In our narcissistic age, it’s fitting that we have more films for kids about its consequences, particularly when Hollywood has such a draw. This animated film is about a “sidekick, a nobody” who has aspirations for greatness like the known superheroes enjoy. Robin (Menville) is chafing about his insignificance in the superhero world, and his team’s references […]
With all the adult themes (such as the complexities in relationships, literary references, and details in the plot), it’s hard to see how Sherlock Gnomes is a film for children, despite its being animated. Following Sherlock’s (Depp) reasoning through problems and clues is way over the kids’ heads; observing the intricacies of relationships between Sherlock
This frothy confection using a kaleidoscope of pastels is made for little girls who cherish dolls, animals, sugar and spice and everything nice. Fortunately, it also conveys messages about friendship (“Friendship is magic”), teamwork, loyalty, creativity, forgiveness, and a sense of responsibility for those in one’s charge. It has bold adventure, excitement, and near-escapes to
Leap! inspires viewers and has messages for children about how to succeed to achieve your dream. Yes, you need to work hard, maybe cut a few corners (careful!), know who your friends are, have people rooting for you (but not distracting you), and cash in on a lot of luck. And, by the way, you
The setting of this animation of absolutely no value is grade school with a mean principal, Mr. Krupp (Helms) who has it in for two student cartoonists, George (Hart) and Harold (Middleditch), pranksters who constantly thwart Krupp’s efforts. Of course, he is shown as being just as humorless and bad as the two pranksters are
This nWave animated production comes from Belgium, but the language for U.S. release is in English. Directors are Vincent Kesteloot and Ben Stassen. It’s basically an extended cartoon, with endless chases and miraculous last-minute saves. There are some implied messages, but these will likely go over preschool children’s heads, the audience for which I think
This is the seventh in a series of Ice Age films, and is largely empty animation and special effects without much of a story. My interest was piqued when I saw that Neil DeGrasse Tyson was going to be one of the voices in the film, in hopes that it would have some educational value;
It’s so refreshing to see a children’s film that has so much going for it. Zootopia’s palette and visual effects are beautifully dimensional and the picture contains endearing and diverse animal characters that behave so human, some really fine observations about our own species can be drawn from them in terms that children can easily