Tag: animation

The Secret Life of Pets

The Secret Life of Pets

dir. Chris Renaud & Yarrow Cheney (Illumination, 2016)

Renaud_Secret Life of Pets

This animated furball comedy is probably better without foreknowledge. While anticipation may have been built, much actual impact was lost through having the film cut up and organ farmed for a relentless onslaught of trailers in the months leading up to release.

 

Rango

Rango

dir. Gore Verbinski (2011)

Verbinski_Rango

A surprisingly cohesive animated comedy. Johnny Depp is peerless as a chameleon who, stranded in the Mojave Desert, survives his introduction to the Wild West by impersonating (blending in by way of chutzpah and bravado!) a tough hombre by name of Rango.

 

Monsters, Inc.

Monsters, Inc.

dir. Pete Docter (2001)

Docter_Monsters Inc

John Goodman and Billy Crystal are perfectly cast and animated as portal-hopping monsters whose night-scaring elicits the screams needed to power Monstropolis. The status quo turns to sweet crumble when their rival’s scheming brings a three-year-old human (presumed deadly) into their world.

 

Ice Age: Collision Course

Ice Age: Collision Course

dir. Mike Thurmeier & Galen T. Chu (2016)

Thurmeier_Chu_Ice Age Collision Course

Film five of the Ice Age franchise offers more of the same: beautifully animated and very funny in parts, but with an ever-expanding cast that ipso facto demands a scattershot apportioning of screen time (and thus precludes any thought of serious undertones).

 

Zootopia

Zootopia

dir. Byron Howard & Rich Moore (2016)

Howard_Moore_Zootopia

Although it could never live up to its sloths-at-the-DMV trailer, Zootopia still hops along nicely as a prejudice-themed comedy murder mystery wherein circumstances necessitate the city’s first rabbit police officer (Ginnifer Goodwin) teaming up with a small-time con artist fox (Jason Bateman).