Animated franchises are a bit of a hit-or-miss affair. Some, like Toy Story, get it absolutely right, even if they should have stopped at number 3, whereas Ice Age started off well but became overcrowded with far too many characters and lost that original charm. Despicable Me started with a massive boom, a hilarious, inventive…
Tag: animation
Inside Out 2
Things haven’t been great for Pixar in recent years. Three of their best films (Soul, Luca, and Turning Red) were sent straight to Disney+ due to the pandemic, while their recent cinema releases, Lightyear and Elemental, failed to ignite that flame they used to have. Now, they have turned to one of their best films,…
Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget
Aardman Animation has always been at the forefront of clay animation, but what puts them at the front of the filmmaking process is their ability to use whimsical humour, something that suits the Britishness of the products. In 2000, they produced Chicken Run, an affectionate pastiche of The Great Escape but with chickens. Twenty-three years…
Wish
It’s Disney’s 100th anniversary. Since 1923, one of the biggest and most successful film companies has produced family-friendly entertainment. And so, this, their centenary year, they wanted to give us something memorable, something exceptional that will go down in the history books alongside Pinocchio, Bambi, The Jungle Book, The Lion King and Frozen. Instead, they…
Elemental
One thing Pixar has been very good at is dealing with issues that young people may face daily in a way they can understand. For example, Soul dealt with death and grief, Turning Red dealt with puberty, and Inside Out dealt with emotions. Their latest film, Elemental, covers several issues. While they can be commended…
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse
It’s not often that you leave a cinema almost breathless, having experienced something special, but I have to say Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is very special. This is more than just a cinematic experience. This work of art is more than just an animated action film. This has humour, excitement, heart, and emotion. In fact,…
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
It has been a staple of the video gaming world since Nintendo produced the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. In 1992, a live-action version of the game was made starring Bob Hoskins, and it is still regarded as one of the worst movies ever made. Now, co-produced by Illuminations, the creators of the Minions, The…
Puss In Boots: The Last Wish
Who would have thought that a new Puss In Boots movie was the sequel we needed? It was 2011 when we saw this character in cinemas and we did think it was the last time we would have any more connections with the Shrek franchise. Well now, Dreamworks Animation has decided to bring a new…
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Carlo Collodi’s 1883 novel Pinocchio, has been a source of many a film adaptation. Disney’s 1940 version is probably the most famous, although their recent remake by Robert Zemeckis is a pointless exercise. Now, merely months after that version, Academy award-wining director Guillermo del Toro has delivered a stop-motion animated film that takes the premise…
DC League of Super-Pets
Another week, another superhero movie. This time, it’s the turn of super pets. Krypto the Superdog appeared in 1955 as part of the ever-expanded Superman universe. Since then, Krypto has appeared in comics, animation, and the TV series Smallville and Titans. Now, the canine friend of Superman has its feature film, but to be honest,…
Minions: The Rise of Gru
We were first introduced to the Minions in 2010 as supporting characters in the animation, Despicable Me. Since then, they have become the face of Illumination Animations, starred in two more Despicable Me movies, a series of short films, countless merchandise and TV adverts, and a movie of their own. Now we get the sequel…
Turning Red
Pixar Studio has always pushed the boundaries when it comes to innovation. They were the first studio to produce a full-length computer-generated feature in Toy Story. They developed CG animation into an art form. More recently, they have dealt with subjects that have often been hard to talk about in family cinema (think death in…
Stu Loves Film 