By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Today, Disney Junior is releasing The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar on DVD. A TV special that aired last fall to kick off the new animated series, the story follows Simba (Rob Lowe) and Nala’s (Gabrielle Union) second born son Kion (Max Charles), who is assigned to lead the Lion… Read More DVD Review: The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The latest tale in DreamWorks Animation’s surprisingly engaging saga, Kung Fu Panda 3 finds unlikely Dragon Warrior Po (Jack Black) reunited with his birth father (Bryan Cranston), and taken back to the secret panda village where he was born. But all of China is being threatened by the… Read More Review: Kung Fu Panda 3
By John Corrado Today, Disney is releasing their beloved 1937 classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on Blu-ray, to kick off their new Signature Collection series. Famously voiced by Adriana Caselotti, Snow White is a charming princess who escapes the clutches of the evil Queen (Lucilla La Verne), and finds herself in the forest… Read More Blu-ray Release: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Signature Collection
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Today, Sony Pictures is releasing last year’s popular sequel Hotel Transylvania 2 on Blu-ray. The film opens with the plucky vampire Mavis (Selena Gomez) and human Jonny (Andy Samberg) getting married at the monster hotel. This leads to the birth of their son Dennis, a half-human, half-vampire child that… Read More Blu-ray Review: Hotel Transylvania 2
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) The latest from visionary screenwriter and co-director Charlie Kaufman, Anomalisa is a moving and strikingly unique love story, that uses innovative stop motion animation to put an inventive and poignant twist on the usual romance between strangers plot. The main character is Michael Stone (David Thewlis), a middle… Read More Review: Anomalisa
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) A deeply resonant and visually breathtaking journey through the wide open frontier, The Good Dinosaur utilizes a high concept to explore the prehistoric friendship between a talking dinosaur and underevolved little boy. The greatest threat facing this latest film from the geniuses at Pixar is not extinction, but rather comparisons to their own masterpiece… Read More Review: The Good Dinosaur
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) As a lifelong fan of Charles Schulz’s simple yet profound hand drawn comics and classic holiday specials, I’m happy to say that I adored The Peanuts Movie, a modern animated adventure from the folks at Blue Sky Studios that does justice to the original material in a genuine and truly special… Read More Review: The Peanuts Movie
By John Corrado Last week, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Richard Kind, a character actor who has delivered brilliant supporting work in excellent films like A Serious Man and Obvious Child. But the basis for our interview was to discuss his unforgettable vocal performance as everybody’s favourite imaginary friend in Pixar’s Inside Out, which… Read More Interview: Richard Kind on Voicing Bing Bong in Pixar’s Inside Out
By John Corrado Today, Disney is releasing Inside Out on Blu-ray, the latest and perhaps greatest from Pixar Animation Studios. When Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) goes through a stressful move to San Francisco, the emotions inside her young mind struggle to keep her from falling into depression, after Joy (Amy Poehler) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith) get lost in Long… Read More Blu-ray Release: Inside Out
By John Corrado After premiering on TV last year, Disney is releasing the holiday special Toy Story That Time Forgot on Blu-ray today. The short film takes place just after Christmas, when Bonnie (Emily Hahn) goes on a play date to a friend’s house, forcing Trixie (Kristen Schaal) and Rex (Wallace Shawn) to go up against… Read More Blu-ray Release: Toy Story That Time Forgot
By John Corrado Today, Disney is releasing their 1992 classic Aladdin on Blu-ray, as part of their Diamond Edition series. Aladdin (Scott Weinger) is a young street thief who falls in love with Jasmine (Linda Larkin), a lonely princess who is tired of being confined to the castle, but forced to marry royalty. When Aladdin is… Read More Blu-ray Release: Aladdin
By John Corrado Paramount is releasing the 1980 animated feature Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don’t Come Back!!) for the first time on DVD today, for fans to revisit before The Peanuts Movie opens in a few weeks. The film follows Charlie Brown, Linus, Peppermint Patty and Marcie as they travel to Europe as exchange students, getting into plenty of misadventures… Read More DVD Release: Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don’t Come Back!!)
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Adapting their popular TV series to the big screen, the fine folks at Aardman have delivered one of the nicest surprises of the summer filmgoing season with Shaun the Sheep Movie. Expanding the action to feature length, and playing out on a much larger scale than the show, this spry… Read More Review: Shaun the Sheep Movie
By John Corrado This week, 20th Century Fox is releasing DreamWorks Animation’s surprise hit Home on Blu-ray. After our planet is taken over by aliens, Tip (Rihanna) ends up separated from her mom (Jennifer Lopez), and is travelling across the country to get her back. When Oh (Jim Parsons) becomes an outlaw amongst his race,… Read More Blu-ray Release: Home
Last week, Disney released Spirited Away and The Cat Returns on Blu-ray, a pair of Studio Ghibli films that come highly recommended for fans of the legendary Japanese animation house. Enjoy! Spirited Away: Released in 2002, Spirited Away is the story of Chihiro (Daveigh Chase), a young girl who is moving to the Japanese countryside, when… Read More Blu-ray Release: Spirited Away and The Cat Returns
Inside Out – A Walt Disney Studios Release http://movies.disney.com/inside-out/ Release Date: June 19th, 2015 Rated PG for mild thematic elements and some action Running Time: 103 minutes Pete Docter (director) Ronnie Del Carmen (co-director) Meg LeFauve (screenplay) Josh Cooley (screenplay) Pete Docter (screenplay) Michael Giacchino (music) Amy Poehler as Joy (voice) Phyllis Smith as Sadness… Read More Three Views: Inside Out
By John Corrado Today, Paramount is releasing their recent box office hit The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water on Blu-ray, including an impressive 3D combo pack that comes highly recommended for those with the right system in place. When the famous Krabby Patty secret formula mysteriously disappears, SpongeBob (Tom Kenny) must team up with his… Read More Blu-ray 3D Release: The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
By John Corrado Today, Touchstone Pictures is releasing Strange Magic on DVD. The animated musical follows fairy sisters Marianne (Evan Rachel Wood) and Dawn (Meredith Anne Bull), who get involved with the jilted Bog King (Alan Cumming), when lovestruck elf Sunny (Elijah Kelley) unleashes a love potion. Dumped into theatres back in January, I wasn’t really… Read More DVD Release: Strange Magic
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Throughout their filmography of over thirty features, DreamWorks Animation has had a somewhat mixed output, evident just last year with three films ranging in quality from the surprisingly good Mr. Peabody & Sherman and the outstanding How To Train Your Dragon 2, to the very disappointing Penguins of Madagascar.… Read More Review: Home
By John Corrado Fresh off winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, Disney is releasing Big Hero 6 on Blu-ray today. Following teenaged robotics genius Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter) and his huggable health care companion Baymax (Scott Adsit), this is a beautifully animated film that mixes a superhero origin story with poignant themes of grief and… Read More Blu-ray Release: Big Hero 6
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