daily Countdown: Animated Movies #33

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#33

Zootopia

Released: March 4, 2016

Runtime: 108 minutes

Rating: PG

Animation Style: 3D computer-animated style

Studio: Disney

The original Zootopia is a movie that came out of nowhere to be a highly entertaining film. A big part of the film’s success could be given to the characters of Judy Hopp and Nick Wilde.

Voice cast:  Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, Nate Torrence, Bonnie Hunt, Don Lake, Tommy Chong, J. K. Simmons, Octavia Spencer, Alan Tudyk, Shakira, Phil Johnston, John DiMaggio, Katie Lowes, Gita Reddy, Jesse Corti , Tom Lister Jr., Josh Dallas, Leah Latham, Rich Moore, Fabienne Rawley, Peter Mansbridge, Byron Howard, Jared Bush, Mark Rhino Smith, Josie Trinidad,John Lavelle, and Kristen Bell. 

Moana (2026)

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Disney has been doing live-action remakes of their animated movies for decades now, but the most recent push of this trend started with Alice in Wonderland in 2010. Since then, we have gotten Maleficent, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, The Lion King (although it is technically all animated), Beauty and the Beast, Dumbo, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Mulan, Snow White, and Lilo & Stitch. This weekend, the most recent of the animated movies to receive this treatment debuted in theaters.

Moana, the animated series was released in 2016, and just under ten years later, the live-action film was made and released.

I did not watch the original animated Moana before going to see the new live-action film, which was probably a good idea. I believe if I had watched the animation, I would have not enjoyed the live action version at all. Fact is that the Moana live action is a complete recreation of the 2016 animated version with almost nothing new, and it would have stood out even more had I watched the animated movie in preparation for the new film.

Another problem with the film is that the look of the new film is nowhere near as vibrant and magical as the animated film. This looked like they had a lot of the live action actors filming in front of a green screen or an animated background, which you can see easily. The best section of the film was in the middle of Dwayne Johnson’s song “You’re Welcome” when they animated everything.

Catherine Laga’aia as Moana was probably my favorite part of the film as I thought she was lovely and I could not take my eyes off her. Her performance was solid, and I believe she has potential to be much better in future projects. Laga’aia had a presence on screen that really worked for me.

Dwayne Johnson, who I love so much, felt much more underwhelming than he did in the animated movie. There were times when he was noticeably more thick in the waist and torso area than he was in other moments of the film making me think they did some CGI with him, or perhaps put a muscle suit on him. It was noticeable, and not in a good way.

The songs were all decent, except for “Shiny” by Jemaine Clement as Tamatoa. I thought that sounded terrible, so bad that I wondered if it was the theater’s sound system that was causing the problem. The other songs sounded fine so I am not sure why this standout song sounded so poor to me.

I did enjoy the live action dance sequences showing off Polynesian culture, especially in the opening scenes. I wish the backgrounds would have helped amplify the beauty of the dance, but it did not help it at all.

While it sounds like I did not enjoy this movie, I did like it. It is the same movie as 2016’s Moana, and I loved that movie. It does feel like the same movie, but with less of that Disney magic. If you have never seen the animated movie, this would be a sufficient remake, but if you have Disney + and have never seen the animated movie, watch that version.

2.9 stars

Toy Story 3 (2010)

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I finished off the original Toy Story trilogy tonight by watching Toy Story 3 on Disney +. Toy Story 3 is one of my all-time favorite animated films. It is top 3 for sure, if not number one. It had been too long since I have seen it. After the viewing tonight, I can say with certainty that this remains an all-time classic.

Andy has grown up and is about to head off to college, which means that he has to make a decision about what he is going to do with his toys. When they accidentally get thrown out, the toys decide to get themselves donated to a daycare. However, the daycare turned out to be nowhere near as awesome as they thought it would be.

There are a couple of reasons why I loved this movie as much as I did. First up was the arrival of what I consider one of the greatest Disney villains of all time in Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear, voiced by the iconic Ned Beatty. Lotso was such an evil character, but I could completely understand his story. I thought his origin story, which was told in flashbacks, was just perfection. Everything that Lotso did was relatable because of the trauma of being lost and replaced. It turned him bitter and angry, something that he never got over.

The second thing that made me love this movie was one of the most dramatic and suspenseful scenes you are going to get in any movie, let alone a Pixar kids movie. The scene where Woody, Buzz and all of the others were in the incinerator, slowly moving toward the flames. When I first saw that scene in the theaters, I actually couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I couldn’t see a way out for them and I truly thought that the film was going to send them all to a fiery grave. This time, I saw the foreshadowing with the little aliens on how they get rescued, but when I first saw this in 2010, I was sure they were all goners. It was one of the most effective scenes I had ever scene and one of Pixar’s greatest.

Thirdly, the final scene with Andy and Bonnie was spectacular, filled with real emotions, that couldn’t help but bring tears to my eyes. It was so beautifully written that you just can’t help it.

Another brilliant scene was the escape plan organized by Woody to get out of the daycare. The plan revealed some amazing skills for the different toys involved. Everybody had an important role to play and the ending of it with the confrontation with Lotso was such an amazing moment.

Buzz getting turned back into the Space Ranger and then eventually to the Spanish version was hilarious. Tim Allen does a great job voicing that character. It was wonderful to get the voices back for Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, Estelle Harris, Jodie Benson, Laurie Metcalf, and John Morris.

We got some new voices too. Michael Keaton joined the cast as Ken, Barbie’s boy toy. Blake Clark replaced Jim Varney as Slinky Dog after Varney’s death in 2000.

This is a masterpiece of a film, filled with heart, emotion and a connection to one’s things that everyone can relate to. Toy Story 3 is easily my favorite of all the Toy Story movies and right up there with Into the Spider-Verse and Inside Out.

Toy Story 2 (1999)

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I have not seen Toy Story 2 very many times. Of the three original Toy Story movies, Toy Story 2 was my least favorite. That is not saying that is was a bad movie. In fact, it is a sensational film, but the other two Toy Story films are just so exceptional.

I did a rewatch of Toy Story 2 tonight and I found it much the same way. It is extremely clever and well-written. I laughed out loud multiple times.

According to IMDB, “When Woody is stolen by a toy collector, Buzz and his friends set out on a rescue mission to save Woody before he becomes a museum toy property with his roundup gang Jessie, Prospector, and Bullseye.“

All of our favorite voices are back including Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, John Ratzenberger, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, Annie Potts, Laurie Metcalf, and John Morris. The voice cast had several huge additions with Joan Cusack as Jessie, Kelsey Grammar as the Prospector, Wayne Knight as the toy collector Al, Jodie Benson as Barbie, Andrew Stanton as Zurg, and Estelle Harris as Mrs. Potato Head.

The idea that Woody was a rare and popular toy that completed the set was a fun way to take the story. It brought us Jessie and Woody’s horse, Bullseye. I could relate to the collector part of the story, and I would have loved to have seen Al arrive in Japan only to find Woody gone.

I was not a fan of the musical song detailing Jessie’s origin. That felt too overly sentimental and manipulative on the emotions. It felt like the movie could have done this in a much more effective way. That was the one spot in the film where I thought the story took a dip.

Toy Story 2 is still on the lower end of the three original Toy Story movies for me (although it would be ahead of Toy Story 4 as of now). Though it was my least favorite of the three, does not mean it is not a spectacular movie with amazing CGI, clever writing, amazing characters and funny lines.

Next up will be Toy Story 3… one of my favorite animated movies of all time.

Toy Story (1995)

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I was watching a YouTube watch along with Toy Story, the original from 1995 and I realized that I had never reviewed Toy Story (or Toy Story 2 or Toy Story 3) at EYG. With Toy Story 5 coming up later this summer, I thought this would be a great idea to watch and review these absolute classic films.

Spoilers: Toy Story is epic!

The arrival of Buzz Lightyear, a special action figure, in Andy’s room throws off the balance of power among the other toys, who are able to come to life when Andy is not watching. Cowboy Woody, who was always Andy’s favorite toy, felt the pressure of the new toy and reacted with a lot of jealousy, which put both of the toys in jeopardy.

This movie is so great. It is brilliantly constructed in the writing, so clever and funny. The movie is able to put these toys into situations that everyone could relate with and built some of the best animated characters of all time. The relationship between Buzz and Woody developed naturally and believably, and the remainder of the toys in Andy’s room added so much to the comedy and the overall storyline.

Tom Hanks is absolutely perfect as Woody, and I can’t think of another voice over actor that could be better as Buzz Lightyear than Tim Allen. The rest of the voice cast included classic actors such as Don Rickles, Annie Potts, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Laurie Metcalf, and John Morris.

The animation is spectacular. Everything looked so amazing that you believed that these toys were coming to life.

The showdown with the misfit toys, Woody and Sid was just tremendous. The writing on this was so wonderful and it showed Woody finally as the leader that he was and not the jealous toy wishing he was better than Buzz.

The Randy Neuman music is amazing too and the theme “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” could not be more perfect.

I am so happy that I was able to watch this on Disney + and I am looking forward to seeing Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3 (which is one of my favorite movies of all time) again.

2026 Oscar Nominated Shorts- Live Action & Animated

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Spoilers

Every year, I go down to Cinemark the weekend of the Academy Awards so I can see the Live-Action Short Films and Animated Short Films that had been nominated for Oscars. It is always fun seeing these in their blocks.

It was weird this year because the shows were being produced by Roadside Attractions instead of the company that normally did it. It also said that the show was being presented by Taika Waititi, but I never saw or heard one thing from him. That was strange.

I am going to list my personal favorites from 5-1 here. This is not my Oscar predictions. It was just the ones I liked the best. In fact, i can almost 100% guarantee that my favorite of the Live-Action Shorts will NOT be the Oscar winner. I plan on doing my official predictions either later tonight or some time tomorrow before the ceremony.

Kicking off with the LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILMS

#5. Butcher’s Stain. This was my least favorite of all the shorts I saw today. It is a drama taking place in a supermarket in Tel Aviv. I had a hard time getting into this one. I was not interested and found little to grab my attention.

#4. The Singers. This was a fun short. It was the first one we were shown today and it featured a group of men in a bar, drinking and betting on who had the best singing voice. It had some great singing on it, but, while entertaining, I did not find, much depth in the short.

#3. Two People Exchanging Saliva. Weird. Wild. A strange world where kissing is frowned upon and the people go to the extreme of having terrible breath to ward off the kissers. It is also a society that pays for things by getting slapped in the face. This is such a bizarre short that it was tough to follow, but it fit right in with films like Bugonia.

#2. Friends of Dorothy. A sweet short that featured a young man (Alistair Nwachukwu) who meets an older woman (Miriam Margolyes) and they bond over plays. The young man secretly wishes to be an actor and the older woman is encouraging him to do so. This is such a sentimental flick, but it is very engaging as well.

#1. Jane Austen’s Period Drama. This was, BY FAR, my favorite short of the day. It was hilarious. The title lets you know what type of short this is going to be… and the “period” in the title does not refer to a time frame. The names of these characters were making me laugh every time they were mentioned. We had Estrogenia, Labinia, Mr. James Dickley, Mrs. Bitts,  Dr. Bangley, and my personal favorite… Miss Vagianna. It sticks with these jokes throughout the film and it was amazingly funny. Again, while I would love seeing this as an Oscar winner, I can almost guarantee that it will not win. It is definitely my personal favorite though.

Next… Animated Short Films

#5. Forevergreen. The relationship between a bear cub and a tree. Yes, that is what I said. While this was fine, it felt very heavy-handed in its story and I simply found the story not to my liking. Perhaps it was too saccharin.

#4. Three Sisters. I liked this one. It was the first animated short they showed us, and it had some real funny moments with characters who barely made a sound, let alone speak. Three Sisters is quirky and unique and worked well with the animation that it gave us. There were some laugh out loud moments too.

#3. Retirement Plan. Narrated by Domhnall Gleeson, this short follows the life of a man who has just retired and who has planned on doing all kinds of things. We get a list of these plans as the unnamed man gets older with every one. This is very solid animated film with some strong moments. Gleeson does a tremendous job narrating the short. It takes us right up to the man’s death (and actually beyond it) and it is a good short.

#2. The Girl Who Cried Pearls. If I were talking about story only, this might have been my favorite. However the animation of the short was tough on me the whole time. Not only did the characters suffer from the old uncanny valley, their faces were just not what I wanted to see. While most of the film looked great, none of the characters did and it hurt a film that I think was one of the better ones I saw.

#1. Butterfly (aka Papillon). This was an absolutely beautiful short with a very powerful story of swimmer Alfred Nakache. Not only does the film focus on his swimming, it also has comments on the Holocaust and the cruelty of the Nazis. The animation style felt like we were constantly seeing everything in a water color background and it was gorgeously designed. I thought this was the best animated short we saw by a great distance.

2025 EYG Year in Review: Frame Award-Animation

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EYG Frame Award- Best Animation

Previous Winners: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, Coco, Moana, Inside Out, Big Hero 6, Flashpoint Paradox, Paranorman, Winnie the Pooh, Klaus, Wolfwalkers, Mitchells vs. the Machines, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Inside Out 2

We had a really great year for animation this year. In fact, I usually connect this with the Worst Animation movie too, but I could not find one that I hadn’t given a fresh review to so I am just giving the Frame Award out. All positives here and that is great.

(Of course, I did not see Smurfs, which probably would have been that place.)

2025 Animated Movies: There are a couple of films that I would not put on the list which would be Elio and Stitch Head. Both are acceptable films. Elio might be considered weak if you used the Pixar metric to judge it, but other wise, it was decent.

Top 9 animated films of 2025.

#9. Dog Man. I did not like the trailers for this, but the film itself was decent.

#8. Ne Zha 2. This made almost 2 billions worldwide, but almost nothing in the US. Fun flick though.

#7. The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Loony Tunes Movie. This was fun, but I would have rather had Bugs Bunny than Daffy and Porky. Still, it was Loony Tunes goodness.

#6. In Your Dreams. A good film on Netflix that deals with family issues (specifically divorce).

#5. The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants. One of the most recent animated films that surprised me with how funny I found it. Mark Hamill always helps.

#4. Bad Guys 2. A sequel that was just about as good as the original with some fun characters in wild situations.

#3. Predator: Killer of Killers. The Hulu animated film in the Predator franchise. It really was a solid film and led into the badlands films brilliantly.

#2. K-Pop Demon Hunters. A film that should not have been this high on my list, but it had exciting story, great music and beautiful animation.

and #1….

Zootopia 2

This is possibly the highest grossing film of the year (we will see how Avatar ends up), but Zootopia has broken the billion dollar club and is just a really awesome story as well. The voice acting is tremendous and it is a really solid film in the Disney studios.

Zootopia 2

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Zootopia was a giant surprise hit in 2016 when it broke one billion dollars worldwide. With that much box office success, one would wonder why it took nearly ten years to have a sequel.

Zootopia 2 is an excellent new animated movie that does a great job of providing a new story and continuing the awesome partnership between Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde.

According to IMDB, “Brave rabbit cop Judy Hopps and her friend, the fox Nick Wilde, team up again to crack a new case, the most perilous and intricate of their careers.“

Ginnifer Godwin and Jason Bateman are the voices of Judy and Nick respectfully. They do a fantastic job with these characters and their voice work is part of the reason this pair is so good together. They are also written well as any friendship you’ll find in the movies.

There is a great voice cast along with Godwin and Bateman. This included Ke Huy Quan, Fortune Feimster, Andy Samberg, Dasvid Strathairn, Idris Elba, Shakira, Patrick Warburton, Danny Trejo, Quinta Brunson, and Bonnie Hunt. In a fun bit of casting, the Zebros were voiced by pro wrestlers, Joe Anoa’i (aka Roman Reigns) and Phil Brooks (aka C.M. Punk).

I liked the story of the film as well. It was nicely developed without succumbing to the sequel-itis where the sequel tried to do way too much, cramming it in. However, this felt very well constructed and worked well. I was worried at first that there would be too much here and make the story feel convoluted, but it came together nicely as it progressed.

The character design is amazing, and the creativity is off the charts. The animation looked fantastic and you could tell that they were having a lot of fun with the film as it translated to the screen.

It had real emotion and some wonderful character moments. It was also hilarious and filled with some great animated action. It was worth the wait to see a sequel.

4.2 stars

Ne Zha II

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If you were not someone who followed box office results, you would not have any idea the answer to the question, “What is the biggest worldwide box office film of 2025?” The answer is the Chinese film Ne Zha II. It has nearly reached $2 billion worldwide, with not much of that total coming from domestic.

Ne Zha II is receiving a wide release in the US, which could push the film to join the $2 billion club.

According to IMDB, “After a great catastrophe, the souls of Nezha and Aobing are saved, but their bodies face ruin. To give them new life, Taiyi Zhenren turns to the mystical seven-colored lotus in a daring bid to rebuild them and change their fate.“

I am going to start off with the strength of this movie. It is, perhaps, the most spectacularly animated movie I have ever seen. Everything about the imagery on the screen was absolutely stunning. The images, the character design, the backgrounds, art design, the colors…. it was legitimately the greatest looking animated movie I have ever seen and that is saying quite a lot.

I usually prefer when a live action film uses subtitles instead of dubbing because the original voices tend to have the proper emotion. That is not usually the case with animated films that I have seen dubbed. Ne Zha II was dubbed with English and, if I am being honest, I was unimpressed with the voice over work. Part of that may have been how the main character of Ne Zha sounded, as he was screaming in that Anime manner, and I have never been a fan of that. None of the voices stood out to me and I found that a weakness of this version of the film. Of course, I do not speak Chinese, so there is that.

The story was a touch confusing, and that might be because this is a sequel to a film from 2019 that I had never seen. I think they updated that part in the opening exposition, or, at least, that is what I guessed. There was another part of the film that I did not love and that was the attempts at humor. I did not find most of the humor to work and I might have preferred them to stick to the action.

Speaking of the action, it was exceptional. This was part of the animation and it was wonderfully laid out and was amazing to look at in every battle. Everything was laid out perfectly and helped build the tension of the film and most of the action also helped to develop the characters.

Ne Zha II is a massive success and is one of the most visually stunning films of all time. It is also the most successful monetary film of all time too. I am glad that I got a chance to see it even the movie may have a few drawbacks when it comes to story and time. It was certainly worth the two and a half hours it took to watch it.

3.9 stars

Bad Guys 2

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Bad Guys 2 is the newest animated film from DreamWorks, released this weekend. It was a sequel to a surprise hit from a few years ago.

The previous movie was fine, but I did not love it. How would the sequel rate in my mind by comparison? About the same really. Honestly, I would say that this sequel is a little better than the first one.

The Bad Guys are a group of reformed criminals who found it difficult to get opportunities as former criminals in the world. After struggling to find gainful employment on the right side of the law, the Bad Guys are recruited by a new group of criminals to join them for a gigantic theft on a worldwide scale.

I had some troubles with this movie. In particular, I did not like the style of animation that they were using. There was something that I was just not on board with in the animation. I believe it was the way they mixed the three dimensional animation with two dimensional flat looking animation. A lot of it was the eyes of the characters, which seemed to be a different animation style than the rest of the characters’ bodies. It bothered me and it took me out of the story several times.

I was not a huge fan of the story being told either, though I did appreciate the messages that the story was holding to and how they were looking at certain concepts. They definitely looked at how difficult it was to “go good” when no one believed you had gone good. Some of the story was a little slow and predictable.

Of course, they spent a lot of time with the fart jokes. Now, I shouldn’t criticize that since I found the fart jokes in Naked Gun today funny, but they kept it at a scene or so where as this was a main character trait for Mr. Piranha.

However, I will eventually recommend this movie and the biggest reason is for the characters involved and the voice actors of the film. The voice work is easily the best part of the movie. Whether it be Sam Rockwell as Mr. Wolf, the lead of the film, or Zazie Beetz as Diane, his love interest and the current governor. Whether it be Marc Meron as Mr. Snake and his love interest Susan, voiced by the wonderful Natasha Lyonne. Whether it be Danielle Brooks as the main villain Kitty Kat or Craig Robinson as Mr. Shark. This cast was great.

I left out Anthony Ramos as Mr. Piranha, Awkwafina as Ms. Tarantula, Alex Borstein as Chief (actually she is the Commissioner) Misty Luggins (and I think she stole all the scenes she was in), and Maria Bakalova as Pigtail. All of these characters had their moments in the film and helped pull what was not the best film I had seen into a much more watchable time at the theater.

In the end, I am giving this a higher rating than the original, but neither of these Bad Guys films are knocking my socks off. They are okay and that is about it.

3.3 stars

Elio

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The latest Pixar movie was released this weekend. It is entitled Elio and, to be honest, it was a film that I was not looking forward to because I just did not enjoy the trailers for the film. It is a brand new IP from Pixar and, while I have enjoyed most of Pixar movies, I just was not excited for this one.

After seeing this, I would say that it is a solid Pixar movie, but that I would not consider it in the top tier of the company’s oeuvre.

According to IMDB, “Elio, a space fanatic with an active imagination, finds himself on a cosmic misadventure where he must form new bonds with alien lifeforms, navigate a crisis of intergalactic proportions and somehow discover who he is truly meant to be.“

I did like the character of Elio, which was something that I worried about from the trailers. The film does a really good job of setting up Elio’s troubles and issues that lead him to look to the stars. Yonas Kibreab (who played Finn in Netflix’s adaptation of Sweet Tooth) does a solid job of voicing Elio, and I bought the relationship between him and his alien friend Glordon (voiced by Remy Edgerly). Much of the film will be centered around that relationship and if it does not work, the film will be in trouble.

The script does a good job of, while being familiar to other Pixar type films, avoiding the Pixar tropes that we have become used to over the years.

The voice cast is very good for the film including Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett, Brendan Hunt, Jameela Jamil, Matthias Schweighöfer, and Brandon Moon.

The design of the characters and the setting is standout, creating a glorious fantasy setting for our characters to work through. It will absolutely give young children something to keep their focus on.

I do think it takes some time getting going and has characters doing things that they may not be capable of doing, but there are some good messages in the film and I do think it will be a good family watch. It certainly was better than I initially thought it would be even if it is near the bottom of the Pixar film list.

3.75 stars

Flow

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Today’s entry in the June Swoon is an Academy Award winner, and you can see why. Flow won the Oscar for the Best Animated Feature at the 2025 Academy Awards, knocking off such luminaries as Wild Robot, Inside Out 2 and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.

Flow follows the life of a dark grey cat that was living in a forest. A massive flood swept through the land, leading the cat to struggle to survive in a variety of ways.

During the film, the cat meets up with a group of different animals that form a sort of crew, especially while they were on a felucca. The cat joined up with a yellow Labrador Retriever, a ring-tailed lemur, a capybara and a secretary bird.

These animals were not anthropomorphic. They acted like the individual animals would act. The dog was playful and clearly looking to please. The lemur was a thief, collecting trinkets and shiny objects. The capybara, which is a type of rodent, laid around. There were some moments where it felt as if the animal characters transcended their natures and became something more.

The cat served as the POV of the film, as we see things through its eyes. The survival instincts of the cat was on display throughout the film in such a harrowing instance that you could not help but root for these animals.

I am a cat lover and so it was very easy to get into Flow. There were multiple perilous events along the path of this adventure that placed the cat in jeopardy. The whole showdown with the flock of secretary birds was tense and frightening.

There were a couple of scenes that went past just survival and looked at themes of life and death. One, involving the secretary bird, was a lovely moment that leaves you to deduce what exactly had occurred. There was a second scene involving a mutated whale that had saved the cat from drowning earlier in the movie. This scene was heartbreaking.

Flow was beautifully animated with such amazing visuals across the board. The artistic mastery created an incredible tone throughout Flow and some of the visuals with the cat and fish in the water was astounding.

With no dialogue, Flow was able to tell this story through some amazing characters and some fantastic music. According to Wikipedia, the cat of sound designer Gurwal Coïc-Gallas provided the meows for the cat in the movie, which I thought was a funny piece of trivia. It also provided that realistic sound that enhanced the viewing treat.

While I am not sure if I would have given Flow the Oscar over The Wild Robot, there can be no denying that this is a masterful animated film full of life and love and friendship.

Lilo & Stitch (2025)

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As I was sitting in the theater with the credits rolling, I heard a family coming down the steps. The mom asked the little boy what he thought of his first movie, to which he responded with an enthusiastic ‘great.’ I sat there thinking how cool that was. I do not remember what my own first movie in theater was, but I know how the experience can be such an enjoyable moment.

I just recently rewatched the 2002 animated movie Lilo & Stitch to prepare for the remake and I thought that was an enjoyable watch though I would not say that I found it a Disney all-time classic.

The Disney live action remakes have been largely not some of my favorite films with a few exceptions on the list. This film is one that I think would be a decent film, especially for a family viewing experience, much like the little boy whose first theater movie was this.

I do wonder if this film has a real purpose for existing outside of $$$. Now, to be fair, all movies are looking to make money, but there have been some of these Disney remakes that just do not feel as if they have any soul, any real magic that the animated films had in excess.

Still, I do think that, for the most part, the 2025 Lilo & Stitch was fine. There were some plot and character adjustments from the animated movie, but nothing that jumped out at me.

The CGI Stitch was well done and worked as a character, which was vital if you wanted this movie to work. Voiced by the original voice actor, Chris Sanders, Stitch was every bit the rapscallion that he was in the animated movie. Young Maia Kealoha made her acting debut as Lilo, and she did a decent job. Some of the trailers for the film did not highlight the strongest aspects of Maia’s work so to see it in context made it work so much more. Again, if Lilo did not work, this movie would have flopped.

The comedic pairing of Billy Magnussen and Zach Galifianakis as Pleakley and Jumba was good casting as they played off each other quite well. I did miss the voice of the late David Ogden Stiers from the animated film. Sydney Agudong played the role of Lilo’s sister Nani and I thought she was wonderful. She had a film presence that stood out on the screen. Courtney B. Vance, Amy Hill, Tia Carrere, Hannah Waddingham, and Kaipo Dudoit added to the ensemble of the film.

In the end, this was a fine film that did its job, basically. I am sure that there will be plenty of children who see this movie as their first ever movie in a theater and that is a wonderful thing. This would be a good film for that honor.

3.4 stars