ReelViews for G movies

For Pixar, Monsters University stops the bleeding. In the wake of two disappointing films, 2012's lackluster Brave and 2011's misfire Cars 2, the animation company has returned to solid footing with a prequel to their 2001 entry, Monsters Inc. Alth...

Remember when, as a child, you used to fear the monster under the bed or in the closet - how your parents would tell you to go to sleep, that it wasn't real? Monsters, Inc. confirms what every child really knows - the things that go bump in the ni...

For whatever reason, the character of Mr. Bean has never caught on in the United States. Rowan Atkinson's most popular creation has a small following in this country, but labeling him as an "acquired taste" would be an accurate descriptor. Unfort...

There's something a little annoying about a movie that tries this shamelessly to be endearing and family friendly. Typically, these kinds of films feature Santa Claus in a significant role. Here, there is no Santa but there is a 243-year old guy ...

My concept of a "family film" is a movie that can be enjoyed by viewers of all ages: undiscriminating young children, teenagers with short attention spans, and adults with somewhat more refined standards. Unfortunately, too often Hollywood eq...

Consider this possibility: a romantic comedy with no nudity, no sex, and no kissing. In fact, there aren't even any declarations of love. The closest the female character comes to admitting her feelings is saying that she could have danced all n...

What is it about Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro that makes it such a pleasant, immersive experience? Unlike just about any other animated film (including the other titles in Miyazaki’s impressive oeuvre), My Neighbor Totoro contents i...

Oliver Twist has never been one of my favorite Dickens novels, so perhaps that’s part of the reason why I’m lukewarm about Oliver!, the stage musical-turned-Oscar-winning motion picture adaptation of the book. It’s an uneven film with a...

Nostalgia - many movies (especially sequels to long-lasting franchises) trade in it to one degree or another. Few films, however, rely on its impact as strongly as The Peanuts Movie, the first big-screen outing for Charlie Brown & friends since 1...

Planet of the Apes was arguably the first American science fiction franchise of the post-serial film era. In many ways, the Planet of the Apes series developed the blueprint used by many subsequent multi-segment science fiction endeavors (such as ...