Review: “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”

It’s often beneficial to step back and observe life from a different perspective. In the case of Marcel, we get a shell’s eye view, but the outlook of this tiny, one-eyed shell creature wearing little shoes is remarkably incisive. “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” evolved from a series of three short films created by […]

Review: “Lightyear”

“Lightyear” is the first movie from Pixar Animation Studios to receive a theatrical release since the March 2020 run of “Onward” was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It isn’t that Pixar hasn’t been churning out hits; films like “Soul,” “Luca,” and “Turning Red” have all been released straight to streaming on Disney Plus, […]

Review: “Turning Red”

I don’t think I expected to find “Turning Red” as funny and relatable as I did, something that made all the more sense when I realized the story was set in 2002, and that I was the same age as its 12 to 13-year-old characters in 2002. But even though Pixar Animation’s latest feature film, […]

Review: “Encanto”

“Encanto” doesn’t see its heroine leave home on some grand quest. It doesn’t have a villain, or an action-packed climax. The 60th feature film from Walt Disney Animation is one of its most intimate, rarely leaving the area surrounding the sprawling, magical Colombian home of the Madrigal family, and barely interacting with any characters outside […]

Review: “The Addams Family 2”

2019’s animated “The Addams Family” movie was a disappointment largely in how it shoehorned its unconventional characters into such a conventional plot, but at least it showcased the weirdness of each character and the spooky mansion they live in. Not even that can be said for its new sequel, “The Addams Family 2,” which sees […]

Review: “Luca”

Considering that the last released Pixar film, “Soul,” dealt with the most complicated and adult themes of any of the studio’s movies to date, their newest animated film, “Luca,” is a complete 360. But the simplicity of this sweet coming of age story is in some ways more beautifully realized than some of Pixar’s more […]

Review: “Raya and the Last Dragon”

When we first meet Raya, she is alone—alone, with the exception of her giant roly poly friend, Tuk Tuk. This image of a lone warrior traveling through a desolate landscape on a quest is an iconic one (the familiarity of which the Raya immediately acknowledges), but the endgame is not that Raya remains a mysterious […]

Review: “The Croods: A New Age”

I’m not sure why I expected “The Croods: A New Age” to be at least a little bit more than, well, crude. It’s been a minute since I’ve seen its 2013 predecessor, but I do remember being pleasantly surprised by it. And there are some things to love in its new sequel, but it’s largely […]

Review: “Soul”

What is your purpose? What is the meaning of life? What do you do when you haven’t gotten all you want to out of your life? Those are some of the big questions posed in Disney Pixar’s “Soul.” The animation studio’s latest film is made for adults more than any of its previous work, and […]

Streaming Movies: December, Part 1

Wow, what a busy month! Despite widespread theater closures and release date delays, awards season and the holiday movie season are both definitely in full swing. I’m presenting some mini reviews of some of the new movies that have been released on streaming services this month so far, including potential awards contenders “Mank” and “Sound […]