Now Streaming: The LEGO Star Wars universe was first made available as minifigures and construction sets in 1999, growing over the years to more than 1500 minifigures and more than 1000 sets today.

The first short film in the universe was released in 2005, with more than three dozen to follow over the next 18 years. The first television special was written by Michael Price and released in 2011. The latest television special, some 49 minutes in length, is LEGO Star Wars: The Mandalorian, which was also written by Michael Price, and released this week on Disney Plus, in conjunction with the streaming debut of The Mandalorian and Grogu.

My own reaction to the movie was not a rave, though it leaned toward the positive: “The movie as a whole reflects a workmanlike intent and purpose: Star Wars, in these creators’ ambitions, is not meant to be anything more than a b-movie with an abundance of zippy fun and forgettable action.” In a similar vein, the movie was not a rousing popular success, according to Box Office Mojo, though $345 million worldwide is nothing to sniff at.

Upon further reflection, the movie really does feel like a truncated fourth season of The Mandalorian television show, though the film’s co-writer and director Jon Favreau maintains that he and his co-writers Dave Filoni and Noah Kloor devised a new story for the film, and did their best to lessen their reliance on elements from the first three seasons of the show.

It is helpful, though, to have an idea about the events and characters that the show introduced and covered in those first three seasons. But, if you never saw the show and/or don’t have time to watch and/or rewatch all 24 episodes, still streaming on Disney Plus, may I suggest watching LEGO Star Wars: The Mandalorian?

Full disclosure: I have watched all 24 episodes of show. (The first season is my favorite, the second season takes a dip, and the third season rebounds, though not to the level of the first season.) I did not watch the show again before watching the movie, but watching LEGO Star Wars: The Mandalorian reminded me of all its highs and lows.

Gavin Hammon replaces Pedro Pascal as The Mandalorian, with a number of supporting players reprising their roles from the series, including Amy Sedaris (who narrates about half the movie), Nick Nolte, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Burr, Rosario Dawson, Katee Sackhoff, and Timothy Olyphant. Moving at a brisk pace, the movie hits all the highlights and happily mocks everything with a cheerful joi de vivre, fully embracing the silly tone and snapping off their lines with delight.

Among the witty one-liners, writer Michael Price, who is also a longtime writer and producer of The Simpsons, keeps things appropriate for a family audience, yet with many, many references that only adults will fully appreciate, including joking about every one of the man, many silly characters names the live-action writers have devised over the years.

While LEGO Star Wars: The Mandalorian can certainly serve very well as a lively program for children to watch, while parents can watch or rewatch The Mandalorian and Grogu and decide if it’s appropriate for their children, LEGO Star Wars: The Mandalorian also stands tall as a smart and clever primer for adults who never saw or don’t remember the events of the original series before watching or rewatching The Mandalorian and Grogu. Your choice. [Disney Plus]

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A blast of pure joy, Coyote vs Acme features the most memorable Albuquerque attorney since Better Call Saul.

Like Saul Goodman in the AMC television series, Kevin Avery (Will Forte) advertises his law firm through the use of billboards and television commercials, focusing on personal-injury lawsuits that he can easily settle out of court for a few hundred dollars each. He has little personal concern for or interest in his clients, who are generally cartoon characters in the streets of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Business is booming at the law firm of Avery, Jones, and Maltese -- a hat-tip tribute to legendary animation directors Tex Avery and Chuck Jones, as well as legendary writer Michael Maltese -- and so Kevin swats away the persistent efforts of intern Paige (Lana Condor -- someone must have truly relished the rare opportunity to cast the actress in a movie featuring another breed of bird). Kevin plainly states to Paige that the only reason he keeps her around is because she’s his niece, not because he takes seriously any of her good-hearted, justice-minded efforts to wake him from his professional slumber.

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Before those humans appear, an opening scene, set in 1992 at a huge warehouse of industrial product-maker Acme, introduces an equally huge secret of some kind that Dr. Lorre attempts to whisk away from the warehouse. Enemy agents halt his escape, and he is forced to jump into a literal black hole that is promptly rolled up and filed away.

Thirty years later, Wile E. Coyote is still in perpetual pursuit of Road Runner. One night, as he ponders his next plan to catch the pesky bird -- carefully laid out on blue architectural paper -- he sees a television ad for Kevin Avery, specially targeted at cartoon characters.

Wile E. promptly shows up the next day, armed with an infinity box of evidence to support his legal complaint that Acme and their malfunctioning products are the source of his continuous failure to catch -- and eat, of course -- the ever-pesky Road Runner. Those products have also caused him endless pain and suffering; never mind that he always heals instantly, it still hurts whenever he suffers grievous bodily injuries.

Kevin pays Wile E. no mind, which is made easier for the shiftless lawyer because the coyote is not able to speak. (Instead, he carries a limited number of signs and uses gestures as a form of sign language to communicate.) A misunderstanding between Kevin and a law clerk, however, results in a billion-page lawsuit, citing every product manufactured by Acme.

That brings in Acme’s head lawyer, Buddy Crane (a sneering John Cena), who was a Harvard Law School classmate of Kevin, and revels in his grand financial and professional success. (Again, tremors of Better Call Saul and the rivalry between the rumpled Jimmy, aka Saul, and his older, far more accomplished attorney brother Chuck.)

Acting through Buddy Crane, a dismissive offer is made, which excites Kevin -- $50,000 dollars!!! -- but is immediately rejected by Wile E., who demands justice. Or so he claims.

First published in The New Yorker in 1990, Ian Frazier’s short-short story, which takes place entirely during the court trial that concludes the film, has been greatly expanded by screenwriter Samy Burch (May December, Late Fame), from a story credited to James Gunn, Jeremy Slater, and Burch.

Because it was produced, in part, by Warner Animation Group, the live-action/animated film had access to all the Looney Tunes characters, many of whom play supporting roles or cameos, in a manner akin to Robert Zemeckis’ Who Framed Roger Rabbit. In a bone-headed move, the completed film was shelved in November 2023, reportedly so Warner Bros. could take a tax write-off. After reportedly considering simply deleting the film (?!), the studio shopped it around Hollywood, eventually getting the price it wanted from Ketchup Entertainment in 2025.

The joke is on Warner Bros. Coyote vs Acme is the best comedy they’ve produced but never released. The film is filled with a fast and furious barrage of sly jokes and witty one-liners and classic sight gags and wacky physical comedy and all the Warner Bros. cartoon characters made famous over the decades, voiced mostly by Eric Bauza, with several female characters by Candi Milo and Tasmanian Devil by Jim Cummings. (The New Yorker also gets a visual shout-out.)

Lana Condor is steadfastly supportive as the most righteous and upright lawyer since Gregory Peck’s Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). John Cena suitably overplays his role as an attorney, hamming it up in a manner that is entirely intentional and quite humorous as a result. Key supporting roles are played by Martha Kelley (as a dour-faced law office worker), P.J. Byrne (as Cena’s sleazy assistant) and Luis Guzmán as Judge Troppogrosso, an unkind character name.

Will Forte combines his familiar comic persona with a dramatic edge he first displayed in Nebraska (2013), enlivening several speeches with genuine warmth and passion. Bob Hoskins gave an incredible live-action performance with cartoon characters in Who Framed Roger Rabbit; Forte does not consistently achieve that high level here, but there are definitely moments when he surprised me, which only benefits Coyote vs. Acme and its appeal for adults who may be accompanying delighted children and young adults.

The film opens Friday, August 28, throughout Dallas and Fort Worth, only in movie theaters, via Ketchup Entertainment. Visit the official site for locations and showtimes.

Ah. If only …

Growing up in a time when there were no handheld electronic devices to capture my attention, I became an avid reader, devouring the books in my parents’ library and then moving on to the nearby public library, where I happily ingested the borrowing limit each week.

Thus, it’s nearly impossible for me to imagine growing up in an age when everyone’s attention span is divided between one electronic device or the other. Happily, writer Simon Farnaby and director Ben Gregor understand the dilemma for parents today, as well as the challenges faced by young people, as evidenced by The Magic Faraway Tree, adapted from four novels by Enid Blyton.

First published from 1939 to 1951, obviously the novels were written for a much different reality. Early on, the film establishes itself in a world of fantasy, in that, despite great financial pressures that are placed upon Tim (Andrew Garfield) and Polly (Claire Foy), they bend but do not break when breadwinner Polly quits her well-paying job on ethical grounds and her now-former employer demands the return of their rented home and vehicle.

House-husband Tim suggests that they fulfill a page from their so-called “dream binder,” created some 15 years before, and move to the country. Renting a farm house, sight unseen, finds the family relocating to a hulking, overgrown barn. Ah, no wonder it was so cheap!

Their full-payment for the property has a looming deadline, so Tim and Polly come up with a plan to grow tomatoes so they can make and sell Tim’s fabulous tomato sauce in large quantities to an eager public.

Left adrift, their children are bored. Youngest daughter Fran, who has entered a silent phase of childhood, encounters a mysterious stranger as they move onto their new farm, prompting her to investigate further when she receives a written invitation to visit a magic tree or some such. Her adventure, which soon encompasses her siblings, is only beginning.

Very soon, Fran’s world is opened up, and the same happens with her older sister Beth, a teenager who is always complaining, and Joe, a games-obsessed boy. They experience profound changes, and learn lessons that will change their lives.

As their parents, Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy as Tim and Polly are wonderfully kind, loving, patient, and supportive of their children, played by Delilah Bennett-Cardy (Beth), Billie Gadsdon (Fran), and Phoenix Laroche (Joe). Nicola Coughlin is cheerful and welcoming as Silky, the mysterious stranger who first notices Fran when the family moves to the area.

The ensemble cast operates ably, in roles that are not easy to define without spoiling anything, though I can cite the great Jennifer Saunders as Polly’s highly successful, though personally disagreeable grandmother, Rebecca Ferguson as a notable antagonist, and writer Simon Farnaby as a farmer who speaks as though his mouth is full of mud.

Although it sometimes feels overstuffed with goodness, The Magic Faraway Tree is pinpoint in its sentimentality. Although it is clearly a fantasy, the good-hearted film makes me want to believe in its reality.

The film opens Friday, August 21, throughout Dallas and Fort Worth, only in movie theaters. Visit the official site for more information.

Review originally published by DallasFilmNow.com. Reprinted by permission.

Now in Theaters: Hailing from Canada, PAW Patrol debuted in 2013, featuring a crew of search and rescue dogs as they carry out their heroic duties.

The highly-successful ongoing series, which is now streaming on Paramount Plus (all 13 seasons!) naturally spawned a big-screen adaptation, Paw Patrol: The Movie (2021), which led to a sequel, Paw Movie: The Mighty Movie (2023), which led to a threequal, Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie, which arrives in multiplexes on the same day that another dinosaur-themed movie opens (The End of Oak Street).

While the other movie also features children, the heroes are teenagers and their parents, and numerous people are attacked and/or eaten by dinosaurs, so this is the obvious child-friendly alternative. My plans did not allow me to see Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie in advance of its opening, and I won’t be able to get to it this weekend.

From sampling the television series, which is targeted at children, I’m not sure if any of the movies contain material that adults could also enjoy, though the animation in the new film’s trailer looks to be quite good, which may be enough if you are devotee of animation in general.

In any event, I’m aiming to return to my schedule and publish something here every week on new films and television shows that are targeted at youngsters, yet still may appeal to adults, even those who are single with no children, such as myself.

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More about Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie. Yesterday, I watched a six-minute featurette on Paramount Plus that is clearly aimed at adults, since it includes snippets of the Backstreet Boys talking about their participation in the movie. Here’s their music video of the song.

Official synopsis: “After their ship gets caught in a mysterious storm, the PAW Patrol pups crash land on an uncharted tropical island filled with dinosaurs. They meet Rex, a pup who has been stranded on the island for years and has become an expert in all things dino-related.

“When the PAW Patrol’s archrival, Mayor Humdinger, begins recklessly mining in hopes of exploiting the island for its natural resources, he inadvertently causes a huge, dormant volcano to erupt. The PAW Patrol pups are thrown into a series of high-stakes, dino-sized rescues bigger than anything they’ve done before, as they must stop Humdinger before everything on the island goes extinct.”

Visit the official site for locations, showtimes, and ticket information.

Once upon a time, I plunged deep into the world of minions.

More than 10 years ago, writing uncredited for Fandango in 2015 -- why I was uncredited escapes me, because I was credited for many other articles; was I trying to protect my non-existent ‘reputation’?, but it was fine for me, since the checks always cleared -- I helped to create “Meet the ‘Minions’: Your Adorable Guide to the Good and Not-So-Good…”

That was meant to help publicize the imminent release of their origin story, Minions. The cute, though some say cloying, creatures were introduced in Despicable Me (2010) as loyal servants of the evil Gru. They were the breakout stars of the movie: Kids loved ‘em, adults tolerated ‘em, and everyone remembered ‘em.

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After supporting the human stars in Despicable Me 2 (2013), the Minions took their rightful place as the stars of their own movie, which earned more than one billion dollars worldwide. Naturally, sequels have followed, though Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) did not arrive until after Despicable Me 3 (2017) and the COVID pandemic.

Now, four years later, we have Minions & Monsters, which, surprisingly, received better marks from critics than audiences! I’m not sure what that’s about; perhaps children stayed home because they were watching the World Cup with their parents? So far, the movie has made only $452 million worldwide, against an admittedly large budget ($172 million), so maybe there is something to it.

Created by Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin, and Eric Guillon, the latest installment was directed by Pierre Coffin, who also voices the Minions. Though the opening scenes of Minions (2015) told of their origins centuries ago, that movie’s primary narrative began in 1959.

The primary narrative of Minions & Monsters follows a different tribe of Minions than the ones depicted in Minions. This particular tribe’s story gains momentum when they inadvertently cross paths with a film production crew early in the 20th century, soon somehow becoming silent film stars in the 1920s.

As with other silent film stars, the advent of sound in the late 1920s spells doom for movie stars who speak a language that no one other than them understands, and so the Minions must adapt to their changing circumstances.

The first 30-35 minutes are comedy gold, overflowing with LOL visual gags, and stuffed with references to classic movies that adults will truly appreciate. After the brilliance of those sequences, the rest of Minions & Monsters pales by comparison, though it rallies in its sheer, unadulterated grasp for something different than the same-old same-old animated movie scenes.

I loved the ambition, loved the references, and could appreciate once again why children respond to material that is childish yet never talks down to anyone. If it’s playing in a movie theater nearby -- probably a morning matinee screening -- that’s preferable, but if not, a home video purchase or rental (depending on your personal finances) is recommended.

Visit the film’s official site for more information.

Gentle and wooly, The Sheep Detective is a classic British drawing-room mystery, cozy and comfortable.

Craig Mazin, known early in his career as the co-writer of comedies Senseless, Scary Movie 3 and The Hangover Part II, before turning to elevated drama with Chernobyl and action-horror videogame adaptation with The Last of Us, adapts a bestselling German-language novel by Leonie Swann titled Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story, first published in 2005. The book reportedly features depressed loner shepherd George reading his flock “romance adventure novels and textbooks on sheep diseases” at the end of the day.

Directed by veteran animator Kyle Balda (Minions: The Rise of Gru, 2o22), the film begins with shepherd George (Hugh Jackman) as a loner, pining for his wife, and writing to his beloved Rebecca (Molly Gordon), whose imminent arrival he eagerly awaits. Instead of romance adventure novels, he happily reads mysteries to his flock every evening, which informs the ability of Lily (Julia Louise-Dreyfus) to deduce that George has been murdered when his body turns up dead one morning.

Lily applies deductive reasoning to the evidence, though her amateur detective work is bolstered by her personal connection with George. She has observed him over the years, and has seen abundant evidence of his loving care of the flock, in sharp contrast to the farmer next door, who keeps pestering George to sell him his flock.

George isn’t in it for the money; instead, he has a deep and abiding love for the sheep as individuals, giving them names with true meaning, even if for no one other than himself. His solitary nature, and his reluctance to shy away from human contact, has led the townspeople and his neighboring farmers to conclude that he is a misanthrope (hating mankind as a whole). Lily and her fellow sheep, however, can see that he doesn’t hate everybody; it’s only the individuals who behave in an unkind or shady manner that he studiously avoids.

To protect themselves from harmful events and thus ensure their mental peace and calm, the flock has developed the ability to erase unpleasantries from their minds instantly and entirely; they merely have to agree on that course of action, which is usually led by Lily as leader of the flock. After George’s murder, however, before they can perform the group mind wipe, Sebastian the (literal) black sheep (voiced by Bryan Cranston) convinces Lily that they collectively owe George an investigation into who killed him, and why.

It’s a lovely twist on a garden-variety British mystery movie -- or television or streaming show in recent times -- where the victim is honorable, even if not entirely beloved, and his friends or family members become amateur detectives to right the wrong that has been committed. The voice-acting cast is quite strong, including Chris O’Dowd, Regina Hall, Brett Goldstein, Bella Ramsey, Rhys Darby, and Sir Patrict Stewart; their ability to distinguish their voices according to the character’s personality makes it easy to figure out who’s talking and why.

In the human world, the actors recognize that their characters only think that they are the leading players. That modesty makes their performances all the more believable, authentic, and convincing.

Nicolas Braun (Succession) plays Tim Doyle, the only local police officer for the community, with winning grace and modesty; he’s not as bright as the sheep, but he’s sufficiently modest to appreciate their invaluable help. Nicolas Galatzine, as a reporter, Molly Gordon, as George’s beloved Rebecca, and Emma Thompson, as George’s lawyer, are all quite effective in their roles. Hong Chau is underused as a shopkeeper with a personal connection to George.

Director Kyle Balda often seems to be playing traffic cop more than anything else, as he must make sure to leave room for the animated creatures in their interactions with each other and with humans. Together with the talented crew, he nonetheless guides the gentle mystery to its expected destination with finesse and skill, making for a family-friendly entertainment that should be especially appreciated by all those who love smart sheep and gentle humor.

The film is now playing, only in movie theaters. For more information about the film, visit the official site.

In my review of DisneyNature’s Tigers and Tigers on the Rise two years ago, I covered my past experiences with watching nature docs. I also noted:

After a long absence from the nature doc game, Disneynature was founded in 2008. Since then, their documentaries have been made by a variety of filmmakers, narrated by celebrity voices, and honored the True-Life Adventures tradition by assigning human names to animals.

Since then, DisneyNature released Sea Lions of the Galapagos, which I have not seen yet, but I’m glad that I was offered an advance screener for their latest, Orangutan, which begins with a very familiar song from Disney’s The Jungle Book (1967).

(Naturally, I won’t spoil it here, though I’m sorely tempted.)

Directed by Mark Linfield, an experienced filmmaker who also made Tiger, Elephant, and Penguins, among many other nature documentaries, Orangutan follows a family of animals in Southeast Asia as one of them leaves the nest for the first time. Obviously, we’re most interested in the titular creatures, but what I always love about these type of documentaries is that they observe the environment in which the orangutans live, and then follows as they scamper up and down trees, across trees — by flying — and then up, up, and away from danger.

After all, the orangutans are not predators, though the ants and other insects they eat may not agree! They are happy creatures who get along with the other animals, and work together (sometimes), with the goal of peaceful coexistence. Nonetheless, director Linfield does not hesitate to show that the animals do not always cooperate together; they are subject to human weaknesses, such as selfishness and a self-centered sense of being, that are challenging to overcome, to say the least.

Even so, it’s rather marvelous to sit back and watch the wondrous abilities of various creatures to make their way through the world without the interference of humans.

And if, like me, you’ve missed some of the past documentaries in the series, Disney Plus has collected them together into a special section on the streaming service, which is a mighty nice resource to tap into with your children. Or your child-friendly friends and family members.

In Theaters: Finishing second among last weekend’s new releases, per Box Office Mojo, exceeding expectations, per The Numbers, Sony’s new animated comedy, GOAT, no doubt benefited especially from having Monday’s holiday included in its totals, with children attending along with their adult guardians, whose own interest may have been piqued by the NBA’s All-Star festivities this past Sunday, with a new format and new broadcast network, which combined to send the ratings soaring.

Speaking of a new format, GOAT was inspired by NBA star Stephen Curry; his production company closed a deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment and reportedly wanted to make something with an “underdog spirit,” and so the filmmakers came up with a narrative that mirrored Curry’s career as a relatively short player -- by modern NBA standards -- and the challenges and expectations he had to overcome.

Standing 6 feet and 2 inches, Curry is hardly short among non-professional athletes. Yet watching him in a game this season, it’s quite easy to lose track of him among all the other, taller players; what distinguishes him is his shooting ability and talent at elevating the play of his teammates by his passing and defense.

(Full disclosure: For what it’s worth, I skipped the early advance screening because I’m no longer obsessed by the modern NBA, and didn’t think I’d enjoy an animated movie about the sport. I attended an afternoon screening on Wednesday, and was the only person in attendance, so I’ll be interested in seeing if audiences will return this weekend.)

In any event, GOAT revolves around roarball and ROAR, not basketball and the NBA. Roarball is defined as “a high-intensity, co-ed, full-contact sport dominated by the fastest, fiercest animals in the world,” while, per the official site, “ROAR (Regionally Organized Animal Roarball) is a global league made of 6 teams that each represent a different biome. Each arena demands high-stakes play, with terrains and obstacles constantly evolving in-game, giving a whole new meaning to “homecourt advantage.”

As devoted sports fans know, GOAT is also an acronym for Greatest Of All Time. Director Tyree Dillihay and the film’s writers have fun with the acronym by making their protagonist a goat named Will (Caleb McLaughlin), with another character, a black leopard named Jett Fillmore (Gabrielle Union), as a candidate for the greatest player in league history, even though she has never won a league championship with her team, Vineland, which is also Will’s hometown.

Will has grown up idolizing the Vineland Thorns, especially Jett Fillmore, and dreams of becoming a professional player, but his size limitations meet with constant discouraging talk. His single mother, Louise Harris (Jennifer Hudson), always champions him, however, encouraging him in every way as a waitress in a diner, where she ekes out a living. Will’s fortunes have taken a tumble since he moved out on his own; his gerbil landlord (Wayne Knight) is chasing him for his rent due, since the landlord has (literally) hundreds of mouths to feed (his own family).

The Vineland team, owned by a warthog named Flo Everson (Jenifer Lewis), consists of just four players, besides Jett: Modo Olachenko (Nick Kroll), a komodo dragon; Olivia Burke (Nicola Coughlan), an ostrich; Lenny Williamson (Stephen Curry), a giraffe; and Archie Everhardt (David Harbour), a rhino. They are coached, nominally, by Dennis Cooper (Patton Oswalt). Knowing that her team is struggling and that her own career may be coming to an end after 20 years, Jett demands that owner Flo find her another player.

Flo settles upon Will, more as a publicity stunt than anything else, since Will is the first “small” animal to join the league. He came to her attention in a pickup game against two-time league champion horse Mane Attraction (Aaron Pierre); even though Will got dusted in the game, it brought him instant notoriety, thanks to social media.

Will’s new teammates do not take to him kindly, though, and he struggles to get any playing time. Until something happens, and everything changes.

From there, much of the narrative is consumed by the roarball games themselves, which are inherently less interesting to me; mostly, it’s a lot of noise and movement, which is custom fit for children whose attention span is limited.

For adults, the clever touches -- for example, Stephen Curry as the voice of a giraffe -- as well as the call-outs for devoted sports fans -- see the film’s general narrative, the ‘bigs’ vs ‘smalls’ argument, the attitude and actions of rich owners -- may be sufficient to maintain interest.

(Full disclosure: I dozed off once. I failed to order coffee with my meal, so my bad. But I don’t think I missed anything substantial.)

Even though I am not in the target audience for GOAT, I can certainly see the appeal, and found that watching it was a satisfying experience. Your mileage may vary.

Now Streaming: I didn’t grow up watching the Muppets.

Our family’s television antenna blew off the house, as I recall, and so we relied upon set-top antennas, which could not pull in the UHF frequencies of Channel 28, the local PBS station in Los Angeles. So, my introduction to Jim Henson’s characters came, not on Sesame Street, but on the first season of Saturday Night Live, on which the Muppets behaved for an adult audience as part of The Lord of Gorch skits.

Following that, The Muppet Show debuted in September 1976 in the UK, and spread outward from there, establishing itself as a variety show, with a different guest star in each episode. The shows’ success led to a series of films, beginning with The Muppet Movie (1979), which I remember seeing and enjoying during its initial theatrical release. I have also watched and enjoyed (most of) the films that followed in its wake.

Earlier this month, The Muppets Show debuted on Disney Plus as a one-time special. (To be honest, I thought it was the first episode of a series, so it did gain my immediate attention.) Watching the special now, with special guest star Sabrina Carpenter, who started as an actress in a Disney TV show and, more recently, has shown a knack for skit comedy on Saturday Night Live, and also featuring guest stars Seth Rogen, one of the executive producers, and Maya Rudolph, was a completely enjoyable experience, though not transcendent, as it may be for people who watched Jim Henson’s original series back in the day.

Yet it’s the kind of concept that would certainly be welcome as a weekly series. Staying (nearly entirely) within family-friendly boundaries, the show features many, many muppets in the variety show format, freshening it up with sharp writing and a willingness to poke gentle fun at the characters.

Until Disney decides to wise up and bring the Muppets back on a more regular basis, this will have to do. It’s certainly worth watching, even if you were not a Muppets kid. [Disney Plus]

Refreshingly modest, absent any intergenerational conflicts, parental discord, or youthful rebellion, and with nary a human in sight, Tafiti: Across is happily free to follow its titular protagonist as he makes an epic journey in search of salvation for a member of his family.

The oldest of three meerkat children, Tafiti (voiced by Cosima Henman) listens to his aged grandpapa tell him and his two younger siblings that ‘all animals are dangerous,’ except, of course, meerkats. It’s a common warning that is routinely given by human parents to their young children, and very sound in principal, especially, one imagines, for all meerkats living in the African Savannah, where mortal dangers abound.

Still, Tafiti is old enough to be allowed by his grandpapa to explore the territory nearby on his own, with a kind yet stern reminder to ‘always be on the watch.’ With this in mind, Tafiti heads out for a day’s exploring. Coming across a friendly bush-pig (red river hog) named Bristles (voiced by Steve Hudson), Tafiti is determined to heed his grandpapa’s advice, which comes true as Bristles is snatched by an eagle (Jeremiah Costello).

As a kind-hearted meerkat, though, Tafiti cannot help but come to Bristles’ aid, which leads to Bristles meeting Tafiti’s family, inadvertently putting them into danger from a snake that bites grandpapa with poisonous venom that will surely kill him, unless Tafiti can find a legendary blue flower that can only be found across the not-so-nearby desert.

Based on characters in a 23-book series by German author Julia Boehme, the screenplay is credited to Boehme and Nicholas Hause, who has considerable experience in writing for younger audiences. Their script dispenses with the necessary exposition early, focusing on Tafiti and Bristles’ journey, and situating them into a richly wonderful variety of locations -- not just the Savannah and the desert, although those locations play a prominent role, but also locales both wet and dry -- that enables a slew of animals and insects to figure into the action.

Thus, young audiences won’t get bored, since they will not just be watching two animals making an endless journey across endless sands, but instead meeting creatures of all types: creeping, crawling, leaping, walking, and flying. The only thing they have in common? They all talk.

The great variety of backgrounds are beautifully rendered and lovingly detailed, while the foreground animals are playfully animated. Without the juvenile snark commonly manifested by young characters in Hollywood studios, there is no need for ‘smackdowns’ and no room for insulting or belittling ‘jokes.’ Instead, these young animals show respect for each other, no matter their species, and -- shocker! -- respect for their elders.

And Tafiti: Across the Desert is not just for children; I found myself frequently smiling in amusement and occasionally laughing at loud. The film is filled with recognizable behavior that is a pleasure to behold, making it easy to recommend for all ages.

The film opens Friday, January 30, in select theaters nationwide, via Blue Fox Entertainment. Visit the official site for locations and showtimes.

In movie theaters right now, Disney’s Zootopia 2 rules, having earned more than $1.4 billion (?!) dollars since its November 2025 release. This month, however, the new years brings two less-heralded animated adventures to movie theaters.

First up from Viva Pictures on January 16, Charlie the Wonderdog stars Owen Wilson in an urban tale. Officially: “When Danny’s best friend is mysteriously abducted by aliens, Charlie returns home with incredible abilities and a mission to protect the people he loves. But when the world needs him most, Charlie learns that true heroism isn’t about strength… it’s about courage, kindness, and believing in yourself.”

The trailer features plenty of animal action, as well as a smattering of the expected human behavior.

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Set for release by Blue Fox Entertainment in Canada and the U.S. on January 30, Tafiti: Across the Desert is based on a popular German children’s book series. Per the official synopsis: “Young Tafiti embarks on a desert quest to find a magical blue flower that can save his grandfather, with an unlikely companion—Bristles the bush pig—who shows him that adventures are better when shared.”

Have a look at the trailer below, where much of the action is set in the beautiful outdoors, and nary a human is glimpsed.

I’m hoping to have coverage of both films later this month. Make your plans now!

Instead, she constantly fights with her younger brother, Elliot (Elias Janssen), who, frankly, is annoying, and her parents (Simu Liu and Cristin Milioti), who have problems of their own. Mom has been offered the prospect of a job, but it’s in another state. Dad fights this idea, but he’s not been able to provide materially for the family.

Against this strained backdrop, Stevie wishes for her family to return to how she remembered it: calm, peaceful, and loving. Of course, memories are never 100% accurate, but it’s what Stevie wants, and she dreams about a happier life. What is that could come true, though? And what about this legendary Sandman, who is reportedly — according to People Who Know These Things — able to make one’s dreams come true.

Now streaming on Netflix, In Your Dreams purports to answer that question by sending Stevie and Elliot on a wild journey through their own individual dreams. Directed by Alexander Woo and co-directed by Erik Benson, the film is based on their original screenplay, which makes it stand out amidst all the IP adaptations that float the worldwide animation boat.

The dreams of children are fertile territory for imagination, and the film is replete with wild, implausible ideas that are conjured up by the children. Initially, they keep scaring one another with bad dreams, nightmare visions that prompt them to wake up instantly, for fear that they might die in real life in they dream it so. Of course, that’s nonsense, and the children soon realize that, and try their best to move forward on their goal of making their dreams come true.

Never fear: the children will get to where they want to go, but first they must learn some important Life Lessons — oh, and learn to appreciate their parents and each other much more than they do. The lessons are taught with a kind and gentle tone, which makes it easy to absorb, both for children and adults.

As an adult without children, In Your Dreams is pleasantly filled with dreamy visuals and near constant action, which makes for a satisfying watch and an easy recommendation.

Now Streaming: As an adult without children, I have skipped watching any of the films and TV shows that comprise the Lego Star Wars franchise, which includes "over 928 Lego building toy sets, 1389 Lego minifigures,^[2] an eponymous video game series containing six games, and multiple animated short films and television series," according to Wikipedia.

Since one of the purposes of this newsletter is to investigate such shows on behalf of readers, however, I accepted the offer of advance screeners to watch all four episodes of Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy - Piece of the Past and was, frankly, shocked that I enjoyed it so much.

In my childhood, I cannot recall ever having Lego building blocks to play with; I believe they were out of my family's price range. In any event, I have always been familiar with the idea that Lego could enable children to build whatever crazy buildings or vehicles or people their little hearts desired. Lego movies and television shows that I have watched take some of that inherent wonder away because they are themed to whatever licensed property they can exploit; they represent the licensed characters and worlds in familiar ways -- only with Lego building blocks.

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Thus, the success of an individual movie or television show depends upon the imagination of the writers, directors, and all the below-the-lines talent -- much like any live-action or original animated production. And in this, Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy - Piece of the Past succeeds, thanks to the lead taken by writers Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit, and director Chris Buckley.

The show takes place in an identifiable Star Wars world, following brothers Sig and Dev Greebling as they deal with a new threat in the galaxy. What makes the show wildly funny is not the specifics of the plot or how the brothers vanquish the threat. Instead, true joy emerges from the show's underlying strength as an action adventure that is constantly in motion throughout its four episodes, none longer than 25 minutes.

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Even though the show is broken into four episodes, it's very easy to binge all four episodes and watch it as a feature-length motion picture. Beyond its strong narrative, the show continually interjects humor into the dialogue, much of it filled with gentle mocking of Star Wars conventions; they make fun, but never derisively. The humor is more along the lines of 'we all know that is silly, yet we very much enjoy it anyway.'

In a very favorable manner, the show reminded me of the classic Looney Tunes cartoons, in that they are made to be enjoyed by children, while also including material and references designed for adults. So it's very easy for me to recommend the show to adults of all ages. [Now Streaming on Disney Plus.]

Now Streaming: In 1977, the idea of a body-swap comedy sounded fresh and new. 

It's true that Disney's first film adaptation of Mary Rodgers' novel, itself first published in 1972, was very much a product of its time, both in the broader cultural sense and also in its sensibility as a Disney live-action family-friendly movie. It may not have been the first body-swap movie -- that honor probably applies to the 1916 British silent fantasy Vice Versa -- but the winning performances by Barbara Harris and, especially, emerging star Jodie Foster helped to make it a modestly charming comedy that remains quite enjoyable. 

The following years were awash in body-swap movies, though, so by the new century, they seemed like an old hat: familiar and worn, yet comfortable and somehow reassuring. We knew what to expect, the basic trajectory of the narrative, and the (quite likely) happy ending. Perhaps because of that predictability, I skipped seeing a new version of Freaky Friday, released in 2003. 

The 2003 version was directed by Mark Waters, who made a splashy debut with his indie comedy The House of Yes in 1997 and followed that up with romantic comedy Head Over Heels (2001) and Warning: Parental Authority (2002), which he made for VH1 and was based on a true story. Adapted by Heather Hach and Leslie Dixon, the script was smartly updated for the 21st century. 

Dr. Tess Coleman (Curtis), a psychiatrist, has been raising her two children alone since her husband died. Teenage Anna (Lohan) is a singer in a garage rock band, and younger brother Harry is simply irritating. 

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Tess is preparing to marry fiancee Ryan (Mark Harmon); Anna is delighted when her band is offered a chance to audition that may advance the band's career. The initial conflict is that the audition is scheduled at the same time as Tess and Ryan's pre-wedding celebration, which the entire family is expected to attend. 

The night before, Tess and Anna argue at a Chinese restaurant, prompting the restaurant manager's mother to work some "Asian voodoo" (?!) and give the twosome fortune cookies that cause them to switch bodies the next day. Hence, it will be a "freaky Friday." 

Jamie Lee Curtis showcased wonderful aptitude as a comic actress, adroitly handling physical comedy, as an older woman in a teen's body, and adjusting her delivery of dialogue to sound like an adult trapped with her daughter's voice. 

Lindsay Lohan is stiff in playing her own mother, but that fits the character! It's exactly how a younger person would imagine an older person talking. By aging the daughter up, from 13 to 17, more comic possibilities were opened up, and the film took full advantage of them. Lohan also showed surprising tenderness in her dramatic scenes.

For director Mark Waters, this was the first of a terrific one-two punch: he next helmed Mean Girls, which was released the following year, and has become a reliable director, mostly of comedies, but all skillfully woven. 

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For Jamie Lee Curtis, the film was another high point in her career. She downshifted to supporting roles for some years, until the new version of Halloween (2018) renewed the industry's interest in her, leading to her Academy Award-winning performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022). 

For Lindsay Lohan, she starred in Mark Waters' Mean Girls, which continued her winning streak. All streaks come to an end, however, and for Lohan, the disappointing returns on Just My Luck (2006) pointed her to supporting roles, independent films, and then the wonderful world of television. In turn, that eventually led to a deal with Netflix and starring roles in Falling for Christmas (2022) and Irish Wish (2024). 

Watching Freaky Friday for the first time this week, I was pleasantly surprised to be thoroughly charmed and entertained, Perhaps it was my non-existent expectations. Or perhaps it's just that it's a good movie? [Disney Plus] 

Now Streaming: First published in 2015, Aaron Blabey's Australian graphic novel The Bad Guys has spawned 19 further episodes over nine years. Intended for junior readers, Blabey's books have spent some 120 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. 

DreamWorks Animation purchased the film rights in 2017. Etan Coen, who co-wrote the live-action comedies Idiocracy (2006) and Tropic Thunder (2008) before co-writing the animated family films Escape From Madagascar 3: Back to Africa (2008), wrote the screenplay for The Bad Guys. 

In the years between writing animated family films, Coen scripted Men in Black 3, then followed that by writing and directing the semi-crime comedy Get Hard (2015) , which starred Will Farrell, grossed more than $100 million worldwide, and yet is nearly entirely forgettable, as well as and Holmes and Watson (2018), a more assured mystery comedy that I found more enjoyable, yet it grossed just $40 million worldwide.

In adapting Aaron Blabey's book for the big screen, Coen created an effective framework, efficiently introducing the handful of criminals who make up the titular gang -- voiced by Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, and Anthony Ramos -- as well as several key supporting characters, voiced by Richard Ayoade, Zazie Beetz, Alex Borstein, and Lily Singh. His dialogue is efficient and sometimes witty. 

Pierre Perifel made his directorial debut, after spending years at DreamWorks Animation working on a variety of films in a variety of capacities. On the audio commentary, available on the Blu-ray and DVD editions of the movie, and featuring multiple BTS talent, the point is made that the film is an homage to classic crime films, not a parody or a spoof. The director and other key talents isolated and identified specific moments and scenes that are tributes to special crime films, which makes for a fascinating listen, even as seems every sequence is somebody's "favorite"! 

The plot follows the veteran, larcenous gang as they are caught after their latest elaborate heist, promise to "go good" and become The Good Guys so they can be absolved of guilt, freeing them to complete their interrupted heist again, and then must prove themselves and their true intentions when yet another criminal is framing them so he/she can get away with the crime. 

The film was released in movie theaters in April 2022, during the global pandemic, and I did not see it until distributor Universal Studios sent out the Blu-ray/DVD package later in their as part of their FYC (For Your Consideration) awards campaign. I watched in and enjoyed to some degree, though I didn't feel like it rose too far above the average. 

Watching it again, I appreciated the film's style more. It's in a much more illustrative style, as the filmmakers talk about on the commentary, and is meant to be more in the style of classic film noir, only in color and suitable for family audiences, so, overall, it's much brighter and takes place more often than not in outdoor locations. 

Still, there are certain sequences that are animated with more contrast and more shadows than is normal. The film is set in and around modern-day Los Angeles, and, as a native Angeleno, I could better appreciate the animated version of real-life locations, especially during an opening chase sequence. (Yes, Los Angeles has hills! Many, many hills!) Watching it again also increased my appreciation for the extremely clever heist scenes, which, yes, are intentionally reminiscent of any number of live-action crime caper movies. 

Perhaps because my expectations were lowered, I enjoyed The Bad Guys more on a second viewing than I did on my first, which makes me more eager to see The Bad Guys 2. [Now streaming on Peacock TV.]

Now Streaming: This past weekend, Elio crashed and burned, box-office wise. This coming weekend, F1 The Movie hopes not to do the same. So let's revisit an animated adventure that could be considered the spiritual father of both films: Cars, released in June 2006. 

The seventh and final film independently produced by Pixar, which was purchased by Disney in January 2006, Cars was directed by company head John Lasseter, with Joe Ranft credited as co-director, his only such credit before his untimely death the year before. Sandwiched between Brad Bird's superb one-two punch of The Incredibles and Ratatouille, it must be admitted that Cars suffers by comparison. 

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Still, even if it falls down narratively, Cars stands out for its dazzling animation, as well as a story featuring original characters and stories, as opposed to the sequels that would beset Disney Pixar in the subsequent 20 years, dominating its release schedule to the point that originals like last year's Elemental and this month's Elio feels like outliers, rather than what's to be expected from the hybrid studio. 

Frankly, Cars did not appeal to me at the time of its original release, which, as a confirmed fan of movies that feature car chases and/or automobile racing, I can only blame on my own snobbish tendencies. I did rent it on home video; unfortunately, I never truly synched with the anthropomorphic cars. 

Putting all that aside, I wanted to revisit the film to see if nearly 20 years had changed my perspective, especially after watching Elio and F1 The Movie last week, and now that Cars is  available to stream in 4K on Disney Plus. And I was surprised to realize that the film shares certain similarities with F1 The Movie. 

(First, though, let's get this out of the way: since I can't get it out of my head) 

Back to Pixar's Cars. 

The animation looks super awesome! It shares that with F1 The Movie: both are superb to gaze upon, especially during the racing sequences, which are entirely enthralling. Both also share a story in which a rookie race car driver seeking his first win ends up with a reluctant, aging mentor, who is a past champion race car driver. Lessons will be taught, resisted, and ultimately accepted, leading to eventual triumph. 

As the story develops, however, Cars becomes more of an ensemble piece, with Larry the Cable's Mater, a tow truck, eating up much more screen time than I remembered. (His Southern redneck character and humor do not age well). The same goes with other citizens of Radiator Springs, the fictional desert town where the speedy Lightning McQueen ends up spending a few days, against his will. 

I wish there had been more time spent between McQueen and Newman, perhaps because I'm aware that this was Newman's final voice performance in a fictional feature. (Indeed, the film feels haunted by death, starting with Joe Ranft's death in an automobile accident during production.) 

This might have saved the film from the awkward courtship between cars -- in this case, Lightning McQueen and Bonnie Hunt as a blue Porsche named Sally. Not to be indelicate in discussing a family film, but how exactly do cars have a happy marriage or, er, produce children? Perhaps best not to ask. (Talk about factory rejects.) 

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Where the film does ring true is in its commentary on the real-life Route 66 towns that were bypassed by the national interstate system of soulless highways. Changing times and all that, but Cars truly seems to understand the sad song of towns that (mostly) withered up and died, all in favor of speeding through the endless expanse that sows the country together. 

At the box office, Cars grossed some $60 million on its opening weekend, on its way to $244 million in the U.S. and nearly $462 million worldwide. It also spawned two sequels, two spin-offs, and two television series. [Disney Plus] 

Now Streaming: Nine years old and intimately acquainted with all kinds of saints, Damian (Alex Etel) moves with his older brother Anthony (Lewis Owen McGibbon) and their father (James Nesbitt) into a newly-built neighborhood. 

Their new home is lovely, and spacious enough that each brother gets their own room for the first time, but the community is sparsely-populated, and Damian finds greater kinship with the imaginary company of Catholic saints who keep appearing to him than with any human. Coupled with his keenly-felt grief over the death of his mother, the lad feels quite lonely. 

One day, a big sack of money arrives, flying through the air and destroying the cardboard house he's assembled by the railroad track that runs through their neighborhood. Damian thinks it's a gift from heaven and sets about distributing it to the poor. 

At least, that's his initial intention, which keeps getting sidetracked by Anthony and everyone else who gets a whiff of the hundreds thousands millions of pounds -- the exact amount doesn't matter, it's a lot -- in the big sack. England will soon be converting to the Euro, and pounds in cash will be worthless, which adds a welcome degree of urgency to the entire affair.

As laid out in the charming original screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce, Damian is a pure child: sweet, innocent, guileless, and wide-eyed, he's always smiling and always thinking of others before himself. His dead mother is constantly on his mind; he asks every saint who appears to him about her -- have you seen her yet? -- and he has not yet been corrupted by the world. 

Older brother Anthony may not have been thoroughly corrupted by the world, but he's a few years old and far more worldly-wise than the well-meaning Damian, who is ripe to be ripped off by the world and all its less savory citizens. Their father is always working and never around, it seems, so it's up to Anthony to look out for Damian. But he can't follow him everywhere, and so Damian keeps trying to give the money away, as he uses his limited knowledge of the world to give money to people he thinks are "poor" and probably deserving of a little cash. 

I first saw the movie on videotape around the time of its initial release in the U.S. in April 2005, though I remember it was either under consideration or actually screened at AFI Fest in 2004, during my two-year stint as a festival screener there. It lodged in my mind as an enjoyable film, though at the time I had not yet seen all of Danny Boyle's films up to that point, which included Shallow Grave (1994), Trainspotting (1995), A Life Less Ordinary (1999), and The Beach (2000). \

Indeed, Boyle's previous film was 28 Days Later (2002), which is being revived this week with the release of his sequel 28 Years Later. Boyle's next film after Millions was the decidedly-for-adults Sunshine (2007), and he's continued in the 'decidedly-for-adults' vein with nearly every film thereafter, with the exception of the soft-tempered Only Yesterday (2019). 

His films are not always jammed with piercing violence, horrific violence, zombie violence, and arm-separating violence, of course; it's just that he has invariably been drawn to adult themes handled without compromise. Even Millions takes a brief, dark turn in its third act, and it surprised me -- as it was undoubtedly meant to do -- because it felt genuinely scary and made me fear for the character in danger, especially after the bulk of the film is told as a lighthearted saint-minded fable.

Millions may be an anomaly in Boyle's career, but you wouldn't know it from watching the film today. It's made with care, precision, and Boyle's usual upending of narrative conventions, in part through his constantly varied choice of perspectives and framing, which keeps the manner of storytelling from ever diving into tried and true 'family film' waters. 

As a consequence, Millions feels unlike nearly every other family film of its time. It's sweet and inviting. Damian is such a wonderful kid that you can't help but root for him and worry about him and his family. As things turned out, neither Alex Etel nor Lewis Owen McGibbon continued acting for very long, which means that Millions remains a repository for two extraordinary performances by young actors who are entirely endearing and feel authentically juvenile. 

James Nesbitt remains active, giving lovely, measured performances, mostly in British television shows for the past decade. Boyce and Boyle remain active, with their last collaboration coming at the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony. 

Those who love horror and zombies will undoubtedly be eager to hear about 28 Years Later, which is press screening locally tonight ahead of its world premiere in London tomorrow and its wide theatrical release on Friday. For the rest of us, we'll always have Millions. [Disney Plus]

Arriving in 2009, near the midpoint of director Wes Anderson's career to date, his animated adaptation of Roald Dahl's book caught many of us by surprise. With his new film, The Phoenician Scheme, arriving in area theaters this week (after landing in New York and Los Angeles this past Friday), I decided to prepare by revisiting Fantastic Mr. Fox. 

His first animated film was also his first PG-rated film and also his first based on a book by Roald Dahl. He would make another animated movie nine years later (Isle of Dogs, 2018), other films rated PG-13 (Moonrise Kingdom, 2012; Isle of Dogs, 2018; Asteroid City, 2023; The Phoenician Scheme, 2025), and four short films based on Roald Dah's stories (The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar and Three More, 2024), all of which were rated PG. 

At the time, I'd seen four of Anderson's previous live-action movies -- though it took me a while to catch up with Bottle Rocket -- and was growing tired of them, because, frankly, his precise designs and emotional approach felt too precious for my taste, and I felt I'd see what he had to offer after watching Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and The Darjeeling Limited. I concluded that, perhaps, he simply wasn't for me. 

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The opening scenes in Fantastic Mr. Fox turned me around, however, and I've been a steady follower of his subsequent six films, if not an uncritical devotee. I believe Fantastic Mr. Fox is the first of his film that I've rewatched in full and, again, the opening scenes, which feature multiple LOL moments, are what got me back on board.

Somehow, the film feels like a Wes Anderson film and, simultaneously, a parody of a Wes Anderson film -- not unlike the Saturday Night Live short broadcast in 2013 -- as well as a juvenile version of a Wes Anderson film, complete with "cuss" and its variations in the dialogue, in place of adult profanities. 

I have very pleasant memories of watching it in a movie theater during an advance press screening, prompting the following review, published in November 2009 by Screen Anarchy, and reprinted with permission below: 

Wes Anderson's funny, fabulous Fantastic Mr. Fox feels like a book that's been missing from his library, an all-ages comedy with tender life lessons gently imparted by lovable characters. For all I know, Roald Dahl is spinning in his grave, but the British author's book has provided Anderson with a badly-needed spark that reignites his creative juices. 

Not that Anderson's post-Owen Wilson collaborations with Noah Baumbach have been complete disasters. Somewhere alone the line, though, perhaps midway through The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou and all the way through The Darjeeling Limited, it felt like Anderson's playfully twee tone wore thin. His characters, who have always teetered on the brink between self-absorbed and self-pitying, fell hard toward the irredeemably murky end of a perpetual personality crisis. 

It made you downright concerned that somebody might really kill themselves.

All such thoughts are happily banished in Fantastic Mr. Fox. Reformed chicken thief Foxy (voiced by George Clooney) is contently entwined with his beloved wife (voiced by Meryl Streep). Twelve years ago he gave up his wild animal lifestyle when Mrs. Fox got pregnant. Their son Ash (Jason Schwartzman) is "different" -- not "different" like his athletic father, still wildly imaginative and popular, but "different" as in confusingly weird. In reality, he's the fox equivalent of an adolescent boy entering puberty and dealing with all the associated issues: What kind of fox will I be when I grow up? 

Ash's desire to follow in his father's footsteps are hampered by the arrival of cousin Kristofferson (Eric Anderson), the kind of young fox who can make a perfect high dive into a tub of water while barely making a splash or mussing his hair. Mr. Fox treats Kristofferson like the long-lost son he never had, which definitely makes Ash feel threatened. Furthermore, Kristofferson also threatens to lure away Agnes (Juman Malouf), a fetching young classmate who Ash fancies.

Mr. Fox is dealing with his own life crisis. After 12 years of living in a hole with his family and working as a reporter for the local newspaper, he's hearing the call of the wild. Against the advice of Badger (Bill Murray), his lawyer, he buys a treehouse in sight of three huge farms belonging to the evil Bean (Michael Gambon), Boggis (Robin Hurlstone) and Bunch (Hugo Guiness). Mr. Fox cannot resist temptation and recruits his friend Kylie (Wally Wolodarsky) in a caper that eventually endangers not only himself and his family, but the entire local animal kingdom.

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This is very much a Wes Anderson picture, self-aware, somewhat self-conscious, the characters' neuroses, nervous mannerisms, and unexplained tics all fully on display, along with the director's predilection for sequences driven by grandiose classic rock and pop music (this time including a guest appearance by Jarvis Crocker, formerly of Pulp, as a musician named Petey). Yet everything is in service of the story, which makes for a glorious melding of sensibilities as twee meets Gee! Or, in the parlance of the movie, "What the cuss are you talking about?"

And it's the funniest flick that Anderson has made, with absolutely stellar work by the crew members who brought to life Anderson's very different vision of what stop-motion animation could be. Even though there are moments that are clearly computer-driven, everything else feels very handmade, which helps make the characters more endearing, more vulnerable to the vicissitudes of life.

Smart, energizing, and never condescending to its characters or the audience, Fantastic Mr. Fox is a complete delight. 

The film is now streaming on Disney Plus and also on Hulu.

Now Streaming: Springing from the mind of animator Chris Sanders in 1985, Stitch is roughly analogous to a baby from outer space.

In Lilo & Stitch, released in 2002, co-writers and co-directors Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois introduce a diminutive monster on another planet, so scary and frightening to its inhabitants that it's sent into exile, with the hope that it will perish when it overcomes its captors and lands on a planet that is covered (nearly) entirely with water, where the creature has no hope of survival. 

Of course, the alien crash-lands on a tiny island, compelling Grand Councilwoman (Zoe Caldwell) to send the creature's creator, mad scientist Jumpa (David Ogden Stiers) to retrieve it, accompanied by the meek, ill-suited, and entirely disposable Pleakley (Kevin McDonald). 

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On the island where the creature lands, young Lilo (Daveigh Chase) lives with her older sister Nani (Tia Carrere), who is struggling to care for Lilo as her legal guardian. The sisters are grieving the death of their beloved parents. Lilo is acting out, aggressively, while Nani threatens to kill her -- not really -- as she is overwhelmed by a full-time job and a young girl who is out of control. 

On a visit to an animal shelter, Lilo encounters the creature and instantly falls in love with the batty little thing, renaming it Stitch. The collision between Lilo and Stitch is a marriage of opportunity: Lilo needs a best friend and companion, and Stitch needs somewhere to hide out from Jumpa and Pleakley. 

Delightful and charming, the story unfolds along traditional narrative lines, and is told in an unhurried yet steady pace. The characters are enjoyable, the relationships are relatable, and the jokes are funny. The 2D animation looks gorgeous, and holds up well after more than 20 years, which is true of the film as a whole, which I watched last week. 

It was the second of three films made primarily at Disney's animation studio in Florida -- the first was Mulan (1998), the third was Brother Bear (2003) -- the film earned more than $273 million worldwide (on a reported $80 million budget), earned an Academy Award nomination, and spawned three movie sequels and three spin-off series, which are all streaming on Disney Plus. 

The film holds up well as family entertainment that is sufficiently charming to entertain adults too, single or otherwise, more so than the new live-action version, which chugs along gamely but falls short of the original's charm. If the advertising for the new film has caught your attention, however, now is a good time to revisit the original. [Disney Plus] 

Now Streaming: Closely resembling a child placing two photographs together and making them kiss, photo-realistic computer animation will never be funny. Or romantic. Or truly dramatic. 

Admittedly, though, photo-realistic computer animation looks amazing, especially in 4K on a decent-sized monitor. Frequently, while watching the woebegone Mufasa: The Lion King on Disney Plus, I was struck by how good it looked: the lions looked like lions; the white lions, who are the villains of the piece, because everything white is evil, of course, looked like white lions; the birds and the fishes and the mammals looked like real-life animals; and the wilderness looked absolutely gorgeous. 

Be that as it may, I have no idea what story director Barry Jenkins intended to tell. Of course, I admire his artistic intention and/or heartfelt desire to provide financially for his family and loved ones. 

Yet, Mufasa: The Lion King, whose script is credited solely to Jeff Nathanson, is a prequel that resembles The Lion King (1994) and its official remake The Lion King (2019), whose script was also credited solely to Jeff Nathanson, in its narrative arc, and even in some of its story details. So was this a case where Nathanson decided to borrow gobs of script pages from his own earlier script and just change the details a bit? 

Early on, for example, Mufasa is nearly swallowed up by an unexpected flood that comes rampaging through a canyon. His father dies saving him, but the floodwaters sweep Mufasa away to a distant land where he must find himself before returning to save his kingdom. 

So you're telling me that young Mustafa nearly died through circumstances that later repeated themselves years later when he needed to save his son Simba from animals that were rampaging through a canyon, only to be thwarted by his brother Scar and killed by the animals, whereupon Scar gives Simba a massive guilt trip, blaming him for the death, and propelling Simba into a distant land where he must find himself before returning to save his kingdom? 

Wow! Screenwriting is easier than I thought. 

Frankly, it's only in reconstructing the narrative above that I realized why the film confused me so much as I was watching. The title itself doesn't make sense to me: weren't the original film (1993) and its direct remake (2019) meant to be about the true king of the lions, namely, Simba? Now I see that I've had the wrong idea for more than 30 years: The Lion King is meant to be about the position, not the person. 

(Like the long after-the-release retitling of Star Wars (1977), I have a feeling that Disney is planning a series of releases, all with different names at the beginning of the title. So we can expect a prequel to the prequel with Masego: The Lion King and a sequel to the remake entitled Kiara: The Lion Queen. Will the inevitable Disney Plus series roll with Tales of the Pride Lands? Time will tell.)

Young Mufasa has been swept by the floodwater into a distant land, where he is rescued from hungry crocodiles by Taka, the young son of royalty. Take further bonds himself with his new friend Mufasa by throwing a footrace to him, which allows Mufasa, a stranger in a strange land, to stay in his new home.  Mufasa and Taka become bosom buddies. 

Attacked by vicious white lions, part of a pride known as the Outsiders, Mufasa (now voiced by Aaron Pierre) defends Taka's mother and kills one of the attacking Outsiders, raising the ire of the young lion's father, Kiros, leader of the Outsiders, who vows revenge against Mufasa. (By the way, in an eyebrow-raising explanation, the Outsiders were ostracized because of the color of their skin, which turned them all vicious and murderous. This may also explain why Kiros is voiced by the supremely evil and very white Mads Mikkelsen) Kiros starts by killing Taka's family, which means Mufasa and Taka (voiced as an adult by Kelven Harrison Jr.) must go On The Run. 

While On The Run, Mufasa and Taka meet the comely Sarabi (Tiffany Boone), who is traveling with the wisecracking bird Zazu (Preston Nyman) and wise yet wacky mandarin Rafiki (Kagiso Lediga). Naturally, both Mufasa and Taka are attracted to Sarabi -- she's the only lioness around, after all! -- but Taka opens his mouth first, and so Mufasa is honor-bound to deny his feelings for her and constantly put Taka forward as her mate-to-be. Sarabi, of course, like any female, know her own feelings: She doesn't want Taka, she wants Mufasa, and that's that. 

Taka, of course, like any male, is insanely jealous of the feelings that quickly develop between Mufasa and Sarabi, and so he is quick to betray them both when he ends up in the company of the truly evil Kiros. Naturally, however, Taka knows that this movie is a prequel and that Mufasa must live, so he saves his life a couple more times, for his trouble, gets slashed in the face and renames himself Scar so he can one day soon be voiced by Jeremy Irons. 

For reasons unknown except the Disney intellectual properly attorneys, the entire story is told by old Rafiki (John Kani) to old Timba and Pumba, perhaps to make room for white actors Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner. Periodically, the story pauses so Timba and Pumba can make jokes like late-night comedians, more fitting for the modern day than anything else, which breaks whatever spell is being spun by the the story of young Mufasa, but hey, gotta make room for white voices in the room. 

The creative team also includes multiple songs, none of which come to mind to me now as I write this, three days since I saw the film. Put the blame on me, though, since I am older and my memory is not so great; I'm sure they're all fantastic and utterly hummable for your kids (?!). 

If only the photorealistic animation could sing! And talk! Maybe then the movie would come to life, instead of just laying down limply on screen, waiting to be admired by onlookers. [Disney Plus] 

Now Streaming: Coming eight years after the original, Moana 2 feels completely adrift from its original inspiration. 

Developed by veteran animators Ron Clements and John Musker and released in 2016, Moana tried hard to be "fresh and modern," as I wrote back then for another outlet, "but it doesn't quite get there." Instead, the movie ended up inverting "the expected paradigm; Moana is not a hero's journey, it's a sidekick's journey. The young girl Moana learns practical things -- how to sail -- while slowly becoming a supporting character to Maui, a male demigod who needs to learn Important Life Lessons. What may have been intended as an inversion of gender roles instead ends up reinforcing them." Coming straight from the Mouse House, the film's big budget was amply rewarded by the public at large, earning nearly $650 million worldwide, per Box Office Mojo. 

The sequel, released this past November, easily outperformed the original, raking in more than $1 billion dollars at the box office worldwide. So, the company's faith in its own intellectual property was rewarded, which also explains why the film is just reaching the studio's streaming site this week. 

I missed the original theatrical release, due to an overcrowded work schedule, yet even at home, the film looks spectacular in 4K, the rich range of colors bursting out of the screen and the details looking mighty clear. Unfortunately, the higher density also reveals that every character looks like they are skinned in plastic, betraying absolutely no imperfections and resembling blow-up dolls for children. 

Which, after all, sounds appropriate: the movie is designed and targeted at youthful audiences, after all. Even so, the best films intended for youthful audiences, animated or not, never make the mistake of talking down to their audience. Children, even very young children, can quickly grasp the meaning behind facial gestures and body languages, even if they can't understand the words that are spoken. 

In Moana 2, a plethora of people are constantly acting much sillier and more juvenile than their fictional ages, explaining everything over and over again. When Moana decides to embark on another grand adventure for a MacGuffin or two, she decides to bring along a group of friends who are absolutely no help to her. If anything, they serve as a distraction to Moana, who must then spend time saving them from their own foolishness or worrying about them as they foolishly and/or needlessly put the lives of themselves or others in danger. 

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The demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson), formerly all powerful? Now he's not much use to himself or anyone else. He's the one in need of rescue by Moana, who has grown into a fine leader, although she too needs reassurance from smiling dead relatives who rise from the afterlife to cheer her on. 

The narrative itself, which has something to do with uniting the world somehow through its ocean people, is rambling and incoherent. To some extent, all sequels are remakes, especially one released eight years after the original; the original featured Moana setting off to find herself, only to be overcome by her association with Maui. The sequel revolves around Moana again setting off on an adventure, though its purpose remains curiously uninteresting.

It's difficult to discern any creative or story-driven purpose behind the sequel. Like a high-priced DTV release, Moana 2 is all tarted up for no good reason except Disney's bottom line, and has precious little to recommend for adult viewers, except for hard-core feature animation fans. [Disney Plus]