Movies in the Animated genre

Director Kyle Balda has been with the Minions since their inception. He began working in the art department for Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2, then moved to the (co-)director’s chair for Minions and Despicable Me 3. If nothing else, that assur...

If Moana seems like a throwback to the animated Disney films of the late 1980s and early 1990s, it’s not a coincidence. Consider that directors Ron Clements & John Musker have on their resumes both The Little Mermaid (the movie that revital...

Back in the 1990s, as Disney’s second golden age of animated movies surged, the company entered the sequel business, churning out follow-ups to their popular titles. For the most part, these represented inferior products and Disney knew it, but ...

Monster House is, to the best of my knowledge, the first animated haunted house movie, and quite possibly the first family film to recall, at various times, Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Amityville Horror. (Parents, don't worry - th...

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...

If this is the brave new world to which 3D is transporting us, stop the merry-go-'round. I want to get off. Monsters vs. Aliens, one of the 2009 big movies designed to highlight where 3D could transport audiences, is an example of technology ru...

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...

Mufasa, a prequel to both 1994’s original and 2019’s remake of The Lion King, is an example of commercialism at its most obvious. Although there are praiseworthy elements to Barry Jenkins’ venture into the series and children will almost cert...

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...

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...