By John Corrado When Zootopia came out in 2016, it took a lot of people by surprise (myself included) with how sharp and relevant it was. Set in an anthropomorphic world of talking animals designed like a bustling metropolis, the Disney film delivered a timely message about stereotypes and discrimination between “predators” and “prey,” told… Read More Movie Review: Zootopia 2
By John Corrado Disney has just released the new trailer (and poster) for Hoppers, Pixar’s next original movie opening next year. This one follows a girl who has her consciousness put into a robotic beaver, to infiltrate the animal kingdom. The full cast list has also been unveiled, including Meryl Streep, making her Pixar debut!… Read More New Trailer for Pixar’s Hoppers!
By John Corrado The titular “Bad Guys” are back in The Bad Guys 2, only now they are trying to be the Good Guys after doing time and swearing off a life of crime. This sequel to the 2022 DreamWorks Animation film finds the ragtag animal crew being pulled back in to do one last… Read More Blu-ray Review: The Bad Guys 2 (Collector’s Edition)
By John Corrado Disney has just released the new, full-length trailer for Zootopia 2. This is the highly anticipated sequel to the 2016 smash hit Zootopia, seeing the return of bunny cop Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), now working together as official law enforcement partners. This trailer gives us a… Read More New Trailer for Disney’s Zootopia 2
By John Corrado A prequel to his 2017 stop-motion film Junk Head, which was in turn based on a 2014 short, Junk World finds Japanese filmmaker Takahide Hori playing around on an even larger canvass. Hori’s film is set in a world of people and clones (called “Mulligans”), who rise up against the humans, leading… Read More #TIFF50 Review: Junk World (Midnight Madness)
By John Corrado The feature directorial debut of French animators Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han, Little Amélie or the Character of Rain is a gorgeous animated film that lets us view the world through a child’s eyes. The film is based on The Character of Rain, a short novel by Belgian author Amélie Nothomb, which… Read More #TIFF50 Review: Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (Centrepiece)
By John Corrado Ne Zha II is the Chinese blockbuster that became the highest grossing animated film of all time, beating the record previously set by Inside Out 2 just last year, almost entirely from what it grossed in China alone. The film had previously been released in North American theatres earlier this year, and now we… Read More Movie Review: Ne Zha II
By John Corrado Pixar has just put out the first teaser trailer for Hoppers, the animation studio’s next original movie. This one is directed by Daniel Chong, who is best known for the popular cartoon series We Bare Bears. The story follows a girl who transfers her mind into a robotic beaver body, allowing her… Read More Teaser Trailer for Pixar’s Hoppers
By John Corrado Elio, the very sweet new animated film from Pixar, uses the age old question of “are we alone in the universe?” to explore the very real topic of loneliness, namely that of the titular Elio (voiced by Yonas Kibreab). Elio is a space-obsessed kid who has been left living on a military… Read More Movie Review: Elio
By John Corrado Disney has just released the first teaser trailer for Zootopia 2 (which will likely play in front of Lilo & Stitch this weekend). This teaser, which is set to music, doesn’t show us much. But it does give us a glimpse at some of the new worlds that our heroes Nick Wilde… Read More First Teaser for Zootopia 2
By John Corrado DreamWorks Animation has always had two modes, which is what allows the studio to balance prestige animated films with more cartoony efforts. So for every How to Train Your Dragon, there’s a Boss Baby. This is why the studio is able to so effortlessly follow up a great film like last year’s… Read More Blu-ray Review: Dog Man (Collector’s Edition 2000)
By John Corrado Disney has just released the brand new “official” trailer for Pixar’s upcoming film Elio. This trailer shows off a lot more of the plot behind this animated sci-fi action comedy, including the friendship between the titular Elio (voiced by Yonas Kibreab) and an alien named Glordon (Remy Edgerly). Set to Queen’s “Don’t… Read More New Trailer for Disney and Pixar’s Elio
By John Corrado Please note that this is a review of the 4K Ultra HD release of The Wild Robot. For my full thoughts on the film itself, you can read my TIFF review right here. Last month, DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot was released on 4K Ultra HD. Adapted from Peter Brown’s book, the… Read More 4K Ultra HD Review: The Wild Robot (Collector’s Edition)
By John Corrado The British inventor and his pantomime dog return in Aardman’s Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, the second feature-length outing for the characters following 2005’s Oscar-winning The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Co-directed by series creator Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham, this charming and funny new adventure for the stop-motion man and dog… Read More Movie Review: Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Netflix)
By John Corrado Dream Productions, the new Disney Plus limited series “from the world of Inside Out,” presents somewhat of a departure for Pixar. It’s not only their first stab at episodic storytelling, but also done in the style of a mockumentary. The four-part series is presented as a “behind the scenes” look at Dream Productions,… Read More Review: Dream Productions (Disney+)
By John Corrado Disney’s Moana became a box office hit when it was released eight years ago in 2016. The film has enjoyed a strong shelf life with audiences since then, so it was inevitable that, for better or for worse, the studio would want to do more with these characters. Enter Moana 2, which began life as… Read More Movie Review: Moana 2
By John Corrado In 2009, director Adam Elliot, the Australian animator behind the 2003 Oscar-winning short film Harvie Krumpet, released his debut feature Mary & Max. The excellent claymation film had a lovingly hand-crafted feel to it, and told the tender story of the pen-pal friendship between a girl and an autistic man, which Elliot explored with… Read More Movie Review: Memoir of a Snail
By John Corrado Transformers One is technically the latest entry in the blockbuster franchise based on the Hasbro toys, but sets itself apart by being both a prequel and the first fully animated film since 1986’s The Transformers: The Movie. And it’s a decent animated film that easily ranks as one of the better entries… Read More Movie Review: Transformers One
By John Corrado The 2024 Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 5th to 15th, more information can be found right here. In his second animated feature Flow, following his 2019 debut Away, Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis captures the wordless saga of a group of animals trying to survive a flood on their island. The creatures… Read More #TIFF24 Review: Flow (Centrepiece)
By John Corrado The 2024 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 5th to 15th, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. The Wild Robot is the latest animated film from DreamWorks, and it’s one of the best movies the studio has ever produced. In adapting the children’s novel by author Peter… Read More #TIFF24 Review: The Wild Robot (Gala Presentations)
The Joy of Movies 