When my kids were younger, they loved Pokémon. They’ve now outgrown that phase but the undeniably cute characters remain with them – and me I guess. I can’t say I was ever a huge fan, but they were a social phenomenon for a while there. The Pokémon wave however crested some time ago, so the…
As an arts lover and reviewer, I try to enter a theatre without knowing anything about the production I’m about to see. It’s usually possible by steering clear of promotional guff. I like to be surprised and hopefully engaged by what I see through fresh eyes. In that way, I feel I can tell whether…
You might have noticed I’m not a teenage girl. But I do have a daughter who’s right in the sweet spot for the Australian-made Back of the Net. This well-meaning film is about as predictable as it gets; but that won’t matter to its target audience. Back of the Net stars American teen actress Sofia…
Arthurian legends get a PG makeover in The Kid Who Would be King. It’s a bit like King Arthur meets The Lost Boys with a splash of Stand by Me thrown in. The result is a rollicking kids-own adventure, with enough to keep adults at least engaged. The idea of a group of kids banding together…
Although a story about Vikings making friends with dragons seems very “high concept”, the How to Train Your Dragon franchise has been a big success. I mean, not MCU-style success, but it’s more than held its own in the world of animated movie franchises. The films have raked in more than $1 billion – nothing…
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween is a romp in which an innocent act of cleaning rubbish leads to a whole lot of trouble. The first Goosebumps movie was a great box office success in 2015, so a sequel was inevitable. Goosebumps 2 follows the Quinn family – high school senior Sarah (Madison Iseman), her middle school…
All work and no play makes Christopher Robin a dull boy. AA Milne’s world is brought to life in this combination of live action and animation. Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor), the young boy who shared countless adventures with his stuffed animal friends in the Hundred Acre Wood, is now grown up. He lives in London…
This heart-warming film is the third – and final – film in the popular series about the adventures of a boy and his dog in the beautiful Pyrenees. Belle & Sebastian was based on the popular book by actress Cecile Aubry. The first film in this series was released in 2013. It introduced us to…
Cross 1989’s Tom Hanks’ comedy Turner and Hooch with Best in Show and you should have the makings of one hot-diggity-dog of a film. But potential is one thing – and the realisation of Show Dogs is something else entirely. The film features a cast of talking canine characters, including the hero Max (voiced by…
After the success of Hotel Transylvania (2012) and its sequel Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015), now we have Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation. It’s not surprising the studio keeps churning out these Dracula animations. Why wouldn’t they? Especially because, despite his blood sucking reputation, Drac (voiced by Adam Sandler) is one of the good guys…
