Gay Purr-ee is often remembered as the animated cartoon with the voice of Judy Garland …. But it’s quite frankly a lot more than that. It takes a simple story: The farm girl who runs away to the big city in search of happiness, only to find that she was truly happy back home after all. And tells it in the setting of a musical, with the main characters all being cats.
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Sadly, this is less of a review, and more of a warning, about Son of Batman. While watching Son of Batman, my children and I laughed out loud multiple times — but not during the comedy moments. In short, it’s a bad movie, which is too bad, since the source material is quite good, and the various actors and actresses have proven themselves to be better than this in other performances.
The Daydreamer, experience one of Rankin-Bass’ best-loved theatrical movies, filmed in an enchanting combination of live-action and stop-motion animation, as young Hans Christian Andersen daydreams his way to adventure through his most famous fairy tales. In ‘The Little Mermaid’ everyone’s favorite girl of the sea (Hayley Mills) must triumph over the evil Sea Witch (Tallulah Bankhead) with a little help from Father Neptune (Burl Ives). In ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ a pair of villainous tailors (Victor Borge and Terry-Thomas) create a surprising new outfit for a gullible king (Ed Wynn). The fun continues with Patty Duke as Thumbelina, Ray Bolger as The Pieman, Boris Karloff as a sinister rat, Margaret Hamilton as the mean Mrs. Klopplebobbler, and much more in this timeless kids’ classic.
Have you ever wished for a classic Easter special to show your kids? Here Comes Peter Cottontail is a Rankin & Bass production that bears a marked similarity to the beloved Santa Claus Is Coming to Town. Narrator Seymour S. Sassafrass, voiced and sung by Danny Kaye, takes young viewers on a tour of the mythical April Valley and relates the story of how Peter Cottontail almost failed in his quest to become Chief Easter Bunny. Sassafrass peers into his magic egg, and viewers are introduced to Peter Cottontail–a spunky, ingenious young rabbit who is boastful, is prone to fibbing, and lacks a sense of responsibility.
In order to become Chief Easter Bunny, Peter Cottontail must defeat the evil Irontail (Vincent Price) in a contest to deliver the most eggs on Easter Sunday. Through his trials, Peter Cottontail discovers the value of ingenuity, the importance of placing duty before pleasure, and the folly of self-conceit. Here Comes Peter Cottontail features catchy songs, great 1970s stop-motion animation, and a fun Easter tale. Parents will find themselves reminiscing over holidays gone by or wondering how they missed this show in their own childhood. The 2 and up crowd will be begging for another showing long after the Easter candy is a distant memory
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Directed by Oscar-winning animator Richard Williams (Who Framed Roger Rabbit), The Thief and the Cobbler began production in 1968, so it actually predates 1992’s Aladdin. Also known as The Princess and the Cobbler and Arabian Knight, Fred Calvert completed the film after Williams lost the rights to his dream project. Narrated by Matthew Broderick (replacing Sean Connery) as Tack the Cobbler, the CinemaScope-shot story takes place in ancient Baghdad. When Tack upsets Zigzag the Vizier (Vincent Price), the wizard drags him off to the royal castle, where Princess Yum Yum (Jennifer Beals) falls for the bashful boy and saves him from execution. Unfortunately, Zigzag plans to marry the princess in order to succeed her father, King Nod (Clive Revill). The Thief (Jonathan Winters), meanwhile, is more interested in gold than love and takes off with the protective orbs topping the palace. Read More »The Thief and the Cobbler
I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the Planet Hulk animated movie. It’s a very good adaptation of the comic book story arc of the same name. It actually presents characters that the audience comes to care about. One thing that I enjoyed is that, unlike most Hulk movies, the Hulk’s alter ego, Bruce Banner, isn’t the protagonist. He really doesn’t show up. The protagonist in the movie is the large, green, angry man-monster we know as the Hulk. And that was a good thing.
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Flint Lockwood: My name is Flint Lockwood. My whole life I wanted to be a great inventor. Just like my hero.
There’s a saying that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2: Revenge of the Leftovers proves that in spades. The basic problem with the film is that the central conflict — nerdy scientist Flint Lockwood seeks approval from a father figure — is exactly the same as in the original film. Only the father figure has changed.
Hotel Transylvania aims at a juvenile audience. Complete with the fart jokes and low humor that we’ve come to expect from Adam Sandler. And that’s a real pity. It’s actually a much better film than that.
Fueled by hatred and jealousy, Lex Luthor masterminds an elaborate plot to kill the Man of Steel — and it works. Poisoned by solar radiation, Superman is dying. With weeks to live, he fulfills his life’s dreams — especially revealing his true identity to Lois Lane — until Luthor proclaims his ultimate plan to control the world with no alien hero to stop him. Powers fading, Superman engages in a spectacular deadly battle with Luthor that could truly trigger the end of Earth’s Greatest Protector. This startling and gripping DC Universe Animated Original Movie stars the voice talents of James Denton, Anthony LaPaglia, Christina Hendricks and Ed Asner.
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When a spaceship splashes down in Gotham Harbor, Batman and Superman encounter a mysterious Kryptonian with powers as great as Superman’s. When Darkseid gets wind of this, he has the Kryptonian abducted and brought under his control on Apokolips. It’s up to Batman and Superman to retrieve the Kryptonian, forcing them to infiltrate Darkseid’s hostile world where superpowerful threats lurk around every corner. This story is based on Jeff Loeb’s popular mini-series from the Superman/Batman comic books.
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