Movies starring Jack Black

It’s bright, colorful, overflowing with energy, and possesses a story so basic that even the most inattentive viewer will have no trouble following along. I think my 3 ½-year old daughter would love it. Older viewers may enjoy the jolt of nosta...

Perhaps there are interesting directions in which the filmmakers could have taken the Jumanji series – after all, the 2017 reboot, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, was vast improvement over the mid-1990s original. Unfortunately, driven by Hol...

The awkwardly-titled The House with a Clock in Its Walls is a classic example of a film that works better for children than adults. Seemingly made with the under-10 crowd in mind, the screenplay (credited to Eric Kripke, adapting the book by J...

Every year, there are a handful of pleasant and unpleasant surprises in multiplexes. Count Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle among the former. A tremendous improvement over the tepid 1995 original, this quasi-sequel brings humor, fun performances,...

Kung Fu Panda 3 falls on the kids-only end of the family movie spectrum. Unlike the best animated films, Kung Fu Panda 3 is content to appeal primarily to younger viewers, offering little of substance for the parents who accompany them to theaters. I...

At a guess, I'd say that Goosebumps will satisfy its core audience - fans of R.L. Stine's popular children's books - and bore pretty much everyone else. The film, which captures the feel if not the full charm of the written stories, comes...

Most of us have known someone like Dan Landsman (Jack Black): a Type A personality whose most salient trait is that he's unbearable to be around. Dictatorial and self-absorbed, he is obsessed with being the most important person in the room. Alth...

The Muppets is a rare family film likely to appeal more to parents than to their offspring. Although it's true that most kids today know a thing or two about Jim Henson's creations (the movie's premise - that they have vanished into obscurity since...

The average animated sequel is content to apprehend the successful elements from its predecessor and regurgitate them. The result, no matter how enjoyable, often drips with an overly familiar precipitation. Dreamworks' biggest animated franchise, S...

With the arrival of this "adaptation" of Gulliver's Travels, author Jonathan Swift must be spinning in his grave fast enough to make a top dizzy. If Swift was alive, no doubt he'd demand that his name be removed from the credits. Little of his sati...