‘Snow White’
There have been oodles of iterations retelling the Brothers Grimm fairy tale about Snow White, most famously Disney’s 1937 animated film. This latest musical, a hybrid of live-action and computer-generated imagery, stars Rachel Zegler (a Golden Globe winner for “West Side Story”) as the dark-haired princess who talks to birds and squirrels and must contend with her wicked stepmother, the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot, donning heavy gowns and dripping in jewels). This time, the love interest isn’t a prince, but a regular guy named Jonathan (Andrew Burnap), who steals potatoes to survive.
While the protagonist is a little spunkier than the original, the seven miners still whistle while they work, and the Queen still beseeches her magic mirror for information on who is the fairest of them all. The movie premiered to plenty of controversy (with some detractors calling it too “woke,” for a start), but children are unlikely to care much about that.
The film also includes new songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (both EGOT winners). Marc Webb (“The Amazing Spider-Man”) directed from a script by Erin Cressida Wilson (“The Girl on the Train”).
‘KPop Demon Hunters’
K-pop superstars sometimes seem all-powerful in real life, so maybe it’s not so far-fetched to imagine them battling demons the way Buffy battled vampires. In this action-packed fantasy musical from Sony Pictures Animation, Huntrix bandmates Mira (May Hong), Rumi (Arden Cho) and Zoey (Ji-young Yoo) entertain their fans while secretly protecting them from an underground demon force. Undercover girl bands have been doing this for centuries, but when one of the demons unleashes a plan to create a rival boy band to lure Huntrix fans to the dark side, things get wild.
There are plenty of catchy pop songs, as well as epic battles where youngsters will see purple glitter flying as demons are slayed. The directors Chris Appelhans (“Wish Dragon”) and Maggie Kang embrace the absurdity of the story line, never taking things too seriously and leaning way into the fun. Danya Jimenez, Hannah McMechan, Kang and Appelhans wrote the screenplay.
‘Paddington in Peru’
It’s hard not to love the cuddly character Paddington, with his signature blue coat and red bucket hat. Based on the Michael Bond book series about a Peruvian-born, marmalade-loving bear living in London, this latest live-action animation comedy follows our adorably earnest hero to Peru to find his Aunt Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton), who has gone missing from her retirement home.
Paddington’s human family, headed up by Mr. and Mrs. Brown (Hugh Bonneville and Emily Mortimer), accompany him to the Amazon in his quest to locate Lucy. Once there, they meet colorful characters like Reverend Mother (Olivia Colman), who runs the retirement home, and a mysterious river guide named Hunter Cabot (Antonio Banderas). There’s a quick but delicious end-credits cameo from the oh-so theatrical “Paddington 2” villain, Phoenix Buchanan (Hugh Grant), who gets to ham it up from jail.
It’s a sweet movie about Paddington finding his true home and embracing the fact that he’s “part London, part Peru.” This is the director Dougal Wilson’s first feature, and Mark Burton, Jon Foster and James Lamont wrote the script.
‘Onward’
This Oscar-nominated Pixar fantasy takes place in a world where once-abundant magic has been dulled by boring technology. The rows of homes, though mushroom-shaped, now look like a dull suburb, and unicorns root around in the garbage. Creatures like wizards and elves have forgotten how to cast spells. Enter our hero, an awkward teen elf named Ian Lightfoot (voiced by Tom Holland) who lives with his widowed mother, Laurel (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), and a goofy older brother, Barley (Chris Pratt). Ian has no memory of his father, but on his 16th birthday, his mom surprises him with a gift: a magical staff and spell that can bring back the boys’ father for 24 hours.
Since Ian and Barley aren’t practiced in magic, the spell half works. Literally. Their dad appears as a pair of pants and shoes, forcing the brothers to lug him around “Weekend at Bernie’s”-style in their quest to complete the spell. Along the way they meet mythical creatures like a tavern-owning manticore (Octavia Spencer) and police officers who look either Cyclops-like (Lena Waithe) or faun-like (Ali Wong).
Dan Scanlon (“Monsters University”) directed and wrote the script with Keith Bunin (“Nimona”) and Jason Headley (“Lightyear”).
‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’
The electric blue speedster Sonic returns, this time with a new hedgehog nemesis named Shadow (voiced by Keanu Reeves). Sonic (Ben Schwartz) is still living with a do-gooder human couple (James Marsden and Tika Sumpter), along with his buddies Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) and Knuckles (Idris Elba). Life is breezy until Shadow, who was created by a secret government program, is unleashed upon the world after half a century spent in a state of suspended animation.
Jim Carrey returns as Sonic’s manic enemy, Ivo Robotnik. Here we see a softer side of Robotnik when he discovers a grandfather he’d never met (also played by Carrey). This latest installment of the video game franchise gives Carrey free rein to let loose with his unique brand of frenzied physical comedy. Krysten Ritter plays a shady government agent, and Natasha Rothwell, Shemar Moore and Adam Pally reprise their roles from the previous film. Kids who are die-hard Sonic fans will likely watch this one more than once.
Jeff Fowler directed, and the writers Pat Casey, Josh Miller and John Whittington (all from “Sonic the Hedgehog 2”) teamed up again for this installment.
Dina Gachman is an Austin-based writer.
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