It’s that time of year again: the time we take a look at what next year has to offer us in terms of theatrical animation! Bear in mind that these are only the animated films with verified US release dates and that any and all dates are subject to change at any time. (And for the purposes of this blog, I am not including Disney’s upcoming The Lion King remake in this list!) Enjoy!
In 2011 and 2013, Sony Animation gave us two live-action films based on the Smurfs. Like many films of the same style, all the actors were live-action, but the main characters were animated. And like many of these kinds of films, they weren’t critical successes at all, but made money at the box office!
So when it came time to make a third film based on the Smurfs, they decided to make it a fully animated reboot pretty much ignoring that The Smurfs and The Smurfs 2 ever happened.
The result of that decision is Smurfs: The Lost Village. Read on to know what I thought of it! (Beware, there may be spoilers ahead!)
Continue reading “My Thoughts: SMURFS: THE LOST VILLAGE (2017)”
In 2014, The Lego Movie was released to theaters. Most of us scoffed at the idea that they were making a movie about LEGOs, but the movie proved us wrong by having a thought-provoking story, memorable characters, impeccable animation, and just being one of the best animated films of the decade (according to most people)!
The breakout character from the movie though was Lego Batman, voiced by Will Arnett. Lego Batman was somewhat of an exaggerated parody of the Batman character that fit in well with the LEGO universe. Due to his popularity, it was soon decided that Lego Batman would get his own spinoff film. And three years later, we’ve got The Lego Batman Movie! Is it as good as The Lego Movie? Or is it another example of a side character being given his/her own movie which turns out to be incredibly bad? Read on to find out! (Also, there might be spoilers ahead, so you’ve been warned!)
Continue reading “My Thoughts: THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE (2017)”
When the trailer for Illumination Entertainment’s The Secret Life of Pets was released, I was honestly surprised as to how positive/optimistic many people seemed to be towards it. Almost everyone I knew said that the film looked cute or funny or had an interesting premise or was a film that they were looking forward to seeing. I, on the other hand, seemed to be in the minority opinion!
I thought the trailer seemed kinda stupid. It seemed to be pushing the ubiquitous “funny jokes for kids” trope that we see in a lot of animation and I didn’t really find any of the jokes funny. The plot seemed very reminiscent of past films such as Toy Story and it seemed that the only reason Kevin Hart, Louis C.K. and Eric Stonestreet were cast as voices were just to have popular celebrities’ names attached to the film. Heck, I’m not even a “pets” person, so I couldn’t even identify with that aspect of the film that many pet owners seemed to readily identify with! I was much more looking forward to Illumination Entertainment’s Sing than this film.
Eventually, I ended up watching this film. Was I as disappointed as I thought I was going to be? Or was I surprisingly impressed? Read on to find out what I thought of The Secret Life of Pets.
By the way, there will be some SPOILERS!
Continue reading “My Thoughts: THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS (2016)”
Well, it’s that time again! As the year comes to a close, it’s time to take a look at the theatrical animated films that are due for release next year. Once again, these are the animated films that have release dates (USA release dates) only! Enjoy!
The Animation Commendation 