Beauty and the Beast waltzes its way to the top of the UK box office

March 21, 2017, 8:53 am

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Disney’s decorative, live-action remake starring Emma Watson opens with a monster £19.7m, while smart comedy-horror Get Out gets up to No 3

Ever since the UK’s cinema programmers saw the completed version of Bill Condon’s Beauty and the Beast, commercial confidence in the film has been sky high. “Even bigger than The Jungle Book” was the verdict of one chief booker, with reference to Disney’s last attempt to turn one of its classic animations into a live-action hit. The Jungle Book opened with a robust £9.9m in the UK last April, on its way to a final tally of £46.2m – making it the fourth biggest hit of 2016.

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All I Want for Christmas Is You and other film ideas based on songs

March 22, 2017, 10:19 am

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Mariah Carey’s overplayed festive anthem is being turned into an animated adventure. What would happen if Hollywood took more inspiration from music?

There is going to be an All I Want for Christmas Is You film. That is to say, actual people with actually important jobs have decided to turn Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You into a full-length film that people actually get paid to make. Here – and this is true – is the alleged plot of the film, via the Hollywood Reporter:

A young Mariah … sees a darling puppy named Princess at the pet store and suddenly knows exactly what she wants for Christmas. But she must prove that she can pet-sit Jack, a scraggly rascal of a dog who turns Mariah and her family’s holiday preparations upside down.

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Beauty and the Beast magic helps UK box office survive the spring sunshine

March 28, 2017, 6:47 am

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Not even the weather could stop the family-friendly fairytale, but the outlook was less bright for CHiPs, The Lost City of Z and Jake Gyllenhaal sci-fi Life

A sunny weekend and a dearth of strong new releases should have created a tough environment at UK cinemas. But business remained sturdy almost entirely thanks to Beauty and the Beast. Declining a gentle 37% from the opening frame, the Disney musical delivered £12.33m, for an awesome 10-day total of £39.9m. The Jungle Book had reached £21.7m at the same stage of its run last April.

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Smurfs: The Lost Village review – nothing out of the blue here

March 30, 2017, 11:30 pm

≫ Next: Moana; Allied; Snowden; One More Time With Feeling and more – review

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The smurfs, led by Julia Roberts, must defeat an evil wizard and learn about gender politics in this ho-hum adventure risking little in terms of story, script or animation

Smurfs assemble … for a new adventure, this one taking on gender issues – the distinction between boy smurfs and girl smurfs. In one smurf village, benignly presided over by Papa Smurf (voiced by Mandy Patinkin) they are all male, except for Smurfette (Demi Lovato) a brightly optimistic female creature not unlike Joy from Inside Out. The question of where baby smurfs come from if female smurfs are such an exotic rarity is obliquely touched on when we encounter the evil wizard Gargamel (Rainn Wilson) in his far-off lair who wishes to enslave smurfs and harvest their little blue bodies as his own awful energy source. It is the adventure involved in confronting him that leads us to the lost village of the title, to a whole new, radically different smurf community and to its leader Smurfwillow (Julia Roberts). Fans of smurfiness may well like it, and Gargamel gets some nice lines, but I have to say that both script and animation seemed are entirely predictable, as if generated by some computer software.

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Moana; Allied; Snowden; One More Time With Feeling and more – review

April 1, 2017, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Alec Baldwin: 'Playing The Boss Baby is more fun than playing Trump' – video

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Disney’s uplifting Polynesian adventure is a cut above Robert Zemeckis’s silly wartime caper while Oliver Stone makes a hash of whistleblower Snowden’s story

The profitable new recycling scheme that Disney has hit upon – remaking its own animated catalogue, minus the animation – is moving ahead so fast, one wonders how much time even their new cartoon efforts have got before getting expensively humanised. Perhaps a live-action Moana (Disney, PG) can be rustled up while its leading voice star, 16-year-old Auli’i Cravalho, is still suitably young. In the title role, her lively, lilting vocal presence is the most immediately winsome element of this Polynesian princess escapade – the gleamingly realised Pacific geography and sincere cultural curiosity of which give some sprightly lift to an otherwise formula-bound empowerment narrative.

In Moana herself , a bright teen explorer with a yen for what lies beyond, the film gives us a real character to root for; shame her environmentally motivated quest isn’t half as memorable, to say nothing of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s surprisingly insipid songs. But with directors John Musker and Ron Clements – veterans of The Little Mermaid, taking on their first CGI project – at the helm, there’s a sweet classicism at work here, down to the aqua-tastic animation itself.

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Alec Baldwin: 'Playing The Boss Baby is more fun than playing Trump' – video

April 5, 2017, 5:08 am

≫ Next: The Boss Baby review – Alec Baldwin sweetens the deal in amusing animation

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Stars Alec Baldwin and Lisa Kudrow and director Tom McGrath discuss their new animated comedy, about a suit-wearing, megalomaniacal toddler who some suggest bears an uncanny likeness to a certain president of the United States

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The Boss Baby review – Alec Baldwin sweetens the deal in amusing animation

April 6, 2017, 11:00 am

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Baldwin’s husky basso profundo is a joy in this good-natured but confusing tale of a tiny-handed, briefcase-carrying newborn and a sinister conspiracy

Glengarry Glen Ross, 30 Rock, SNL’s President Trump… Alec Baldwin gives a quickfire recapitulation of those classic earlier turns in this amusing if convoluted animation, which, like the recent baby comedy Storks, ties itself in knots developing the initial premise. There’s some good-natured entertainment along the way, and Baldwin’s husky basso profundo is always enjoyable. He is the voice of Boss Baby, a suit-wearing, briefcase-carrying newborn who is resented by his seven-year-old brother Tim (voiced by Miles Christopher Bakshi) for tyrannically imposing his corporate-style rule on the household. The Trumpian tininess of his hands is periodically shown up when he attempts a handshake or a fistbump.

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The Boss Baby – overcomplicated animated comedy

April 9, 2017, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Peppa Pig: gateway drug for a new generation of cinephiles

≪ Previous: The Boss Baby review – Alec Baldwin sweetens the deal in amusing animation

Set in a world in which babies are made, not born, this is saddled with a plot that doesn’t bear repeating, but there are some laughs

Either a metaphor for how all bosses are babies or why babies shouldn’t be bosses, The Boss Baby’seponymous infant bears more than a passing resemblance to a another big-headed blond with tiny hands. But this is less an indictment of big corporations than the self-satisfied suggestion that the traditional nuclear family can somehow solve the ills of capitalism. The jokes are decidedly one-note, but still, I admit: I laughed.

Based on Marla Frazee’s slender picture book and directed by Tom McGrath (of DreamWorks’ Madagascarseries), its world is one in which babies are manufactured, not born. At “Baby Corp”, newborns are sorted into a life destined for either “family” or – wait for it – “management”. An only child with an overactive imagination, seven-year-old Tim (Miles Christopher Bakshi) is furious when his new baby brother turns out to be a grumpy suit-and-tie-clad ankle-biter (Alec Baldwin).

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Peppa Pig: gateway drug for a new generation of cinephiles

April 10, 2017, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: The Boss Baby makes a dummy of UK box-office competition

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The bumper Peppa Pig omnibus currently in cinemas might win over new big-screen converts – if you can get them to sit still through 25 minutes of Volkswagen adverts first

Until this morning, I had never seen a single episode of Peppa Pig. Sure, it’s on in my house all the time because I have a two-year-old, but that doesn’t mean I’ve actually seen any of it. When I’m lying on the sofa with my son and Peppa Pig is on, I’m usually looking at my phone or thinking about food or just rolling my eyes back into the top of my head and waiting for the merciful hand of death to gently escort me away from this miserable joke of a life.

But that has changed, because Peppa Pig: My First Cinema Experience was released today, and I have gone and seen it. With my kid. In a cinema. This meant that the place I have come to view as an exclusively childless treat would be invaded by a tiny, yelling interloper who – although I love him more than anything – was guaranteed to demonstrate a brazen disregard for traditional cinema etiquette. At midday. During the school holidays. As the kids say, FML.

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The Boss Baby makes a dummy of UK box-office competition

April 11, 2017, 4:20 am

≫ Next: Fast & Furious 8 barrels past Boss Baby to top of UK box office

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Aggressive previews strategy allows The Boss Baby to hold off Beauty and the Beast in the family-film arena, while good weather kills off more mature offerings

While glorious sunshine at the weekend created very tough conditions for cinema operators across the UK, the Easter school holiday delivered up an audience for titles with a clear family positioning. DreamWorks Animation’s The Boss Baby posted £2.8m for the weekend period, just ahead of Beauty and the Beast’s £2.76m. However, a very aggressive previews strategy meant that The Boss Baby added takings from the preceding six days (1-6 April), essentially creating a nine-day opening “weekend” figure of £8.03m. In the same nine-day period, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast earned £12.21m.

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Fast & Furious 8 barrels past Boss Baby to top of UK box office

April 19, 2017, 2:59 am

≫ Next: How to ruin other classic movies by inserting Tom and Jerry

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Marking the start of summer blockbuster season, F&F8 screeches into first place, while The Sense of an Ending and The Handmaiden fought it out in arthouses

It is only the middle of April, but the official summer blockbuster season launched at the weekend, with the screeching of Fast & Furious 8 into 572 cinemas nationwide. With weather by no means as sunny as the previous weekend, conditions were favourable for a strong opening, and backers Universal will be celebrating a stonking debut of £14.03m, including Wednesday and Thursday previews of £5.38m, rising to £16.3m including Easter Monday. Globally, the film launched to $532m, breaking the previous record opening set by Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($529m).

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How to ruin other classic movies by inserting Tom and Jerry

April 21, 2017, 8:53 am

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The trailer for the pair’s bizarre remake of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory has caused online ire but what other films should they also stay well away from?

Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is a weird film. It’s a cheaply animated, near shot-for-shot remake of the beloved 1971 Mel Stuart movie – containing recognisable scenes, likenesses and backgrounds – that also happens to star Tom and Jerry, the cartoon characters so unsuitable for today’s climate that compilations of their cartoons now have to come with disclaimers where Whoopi Goldberg apologises for how racist they are.

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Fast & Furious 8 maintains lead over Boss Baby at UK box office

April 25, 2017, 7:06 am

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Vin Diesel and his turbocharged action thriller fight off Alec Baldwin another week, while Bill Nighy and Gemma Arterton debut on the chart with post-blitz comedy drama Their Finest

Given the commercially modest set of new films it was up against, the eighth instalment in the Fast & Furious franchise had no problem holding on to the top spot at the UK box office, grossing £3.59m in its second frame, for a 12-day total of £23m. This compares with £26.25m for Fast & Furious 7 after two weekends of play, although that was just a 10-day number.

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Cartoonist who claimed to be Kung Fu Panda creator jailed for two years

May 4, 2017, 1:44 am

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Jayme Gordon also ordered to repay $3m in legal fees to DreamWorks Animation after filing spurious copyright lawsuit in 2011

A cartoonist who falsely claimed to be the creator of Kung Fu Panda has been sentenced to two years in prison for fraud and ordered to pay $3m (£2.3m) in damages.

Jayme Gordon, from Randolph, Massachusetts, filed a copyright lawsuit in 2011 alleging that DreamWorks Animation had stolen characters and story from him for the 2008 animated comedy.

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 still stellar as A Dog's Purpose sniffs out UK box office

May 9, 2017, 7:50 am

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Mindhorn, Sleepless and Unlocked also debut in the Top 10 as Marvel’s Guardians joins the year’s top earners in its second week

By taking £27.4m in 10 days, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 has almost matched the UK lifetime of the original Guardians of the Galaxy, which earned £28.5m in 2014. But although Vol 2 is clearly on course to be much bigger than its predecessor, its burnout rate has been faster.

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The Emoji Movie: first full trailer released

May 17, 2017, 9:35 am

≫ Next: The Red Turtle review – a desert island movie to bask in

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The brightly coloured symbols – voiced by TJ Miller, Anna Faris, James Corden and many more – journey through a world of apps to enlightenment in Sony’s latest candy-coloured tech/toy film tie-up

It may be one of the most conceptually baffling films ever to be put into production, but The Emoji Movie is on its way to joining Battleship and The Lego Movie as the flimsiest excuse yet for a major motion picture. A teaser trailer has already been released, with a brief glimpse of a poo emoji voiced by Patrick Stewart, but now a full-length trailer has been released.

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The Red Turtle review – a desert island movie to bask in

May 24, 2017, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Spark review – cosmic monkey business is a load of space junk

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This Studio Ghibli co-production with its zen-like minimalism offers a magical, meditative take on Robinson Crusoe

Less is a whole lot more with this palate-cleansing animation, which sets itself apart from its caffeinated Hollywood counterparts with a minimalist, meditative approach. Jointly made by Japan’s Studio Ghibli and European backers, it is like a zen variation on Robinson Crusoe. A man is washed up on an archetypal desert island. Repeated attempts to sail away bring him into contact with a mysterious giant turtle, out of which a surprising companionship magically develops. The story operates at the level of a universal myth, free of dialogue or specifics, subtly alluding to more essential, existential matters. The simple, uncluttered images do the rest. This is a movie to bask in, and we’re given the space to do so. Characters are often dwarfed in lush expanses of sea, sky or forest, and there’s a delight in small details: a Greek chorus of scuttling crabs, the lapping of waves on the shore. There are moments of violence, too – this is no therapeutic screen-saver. The experience is captivating, transcendental even.

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Spark review – cosmic monkey business is a load of space junk

May 25, 2017, 12:00 am

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This misconceived animation draws its influences from Star Wars, Planet of the Apes and Hamlet to no good effect

This egregiously bad cartoon posits a universe in which a race of upright, vaguely simian creatures have mastered interplanetary travel. The title character (voiced by Jace Norman) is a gauche teenager mad keen on adventure who has been living on a remote garbage asteroid with only a vixen skilled in martial arts and a nerdy tusked boar for company, along with a babysitter robot named called Bananny (Susan Sarandon). However, it seems that Spark is not just some lowly nobody, but the son of a great warrior who was murdered, like Hamlet’s father, by his own brother, the tyrant Zhong (Alan C Peterson), who then imprisoned Spark’s mother (Hilary Swank) in their palace on home planet Bana. Now Spark hopes to join the resistance, overthrow his evil uncle, and so on, blah blah blah. If theories about the multiverse prove to be correct, surely there is a species of monkey somewhere far, far away who are all banging randomly on typewriters and yet have managed, somehow, to come up with a better script than this derivative piece of space junk.

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The Other Side of Hope and The Red Turtle: the best films in the UK this week

May 26, 2017, 2:00 am

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Two lonely souls remind us what it is to be European, while a soothing tale of nature and humanity is told through a parable in the vein of Robinson Crusoe

Kaurismäki’s gorgeous alternative universe of 1950s retro stylings, eccentric characters, deadpan comedy and universal cigarette-smoking houses two escapees: a mournful Syrian asylum seeker and a dour, divorcing Finnish restaurateur; fellow lonely souls whose salvation reminds us what it is to be human, and European.

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The Red Turtle review – rapturous minimalism from Studio Ghibli

May 28, 2017, 1:00 am

≫ Next: Pirates of the Caribbean sails past Guy Ritchie's King Arthur at UK box office

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This wordless animated fable follows the fortunes of a shipwrecked man on an island – and it’s a masterpiece

In the wake of Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises, Isao Takahata’s The Tale of the Princess Kaguyaand Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s When Marnie Was There, there were reports that Japan’s celebrated Studio Ghibli had run its creative course. But at the Cannes film festival last year, a new pearl was unveiled proudly bearing the world’s most respected animation imprimatur.

Directed by UK-based Dutch animator Michaël Dudok de Wit, who won an Oscar for his 2000 short, Father and Daughter, The Red Turtle is an ambitious east-meets-west endeavour that had been gestating for a decade; a Japanese-French-Belgian co-production (a first for Ghibli) made at Prima Linea studios in Paris and Angoulême, under the long-distance supervision of Ghibli mainstays Takahata and Toshio Suzuki.

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