*"Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat" (2003)*
-Cast: Mike Myers, Spencer Breslin, Dakota Fanning, Alec Baldwin, Kelly Preston, Sean Hayes, Amy Hill, Daran Norris, Clint Howard, Victor Brandt
The infamous bomb that killed off live-action adaptations of Dr. Seuss' works, this headache isn't the worst film ever made, but is bad enough not to recommend. Bo Welch's direction is too static, but since his background was in production design, his set decoration is immaculate. The cast tries, but the laughs are not there, despite Myers' efforts at improvisation. Behind the scenes, Myers was forced to make this film after his "Sprockets" film fell through (I'd rather watch that), and his hot-and-cold energy shows. Breslin and Fanning are fun as siblings, and the surrealism of Seuss' work tries to break through but it's not enough. Followed by a few series and a remake.
*"Encanto" (2021)*
-Cast: Stephanie Beatriz, Maria Cecilia Botero, John Leguizamo, Mauro Castillo, Jess Darrow, Angie Cepeda, Carolina Gaitan, Diane Guerrero, Wilmer Valderrama, Rhenzy Feliz
I did enjoy some of the musical numbers- visually stunning portrayals of terribly simplistic songs- and colorful set-pieces, the more I've seen this, the more faults I've found with it. The first ten minutes is an info dump, as if the six credited writers had no idea how to open. The story moves in fits and starts. The central family is narcissistic and unlikeable, and all the men are a bunch of goofballs. Are the Madrigals a stand-in for socialism, trying to do good for the ungrateful surrounding villagers and suffering in silence for all their noble efforts? That's where my mind went as I waited for the unsatisfying conclusion.
*"Finding Nemo" (2003)*
-Cast: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe, Brad Garrett, Allison Janney, Austin Pendleton, Stephen Root, Vicki Lewis, Geoffrey Rush
Between this film and "Ice Age," Hollywood finally gave us dads some credit in a children's film (we're not all bastards, despite previous portrayals in movies and television). The opening heartbreaking scene introduces us to an amazing new animated world, and the voice cast carries this through impeccably. I loved Ellen DeGeneres back before she became insufferable, and she steals the film. I'm also glad this wasn't a musical, the writers had enough confidence in the audience to not have to spell everything out with a song (I'm looking at you, "Encanto"). A true classic, as was its sequel.
*"The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" (2026)*
-Cast: Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy, Brie Larson, Jack Black, Benny Safdie, Keegan-Michael Key, Donald Glover, Glen Powell, Luis Guzman
Is it anyone wonder today's children can't sit and watch a screen for longer than sixty seconds without wanting to "swipe"? I wanted to swipe this from my memory after the first sixty seconds. Forget the nostalgia bait from the first film, this gets going right away, sometimes not a bad thing, and never lets up until I felt like Alex in "A Clockwork Orange." Make it stop indeed, they should have given ritalin to patrons as the script careened from one situation to the next, not letting the audience stop and figure out what they were looking at. I was no fan of the first film, either, but as successful as these have been we have many years of sequels and reboots to avoid.
*"Run Hide Fight" (2020)*
-Cast: Isabel May, Olly Sholotan, Thomas Jane, Radha Mitchell, Treat Williams, Eli Brown, Barbara Crampton, Cyrus Arnold, Britton Sear, Catherine Davis
Unlike many online film reviewers, I actually watched the film before writing this up. I'm a Conservative, and this film still isn't very good. My main problem was director Kyle Rankin's script, torn between an action film and a social commentary, and ending up not being very good as either. I did enjoy the main character's conversations with her dead mother, and interaction with her best friend who has a crush on her, but this slogged on, making little sense as both a real world situation or an action film fantastical situation. Like those critics who dismissed this because of DailyWire+'s involvement, I didn't love it just because I don't vote Democrat.
