The Trials of Morrigan Crow
by Jessica Townsend (Little, Brown, 2017); audiobook read by Gemma Whelan (Hachette, 2017)
A magical adventure in the mode of early Harry Potter books (and rather better written), yet the narrative drive sputters on its fuel of high-octarine imagination, and while Morrigan and Jupiter have real personality, other characters—particularly the antagonists—are unmitigated extremes.
Weathering With You
dir. Makoto Shinkai (2019)
Feature-length anime. Writer-director Makoto Shinkai once again proves extremely adept at creating mood (in this instance a gloomy, near-dystopian Tokyo inundated by rain), and at structuring a plot to reflect teenage self-absorption and the feeling of carrying the weight of the world.
Doctor Who: The Moonbase
by Kit Pedler; dir. Morris Barry (BBC, 1967/2014)
An effective story for the first two episodes, which are spent building the tension and establishing the (vital but ludicrously understaffed and without built-in redundancy) moonbase. Then the Cybermen bust out their dance moves and some very, very daft plans. Logic, schmogic.
Doll Bones
by Holly Black (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2013); audiobook read by Nick Podehl (Random House, 2013)
A magic-realism quest fantasy marking the reluctant coming-of-age of three YA protagonists still clinging to the storytelling adventures they shared in MG. A markedly downbeat tale, its speculative element minimal to match the floundering ineffectualness of imaginations pitted against the real world.