This review was first published on 23 December 2019. Christmas television is usually pretty inspirational stuff. It makes sense – if you’re going to set a story at the most, magical time of the year, it’s almost impossible for it not to be uplifting in some fashion. Comes with the Continue Reading
Animation
I decorated my 2026 Christmas in July tree with the Tenth Doctor Who, Bluey, Home Alone, Scooby-Doo and Snagglepuss … and more!
(via Shutterstock) When you love Christmas, it’s hard having it pop just once a year. Rather happily, some inventive soul somewhere decided that Christmas in July would work quite nicely, especially in the Southern Hemisphere where it’s cold and wintery and just right for a traditional festive celebration (though we Continue Reading
They sold what now?! Snoopy Presents: There’s No Place Like Home, Snoopy
(courtesy IMDb) SNAPSHOTWhen Snoopy’s beloved doghouse is accidentally sold at a yard sale, he’s devastated. After all, that’s where his imagination first took flight and where he keeps all his favourite things. (courtesy AppleTV) How could they sell Snoopy’s iconic red doghouse out from under him? Sure Sally heard another word Continue Reading
Bring on the mystical hedgehog! Chickenhare & Secret of the Groundhog sets out to save the world (poster + trailer)
SNAPSHOTHaving embraced his difference as what makes him special, nothing can stop Chickenhare from exploring the world with his sidekicks Meg, a martial arts expert skunk, and Abe, a sarcastic turtle. An unexpected encounter with Gina, his sister, radically changes his plans. Chickenhare is not the only one of his Continue Reading
There’s more life out there … it appears we’re Not Alone
(courtesy First Showing) SNAPSHOTIn his first-ever feature-length animated film, 4-time Oscar-nominee Timothée Chalamet stars as Joe, an introverted rocket mechanic who lives a quiet life alone. Co-starring with Chalamet in this story is Selena Gomez who plays Fran, a brilliant astro-botanist who is developing the world’s first-ever plant-fueled rocket. When Continue Reading
Movie review: Minions & Monsters
(courtesy IMP Awards) There’s a glorious sense of escapist release that comes from watching the Minions in action. They are, despite all their efforts to serve the greatest evil down throughout history and to do so with single-minded determination, as klutzy and ridiculous silly as they come, and while some Continue Reading
The short and the short of it: Nube and the sacrifice and love of motherhood
(courtesy IMDb) SNAPSHOTAfter witnessing an old dark stormy cloud painfully rain and die in sorrow, Noma, a puffy white cloud realizes [sic] that Mixtli, her daughter, a dark stormy cloud, is in danger of raining prematurely. Nube is an animated short film written and directed by Mexican filmmakers Diego Alonso Sánchez de Continue Reading
Trailer, trailers, so many streaming trailers! Check out Alley Cats, Lucky and Stuart Fails to Save the Universe
(via Shutterstock) I am, at heart, a vibrant and sustained optimist. I know not because, in the face of a thousand million things to the contrary (there may be some hyperbole there but not much), I still think life is wonderful and has so much to offer. And, and really, Continue Reading
Movie review: Toy Story 5
(courtesy IMP Awards) Five instalments into any movie franchise is a point at which you might wonder if the novelty and fun of the original instalment has been lost or at least diluted beyond any meaningful recognition. It happens to the best of long-running series but rather happily the Toy Continue Reading
Get animated! Trailers drops for Pixar’s Gatto and Disney’s Hexed
(via Shutterstock) I am just a big kid at heart. And while there are some parade rainers and miserable naysayers out there who would ridicule me, a man who is most certainly not a child, for liking animated storytelling, I prefer to celebrate the fact that my inner child is Continue Reading