The Croods in 60 seconds: my “Reel Faith” review.
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Frankenweenie, Burton’s best film in years, is available in a number of editions: four-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo with 3-D Blu-ray and digital copy; 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo, and 1-disc DVD.
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Hotel Transylvania in 60 seconds: my “Reel Faith” review.
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B- |
*** |
-2|
Teens & Up*
Why does stop-motion animation work so well as a medium for the macabre, from
The Nightmare Before Christmas to
Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride to
Coraline?
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ParaNorman in 60 seconds: my “Reel Faith” review.
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B+ |
***½ |
+1-2|
Kids & Up*
I love that Brother Aidan’s cat in
The Secret of Kells is called Pangur Bán. The unknown eighth or ninth-century Irish monk who, in a playful respite from his normal work, penned in the margins of a Latin New Testament manuscript an
affectionate ode in his native tongue to the mouse-catching prowess of his white cat would surely be astounded to find Pangur Bán again commemorated in pen and ink over a millenium later, romping across backgrounds that look at times like the decorative work of the monks themselves brought to life.
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In theaters right now are two charming and visually engaging animated films at opposite ends of the budget spectrum, different in many respects but with some interesting overlap as well. One is
How to Train Your Dragon, DreamWorks’ big-budget CGI adaptation of a popular children’s book. The other is
The Secret of Kells, an Oscar-nominated Irish animated indie made on a comparative shoestring budget, now in limited release.
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B+ |
*** |
+0|
Kids & Up*
“Vikings versus dragons” is definitely one of the cooler premises for a computer-animated tale to come along in a while. Differentiate the dragons into half a dozen distinct species, each with unique traits, from the roly-poly Gronkle to the two-headed Hideous Zippleback and the stealthy, jet-black Night Fury, and it’s even cooler — especially if the dragons are ordinary beasties rather than anthropomorphized talking monsters.
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C- |
*** |
-2|
Kids & Up*
No, it wouldn’t be entirely accurate to call the CGI cartoon
Happy Feet an effort to claim penguins for the other side of the culture wars. But it wouldn’t be wholly wrong either.
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