The union of Wes Anderson and stop-motion animation continues to be an ideal match. In 2009’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” Anderson showed what he could create using a medium that gives its author total control over every detail and every tiny movement; it amplified his comedy and creativity. This proves true once more in “Isle of […]

Graceful and quite literally quiet, “Wonderstruck” makes for an unconventional (or at least uncommercial) family film, but one worth enduring thanks to director Todd Haynes, the cast and composer Carter Burwell. 

Who could have imagined that “The LEGO Batman Movie” would be the Batman movie we didn’t know we needed? At first glance, spinning off “The LEGO Movie” take on the popular superhero seemed more like a goofy – but separate – iteration of the Caped Crusader for the family audience. But if Warner Bros. decided […]

The Disney fairytale mold sets sail for Polynesia in “Moana,” the studio’s latest animated musical featuring a strong female lead character, and a film hoping to build off the success of “Frozen” and “Tangled.” Although audiences are unlikely to be as familiar with ancient Polynesian mythology as they were with the stories of Rapunzel or […]

The talented storytellers and animators at Pixar are too creative to be devoting so much time to sequels like “Finding Dory,” but money talks. At least they’re clever and thoughtful enough to turn an easy payday into something entertaining and heartfelt.

“Zootopia” has all the best trappings of an entertaining animated family film with ample wit and heart.

When Pixar announced “Up” and “Monsters Inc.” director Pete Docter’s “Untitled Pixar Film that Takes You Inside the Mind,” there was little doubt that the animation giant and its brilliant minds had yet another work of genius in development. Flash forward and the revolutionary studio has not disappointed with this endlessly creative, whimsical journey now […]

Whatever stigma exists about movies based on toys both in general and in your mind, “The LEGO Movie” will dismantle it — brick by glorious brick. The writer/director combo of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” “21 Jump Street”) prove themselves yet again as masterful comic storytellers with an endless […]

They’ve done it again. The 2010 hit “Despicable Me” offered up a kind of family-friendly entertainment that only a cold-hearted cynic could actually despise. Its “Looney Tunes”-like slapstick offered light and lovable counter-programming to the visually stunning and emotion- filled animated films of the big studios such as DreamWorks and Pixar. In “Despicable Me 2,” […]

A little before 2000, Disney began to phase out its animated movie musicals. It wasn’t that people stopped wanting enchantment at the movie theater, but rather a cold, hard fiscal decision: the films continued to gross less and less and newer ideas for family entertainment were capturing audience attention and dollars.

Aardman Animations has probably been more consistent than Pixar, especially of late, yet the stop-motion powerhouse doesn’t get half the attention. “The Pirates! Band of Misfits” didn’t buck the box-office trend, but it proves that even with the most generic of premises, Aardman knows how to appeal to a diverse audience.

The incredible visual quality of CGI-animated films these days has been hiding from no one. With a blank canvas, Pixar, DreamWorks, Blue Sky Studios and others have been able to spark the imagination in ways live action films have yet to manage (outside of “Avatar”). “The Croods” is the latest DreamWorks offering to impose its […]

Ever since “The Nightmare Before Christmas” there has been an inexplicable connection between stop-motion animation and horror motifs. Tim Burton has been responsible for most entries in this small but noticeable canon, but Laika has found an equally quirky yet more mainstreamed alternative in Chris Butler’s “ParaNorman.”

For at least a decade now, the first name in animation has been Pixar, with the Disney half of that combination generally omitted. Pixar’s dedication to the best storytelling in both written and visual form as well as incredible creativity and cleverness has generally gone unparalleled, but plain old Disney Animation show it’s catching up […]

Disney is no stranger to the fairy tale (understatement of the last century), but princesses, curses and kingdoms are definitely new forays for its partner, digital animation powerhouse, Pixar. John Lasseter and company have always been more preoccupied with breathing life into inanimate objects and giving vocal cords to animals, so a film with humans […]