![]() ![]() Rewatching Little Giants as an adult, I’m surprised by how much it focuses on sexism in sports: when a talented football player named Becky (a.k.a. Even if the plot is pat and not particularly ambitious, an underdog story with a cast of kooky characters will always play well with young kids. The Mighty Ducks series qualifies as one of the franchises maligned by critics but beloved by those who grew up with this crew of hockey misfits on the Disney Channel. But the story itself has impressive depth. Disappointingly, the main characters are nearly all voiced by white characters despite the story being set in Japan. The animation of those pieces of paper flitting into shape, in particular, stands out. Kubo, the hero of this story who has suffered great loss in his young life, casts a spell on his audience with his ability to manipulate music and origami for the sake of storytelling and, when occasion demands it, battle. Instead, it appeals to younger audiences with its frantic escape gambits while reserving the laughs for adults. Would you believe me if I told you a story about chickens (literally) trying to fly the coop had some of the best action sequences in all of animated film? This witty piece of filmmaking from the Wallace and Gromit team refuses to play down to kids. In the process, it conveys the valuable message that anyone can wear the mask, not just guys who look like Peter Parker. The movie offers up a new Spider-Man in the form of a Black, Puerto Rican Brooklyn teen named Miles Morales-well, technically it offers many new Spider-Men as parallel universes crash into one another. The visually stunning, Oscar-winning movie breathes new life into the tired superhero genre. But three wise-cracking gargoyles and a message of acceptance buoy this movie its uplifting conclusion. This somewhat solemn film about outcasts fighting against religious zealotry and threatened extermination has some gorgeous songs and scenery-the illustrations of Notre Dame are particularly poignant now, in the years after a fire consumed much of that landmark. The ridiculously naive but super strong hero is surrounded by characters with schticks-a cynical femme fatale named Meg, a villain who talks like a Hollywood agent in Hades and Danny DeVito as a satyr who acts exactly like, well, Danny DeVito. ![]() Hercules is zanier and a bit less earnest than most of the other animated Disney films. Still, we ought to be grateful for this surprisingly witty take on the Sherlock Holmes tropes starring a mouse named Basil who lives on Baker Street and rides a hound. It’s unclear why in the ’80s and ’90s studios churned out so many children’s movies about mice- The Rescuers Down Under, An American Tale, Stuart Little. ![]() For a movie about those who have passed on, it’s surprisingly full of life. This Day of the Dead story, featuring an all-Latino cast, disarms its audience by intermingling the ghoulish with the fantastic. Up strikes the exact right balance between tugging at the audience’s heartstrings (particularly in the first five minutes) and telling a funny, beautiful tale about dreaming big.īefore Soul, Pixar toyed with questions about what happens after we die in Coco. Not only is it arguably the best movie ever made about the emotions that food evokes, it somehow manages to take a really gross premise-rats in the kitchen-and turn it into an emotional tour de force of a film.Ī widower flies his house into the sky with balloons and acquires new companions along the way, including a talking dog, a bird who loves chocolate and a boy scout. But Ratatouille never seems to get the credit that it deserves. Picking a favorite Pixar movie is a bit like picking a favorite chid.
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