Abominable is a film certain to please middle school to younger age kids and those who love movies classified as “Family Friendly.” However, this approval is purchased at far too high a price. Adorable? Yes. Animated with technical virtuosity? Indeed. Formulaic and derivative? Unfortunately so. Abominable belongs in that category of movies that include “The […]
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REVIEW: “Angry Birds 2”
August 21st, 2019 
Martin Goodman Before reviewing this sequel to Angry Birds (2016), I decided to try an experiment: I would see the movie pretending that I had never seen the original film or, in fact, even seen or heard of Rovio Entertainment’s app-born avian avengers. I pretended that I never played the game (I did, but stopped after they […]
REVIEW: Disney’s “The Lion King” (2019)
July 22nd, 2019 Martin Goodman My initial dilemma was whether to review this film at all. Disney entreats us to consider this remake of the 1994 film as “live action”, since there is apparently some photography used. However, I decided to disregard the semantic arguments. This version of The Lion King is undoubtedly an animated picture, and that, indeed, is […]
REVIEW: “Toy Story 4”
July 1st, 2019 Martin Goodman This summer marks my twentieth year as an animated film critic. During stints with Animation Nerd’s Paradise, Animation World Network, and of course, Animation Scoop as well as other work with Mr. Beck, I have learned one crucial thing: There is no one way to review an animated film and no limit to the levels […]
REVIEW: “The Secret Life Of Pets 2”
June 10th, 2019 Martin Goodman When we last saw the Secret Life of Pets crew in 2016, all of them were contented indeed. Doggies Max and Duke had learned to happily co-exist, Gidget the Pomeranian continued to dream of marrying Max, Pops retired, Snowball the anarchist rabbit was happily adopted, and pampered feline Chloe presumably busied herself packing on a […]
REVIEW: “Detective Pikachu”
May 10th, 2019 Martin Goodman The Pokémon have been with us since 1996, long enough to have entertained a couple of generations of fans. The mythical beasties have a history in video games, anime, TV series, manga, and, importantly, feature films. None of them, however, have been quite like Detective Pikachu. The film is based on the Nintendo adventure game […]
REVIEW: “UglyDolls”
May 6th, 2019 Martin Goodman With Toy Story 4 warming up for release, UglyDolls may be the least anticipated animated release of this Spring. More’s the pity. Although this film has taken a critical drubbing (and some aspects of it deservedly so), My own take is that STX Family UglyDolls is an underrated work that deserves better than the barbs […]
REVIEW: “Missing Link”
April 12th, 2019 Martin Goodman The first thing noticeable about this film is that its title is a clever play on words; the main character, originally called “Mr. Link”, is missing a home, a family, and his entire species. There is also a second meaning. Missing Link is an evolutionary (and revolutionary) link in the craft of stop-motion animation. Before […]
REVIEW: Paramount’s “Wonder Park”
March 15th, 2019 Martin Goodman Cameron “June” Bailey is an irrepressible young girl who, by age 10, proves capable of mentally designing an amusement park that Disney’s Imagineers would envy. Her parents admire her creativity; Mom whispers June’s suggestions into the ear of Peanut (a monkey with a magic pencil) and a magical ride appears in June’s imaginary “Wonderland”. (Makes […]
