Yours, Mine and Ours (1968)

As often happens, I heard of the remake first. The original is a bit more popular, so I gave it priority. Only later did I learn that it was based on a true story -- and paved the way for The Brady Bunch.

If you thought the Bradys had it tough, consider that widower Frank Beardsley (Henry Fonda) has ten children and widow Helen North (Lucille Ball) has eight. (Why am I not surprised that at least one goes to a Catholic school?) For most of the story, Frank's two youngest live with his nearby sister to make matters easier, but the separation produces tension with the rest of his kids. Frank and Helen happen to meet several times before dating, and despite hangups about an even bigger family, they go on to marry. In addition to the more predictable difficulties, many of the kids don't want a replacement for their dead biological parent. That won't be an issue for the little one on the way....

The Road to El Dorado (2000)

People hardly talked about this when it was new. Neither the trailer nor the excerpt I caught on TV tempted me. But a couple memes signal its sleeper cult hit status. I chose it partly to get references and partly to kill less than 90 minutes.

Sixteenth-century Spanish scoundrels Miguel (Kevin Kline) and Tulio (Kenneth Branagh) use loaded dice to win a map purporting to lead to the rumored city of gold. Being only so sneaky, they get clapped in the brig of a ship by Hernán Cortés himself (Jim Cummings) but escape in a rowboat with help from Altivo (Frank Welker), perhaps the smartest horse outside of Tangled. After weeks of mixed luck, they meet the remote El Doradans, who mistake them for prophesied divine visitors. A nice gig if you can get it, but you don't have to see or read The Man Who Would Be King to know how tenuous their status is....

Minions & Monsters (2026)

After my previous complaints about the walking yellow pills, I never expected to watch any part of the spinoff series. What persuaded me? My nephew and niece invited me. I'll take almost any excuse to spend time with them.

As narrated by a tour guide (Allison Janney), most of the story takes place in early Hollywood. A tribe of Minions (all voiced by director Pierre Coffin) in search of a new bad guy to follow unwittingly crashes a set and wins the hearts of the producers (both Jeff Bridges), who cast them in many movies with the same director (Christoph Waltz). Alas, their inability to stick to English for long makes them flop with the advent of talkies. The most artistically minded Minion, James, decides to make an indie horror. Using a previous boss's magic book, he summons a talking monster (Trey Parker), who brings others on board (Phil LaMarr and Bobby Moynihan). Of course, they didn't show up to be actual actors....

Toy Story 5 (2026)

Despite my previous desire not to have the series continue, I got curious when I saw the new plot element in ads. Having seen all the other entries (not counting Lightyear) in theaters, I soon talked my parents into joining me -- followed by my sister, brother-in-law, niece, and reluctant nephew. This would be a new experience on that level at least, enough to make up for nearly half an hour of ads. Good thing the movie itself moves along at a fast clip.

Bonnie (Scarlett Spears), now 8, has trouble making friends because all the same-age kids in her neighborhood would rather play online. Her parents buy her a tablet called Lilypad (Greta Lee), much to the consternation of her soon neglected toys. Her longtime favorite, plastic cowgirl Jessie (Joan Cusack), sneaks off with stuffed horse Bullseye (no voice) to ensure that Bonnie has a good time at a sleepover with new connections thanks to "Lily," leaving astronaut action figure Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) to try to keep Lily in check. When things go sideways, Jessie and Bullseye involuntarily return to where she stayed decades ago....

1776 (1972)

I saw maybe half of this musical in a fifth-grade classroom. While it didn't bore me, I was not eager to check out the rest. But for the 250th anniversary, I could think of no better option.

In June of the titular year, John Adams (William Daniels) has been the only one calling for debate on independence in the Continental Congress, until Ben Franklin (Howard Da Silva) advises him to let the then more popular Richard Henry Lee (Ron Holgate) make the proposal. John Dickinson (Donald Madden) persuades Congress to require a unanimous vote to secede from Britain. In light of this, Adams procures a postponement so they can write a declaration to make everything clear and hopefully persuasive. By the process of elimination, he strong-arms Thomas Jefferson (Ken Howard) into authoring it.

David (2025)

Let's see: a biblical animation with the same distributor as The King of Kings, released in the same year, with the same IMDb rating. But this one's a musical set in the Old Testament without narration. Would it feel more like a spiritual successor to The Prince of Egypt?

The story begins shortly before Bethlehem shepherd David (Brandon Engman, later Phil Wickham) gets anointed by prophet Samuel (Brian Stivale) as a future king and ends when the Israelites formally recognize his kingship. When not contending with the powerful Philistines and creepy Amalekites who hope to enslave his people, his antagonist is King Saul (Adam Michael Gold), who now cares more about holding onto power than following the Lord's guidance.

The Secret Life of Pets (2016)

Yeah, it's been less than a month since my last talking animal cartoon review. This one, despite numerous award nominations and a few minor wins, gets a mostly middling reception. So why did I bother to see it, especially after a decade? Because I was in the mood for something short (86 minutes) and cute.

Max (Louis C.K.), a Jack Russell, basically enjoys life in Manhattan until owner Katie (Ellie Kemper) brings home a large rescue Newfie, Duke (Eric Stonestreet), prompting covetous competition. An outdoor kerfuffle results in both of them losing their collars and getting caught by dogcatchers. Before they can reach the pound, a gang of sewer-dwelling, human-hating abandoned pets busts a member out of the van, and Max and Duke persuade lead rabbit Snowball (Kevin Hart) to take them too. When their overture of rebellion proves false and they accidentally cause the demise of the biggest and nastiest ex-pet while escaping, Snowball becomes determined to hunt them down. As the two dogs seek a way home, Gidget (Jenny Slate as yet another small fluffy white critter), a neighboring Pom with a crush on Max, organizes a search squad of various pets.

Perhaps most useful to the search is antiheroic hawk Tiberius (Albert Brooks), tho he's not as acquainted with Max as most of the others. Chloe the cat (Lake Bell) stands out for pretending not to care as much as she does. Pops the basset (Dana Carvey) may be old and paraplegic, but he knows a few key points. Frequently present if less important are Buddy the dachshund (Hannibal Buress), Mel the pug (Bobby Moynihan), Sweetpea the budgie (Tara Strong), and Norman the lost guinea pig (Illumination Entertainment mainstay Chris Renaud). The gang members are too numerous to list, but I'll mention Tattoo (Michael Beattie), a highly inked pig.

Not exactly an epic tale; most events take place before Katie comes home for the day. It sure doesn't take long for a shared crisis to get Max and Duke to soften toward each other, with only a slight echo of their prior hostility around the start of Act 3. After all, the story tries to be heartwarming when it's not going pure comedy or adventure. Even Snowball is more redeemable than Lulu.

The comedy aspect gets priority. It usually takes the form of pets fulfilling stereotypes, pets defying stereotypes, slapstick, or vulgarity. On the last part, eh, it could be worse. Dont expect much of interest from the humans.

TSLoP is almost exactly what the ads led me to expect. Indeed, it borders on predictable, never trying for innovation. That's not altogether a bad thing when you choose a movie. I probably won't bother with the sequel, but I got what I came for.

The Bad Guys 2 (2025)

Huh, once again, I watch an entry in the series when it's newly streaming on Netflix. The two are almost tied in general reception, with possibly a slight advantage to the sequel. And I was in the mood for a cartoon.

Even if you didn't watch the first movie, you shouldn't have trouble catching up to speed or be surprised that the titular five friends -- Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), Miss Tarantula (Awkwafina), Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson), and Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos) -- are trying to be good, but their criminal history hurts their job searches. Things get worse when someone frames them for a set of high-profile thefts. The so-called "Phantom Bandit" turns out to be three Bad Girls, who want the quintet's help to steal a rocket. Their leverage: a video that reveals the dark past of Governor Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz). The Bad Guys reluctantly agree to "one last heist," but will they be tempted back to a life of crime?

Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (2025)

No, nothing to do with the 2001 Amélie. I hadn't heard of this hand-drawn adaptation from a book until its nomination for Best Animated Feature. For once, I went to a theater at a time I'd normally be having lunch, figuring I wouldn't be too hungry after 78 minutes.

In 1969, Amélie is born the third child to Belgian parents staying in Japan. For her first two years, she is outwardly unresponsive. Then she spends six months raging at her limitations, until her grandmother and a new nanny, Nishio, daughter of landlady Kashima, show her understanding and teach her to enjoy life. Alas, Grandma isn't long for this world, and Kashima's wartime grudge against Belgium leads her to discourage Nishio from spending much time around Amélie. What's more, Dad's job means they may have to move back to Belgium any week, despite Amélie self-identifying as Japanese. (I won't list voice actors, because none of the names for English or French mean anything to me.)

Chak De! India (2007)

Never before had I watched field hockey (called just "hockey" throughout the picture), but getting the gist looked easy enough. At any rate, I chose to watch this partly because I had plenty of time to kill and partly because I can count on a sports flick to end happily. Or at worst, it's not a very important defeat.

In a Men's FIH Hockey World Cup match, Indian team captain Kabir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) makes a shot so bad that, in conjunction with his Islamic faith, people widely assume he took a dive in Pakistan's favor. Under pressure, he resigns and even moves out of town. Seven years later, he sees the opportunity for redemption when invited to coach the women's team. Of course, he wouldn't get that chance if officials had a high opinion of the female players....

Zootopia 2 (2025)

I had been looking forward to this sequel at least as much as I had to Inside Out 2. When I learned that it would feature a good-aligned snake, I grew even eagerer. So I talked my parents into joining me at a theater. (If you go to a family movie in December, expect an obscene number of ads. I finished my candy before the first preview.)

Within a week after the last scene of Zootopia, lapine Officer Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and her new ZPD partner, reformed vulpine hustler Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), are losing their heroic public image and the support of Chief Bogo (Idris Elba), thanks to Judy's highly irregular, reckless approach to crime fighting and Nick's complementary unserious attitude. It gets worse when they start aiding and abetting Gary De'Snake (Ke Huy Quan), a pit viper who steals a city treasure that he believes holds a secret that will vastly improve life for the marginalized reptiles in Zootopia. Crime boss Milton Lynxley (David Strathairn) wants to keep that secret at any price, and he pressures new mayor Brian Winddancer (Patrick Warburton) into authorizing a deadly hunt for the rogue cops.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)

I hadn't seen any big-screen TMNT outing since the abortive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III more than 30 years ago. The latest entry got my attention mainly when the first trailer met with very mixed reactions, presumably because it emphasized the teenage aspect at the expense of coolness. Nonetheless, reviews of the actual movie have been positive overall, and I was willing to take a chance on an alternate version for a new generation.

After rogue scientist Baxter Stockman (Giancarlo Esposito) accidentally spills mutagenic ooze into a New York sewer, four anthro-reptilian brothers spend their first 15 years enjoying human culture in secret, albeit not as stealthily as adoptive anthro-rat Splinter (Jackie Chan) would like. When they unwittingly cause aspiring high school journalist April O'Neil (Ayo Edebiri) to lose her moped to a thief, they finally use their ninja training for good and gain a human ally. She and they both want to gain popularity by foiling serial robber Superfly (Ice Cube), but that gets complicated when they discover that he and his closest minions are fellow mutants out to create more mutants. Can the turtles hope to take them on? Do they even want to fight their likeliest comrades to protect humans, some of whom, under a shady project leader (Maya Rudolph), have nasty plans for the turtles?

The Black Cauldron (1985)

When I read Lloyd Alexander's The Book of Three, it didn't make me want to read the immediate sequel by this title. And by all accounts, the adaptation from both novels was one of the worst Disney animations. Nevertheless, I got curious to judge for myself. Besides, I wanted to break up my October viewings with something gothic yet ostensibly family-friendly.

Adolescent Taran (Grant Bardsley) longs to be a warrior but must settle for assisting old Dallben (Freddie Jones) in the care of spoiled pig Hen Wen. The job gets less boring when Hen Wen panics over a prophetic vision, readable by means of water and magic. The ancient undead Horned King (John Hurt) has learned of Hen Wen and sent minions to coerce her to reveal the location of a legendary cauldron that can reanimate his skeletal army, enabling world domination. Taran tries to take the pig where she won't be found, but it wouldn't be much of a story if he succeeded.

Elio (2025)

As has become all too common for Pixar, this gets mixed reviews. From what I gathered, the strongest complaints pertained to earlier plans to gay-code the 11-year-old protagonist; people either resented the change or thought it wasn't complete enough. I decided that the best approach was to forget all about the reported rough draft while watching.

We don't know how Elio Solís (Yonas Kibreab) lost his parents, but he doesn't cope well, and caretaker Aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña) expresses so much frustration that he assumes nobody on Earth wants him. He repeatedly tries to signal for aliens to take him away -- and finally makes contact, via Olga's Air Force equipment, with the Communiverse, akin to a galactic UN. Believing that Elio leads Earth, the ETs beam him up and send a shapeshifting doppelganger back. But under the circumstances, they will not let him stay on as an ambassador unless he can talk envious warlord Grigon (Brad Garrett) into not taking over the Communiverse. Elio's best hope lies in Grigon's friendly young son, Glordon (Remy Edgerly).

Ne Zha (2019)

I had heard of this year's sequel only when looking up box office records, and then I saw that the original broke some too. I'm sure the vast majority of ticket sales for each were in their native land. Still, their ratings are strong, so I got curious how well they might appeal to an American animation fan. NZ1 is less popular, but I like to start at the beginning.

In old China, Taoist god Yuanshi Tianzun sees fit to split the Chaos Pearl, a powerful monster, into the Spirit Pearl and the Demon Orb, the latter of which he curses to celestial destruction in three years. He tells apprentice Taiyi Zhenren to infuse Ne Zha, the soon-to-be-born royal son of Li Jing and Lady Yin, with the Spirit Pearl. Jealous co-apprentice Shen Gongbao swipes that pearl for new dragon prince Ao Bing, leaving the Demon Orb for the other baby. Although Ne Zha is widely feared and apparently doomed to early death, his parents insist on raising him with Taiyi's training, albeit in isolation. They hope that shielding their son from the whole truth will make him better and happier, but lies rarely form an effective long-term solution, especially in the face of Shen's unorthodox approach to pursuing godhood....

Flushed Away (2006)

The very starting premise of a rat going down a toilet turned me off, but an acquaintance assured me the excremental gags are very few and relatively tasteful. He also found the movie moderately funny, especially for the running(?) gag of a cappella slugs. I still didn't get the gumption to watch until Netflix said it would stop streaming at the end of the month.

In modern Kensington, ratty Roddy (Hugh Jackman, playing at least two Brits that year) seems to enjoy life as a pet who gets the ritzy apartment to himself for most of the day. Then a slovenly sewer rat (Shane Richie) moves in, and Roddy's attempt to return him to the sewer backfires. Roddy ends up in a bustling underground town with a mostly rodent population. He takes advice to seek the assistance of sailor Rita (Kate Winslet) in getting home, but first they must contend with having run afoul of The Toad (Ian McKellen), a mob boss with a chronic hate-on for rats despite some of them (Andy Serkis, Bill Nighy, and Christopher Fairbank) being his underlings.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)

I was a little surprised when this became slightly more popular than its predecessors, especially with critics. I thought that Shadow the Hedgehog's star had faded, judging by his near absence from recent video games and TV shows. But perhaps his signature angst really speaks to modern cinema's favorite demographic, teens. When the movie came up on a menu at the Red Cross, I went right for it.

The three ET friends who make up "Team Sonic" -- Sonic (Ben Schwarz), Tails the Fox (Colleen O'Shaughnessey), and Knuckles the Echidna (Idris Elba) -- are not world-famous yet, but the government has an improved opinion of them, as evidenced by a request that they help neutralize a powerful threat. Shadow (Keanu Reeves, once again playing an alleged ultimate life form) has escaped from a secret facility, and despite 50 years of stasis, he can hold his own against all of Team Sonic together. Also newly free after 50 years is the spry grandfather of Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik (Jim Carrey), Prof. Gerald Robotnik (also Carrey), who used to study Shadow with his consent. Both of them are so furious at what the government unjustly did in connection with their project that they plan to kill far more than the guilty parties.

Matilda the Musical (2022)

I saw the 1996 adaptation of the Roald Dahl book at camp twice in two weeks, because I had little choice. As a result, I remember it well despite disliking it in my teens. But the underwhelming '97 movie The Borrowers didn't stop me from wanting to check out more Borrower stories, which paid off. Similarly, I suspected that a musical version of Matilda, while about even with the '96 version on ratings sites, would appeal to me more.

Matilda Wormwood (Alisha Weir) gets a late start on school thanks to her negligent, emotionally abusive parents (Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough), but she already knows a lot thanks to supportive librarian Mrs. Phelps (Sindhu Vee) and a ridiculously advanced brain. She gets a sweet teacher in Miss Jenny Honey (Lashana Lynch), but the school overall is prison-like thanks to vicious headmistress Agatha Trunchbull (Emma Thompson). Matilda gains the courage and resourcefulness to stand up to wrongful authority -- especially after her psionic powers awaken.

KPop Demon Hunters (2025)

This may be the most on-the-nose movie title since Snakes on a Plane. I wondered if it would be similarly stupid in a self-aware way. When I saw that it was partly comedic and had a warm reception, I took a chance on it.

Korean pop girl group HUNTR/X, consisting of never-relaxing lead singer Rumi (Arden Cho for speech/Ejae for singing), dour dancer Mira (May Hong/Audrey Nuna), and eager-to-please rapper Zoey (Ji-young Yoo/Rei Ami), has a rare secret reason for performing: Their music and extreme popularity reinforce a mostly invisible barrier to keep soul-sucking demons out of the land. They also use mystical melee weapons to kill demons they meet on the wrong side of the barrier. They are on the verge of fully sealing away Demon Lord Gwi-Ma (Lee Byung-hun) when things start to go wrong. First Rumi's voice keeps cracking in rehearsals. Then a faux-friendly, disguised demon band, the Saja Boys, debuts to steal their fans, and the heroines don't dare fight in public. Then Saja Boys leader Jinu (Ahn Hyo-seop/Andrew Choi) discovers compelling evidence that Rumi had a demon parent, which she hasn't told even Mira and Zoey -- but Jinu doesn't either, because he now feels kinship with Rumi. Their interactions become...complicated....

Pete's Dragon (2016)

Amid all the hype for How to Train Your Dragon, I thought I'd watch a different live-action remake of a family flick about a boy and his nonverbal, flying, fire-breathing, reptilian secret friend. It's not the most popular Disney remake, but it may be the only one more popular than its predecessor.

When Pete is five years old (and played by Levi Alexander), he loses his parents in a car crash on a woodland road. He wanders and meets a curiously friendly dragon (grunt-voiced by John Kassir) who can turn invisible at will. For the next six years, Pete (now played by Oakes Fegley) lives with Elliot in the woods, healthy but only slightly more civilized than another feral boy from a Disney remake that year. Fellow preteen Natalie (Oona Laurence) discovers Pete, and her lumberjack father Jack (Wes Bentley) and his ranger girlfriend Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard) try to give Pete a more normal life, by adopting him if necessary. They don't readily believe in Elliot, who doesn't take well to separation from Pete. And when Jack's unruly brother Gavin (Karl Urban) and coworkers see the long-rumored dragon of the area, they plan to capture Elliot for some means of profit.