Have you ever pondered what a robot would dream of? Well, in Pablo Berger‘s gorgeous, wordless animated tale they dream in surreality and colourful psychedelics. But in the case of Robot Dreams‘s protagonist, simply named Robot, he dreams of Dog, his owner and best friend, who he is cruelly separated from in a circumstantial situation…
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Given that Migration, the latest animated offering from the Illumination collective (the production company behind such successes as Despicable Me and the inexplicable Minions), is penned by White Lotus creator Mike White, it makes sense that the film manages to make us care about its characters, rather than just be mildly amused at their comedic…
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This holiday season, Illumination, creators of the blockbuster Minions, Despicable Me, Sing and The Secret Life of Pets comedies, invites you to take flight into the thrill of the unknown with a funny, feathered family vacation like no other in the action-packed new original comedy, Migration. The Mallard family is in a bit of rut….
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From the glamour of Crazy Rich Asians to the Christmas cheer of The Princess Switch 3, by way of being Tom Holland’s romantic rival in Spider-Man: Far From Home, Malaysian-Australian actor Remy Hii certainly forged a formidable path in his career thus far. But I don’t think any of that prepared him for the “Giant,…
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In another case of someone making the most of their lockdown potential during COVID, Australian actress Jillian Nguyen auditioned for a voice role as she was confined to hotel quarantine. That role ended up being for the lead in a bold, ambitious new locally made animated feature – Scarygirl. As the family film continues to…
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Watching Scarygirl it becomes even more increasingly annoying that Australian cinema hasn’t embraced animation as thoroughly as we should. Sure, we have the likes of Blinky Bill and Ferngully to claim as our own (and, yes, I’m aware of Happy Feet, but it feels like an entity separate from the more independently funded productions), but,…
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Even though Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken‘s script is co-penned by Pam Brady, a scribe with South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut and Team America: World Police to her name, family audiences needn’t worry that her evident penchant for blue humour will seep through. No, alongside Brian C. Brown and Elliott DiGuiseppi (the duo having collaborated…
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We’ll address the elephant in the room first. Yes, Chris Pratt does indeed adopt a stereotypical Italian accent for his voice work as Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. No, it’s actually not as offensive or as wince-inducing as you may be anticipating because, quite ingeniously, the film makes a joke out of the…
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Sometimes the hero you are meant to be lies just beneath the surface. This year, DreamWorks Animation dives into the turbulent waters of high school with a hilarious, heartfelt action comedy about a shy teenager, Ruby Gillman (voiced by Lana Condor), who discovers that she’s part of a legendary royal lineage of mythical sea krakens…
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Needle drops have become more and more of a popular addition in film over the last year. The notion of having a song not written for the film – often one that already has a sense of notoriety – and inject it into proceedings has been utilised to either enhance a physical sequence or, perhaps,…
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As Puss in Boots: The Last Wish arrives in theatres (you can read our review here) to reintroduce us to the Shrek franchise’s feisty feline and his last-life effort to regain the 9 lives he mistakenly took for granted, Peter Gray spoke with series newcomer Harvey Guillén about finding his voice for his character Perrito,…
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Given that it has been 11 years since we last saw Puss in Boots garner his own solo outing, it’s fair for any audiences going into this one to have certain reservations. Not that the original was bad in any manner, but Puss in Boots: The Last Wish isn’t exactly a continuation many were clamouring…
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Amazon Australia has today released a heart-warming stop-motion film with the help of the Amazon Playmakers – ten kids selected by Starlight Children’s Foundation to be the official toy testers for Amazon’s annual Top 100 Toy List. The Playmakers were sent a selection of the top 100 toys to test and review to help Australians…
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Sydney singer/songwriter Able Joseph has recently released the tender and intimate track, “Lonely LA”. It’s a heartfelt song that tells the story of a couple who are treating their journey through life as one that is navigated by them as a team, and all that entails. It follows on from his previous single, “SOLO” which…
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Whilst it makes sense that fans of the Bob’s Burgers television series will get more out of The Bob’s Burgers Movie, the uninitiated are likely to experience enough genuine joy from this weird, though consistently amusing musical comedy that straddles the line successfully between delightful and lightly demented. As summer break approaches, the titular Bob…
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Just because they’re super – doesn’t make them heroes! In DC League of Super-Pets, Krypto the Super-Dog (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) and Superman (John Krasinski) are inseparable best friends, sharing the same superpowers and fighting crime in Metropolis side by side. When Superman and the rest of the Justice League are kidnapped, Krypto must convince…
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To get to infinity and beyond, we need to explore the before. The upcoming animated sci-fi adventure Lightyear, from Disney and Pixar, is the definitive origin story of Buzz Lightyear, the hero who inspired Toy Story‘s fearless space warrior. Lightyear follows the legendary Space Ranger (voiced by Chris Evans) after he’s marooned on a hostile…
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A New York Times #1 best-seller, The Bad Guys series from Australian author Aaron Blabey has solidified itself as one of the most successful collections of graphic novels aimed at younger audiences. With such success comes the inevitable big screen adaptation, and arriving in Australian cinemas on March 31st from award-winning filmmaker Pierre Perifel, the…
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As world-famous designers and founders of acclaimed brand Rodarte, sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy have been at the forefront of fashion since the label’s inception. Not just content dominating their own avenue, the sisters have branched out into the world of film, both as designers creating pieces for the Oscar-winning Black Swan and as directors…
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For better or worse, Illumination will always be known as the studio that gave an extended life to Minions. Originally something of a throwaway gag to provide easy laughs within the Despicable Me films, they took on a force of their own and seemed to pull focus from any other studio property. One such charmer…
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I think it’s a fair assumption to state that not many people expected Tom McGrath‘s 2017 effort The Boss Baby to clear the half a billion dollars it did at the global box office. It was a bizarre comedy that entirely banked on its central premise – a baby that spoke like an entitled adult…
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Comparisons between Ron’s Gone Wrong and 2014’s Big Hero 6 seem inevitable, yet, apart from the central relationship between a young adolescent boy and an operated robot, the two share little DNA, so it’s probably best that’s put to bed before going any further. Much like the titular Ron, the Sarah Smith/Jean-Phillipe Vine-directed feature is…
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Supported by Pixar but not specifically animated by them, Monsters At Work serves as a direct continuation of 2001’s Monsters, Inc., picking up in the hours after learning the laughter of children is a much more efficient way to energise their city over the nightmarish screams they used to evoke. Despite the sequel feel of…
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Thanks to Rialto Distribution we have five family passes (Admit 4) to give away to the upcoming release of the animated adventure Cranston Academy: Monster Zone, featuring the voices of Jamie Bell and our own Ruby Rose, in Australian cinemas from June 24th, 2021, just in time for school holidays. Bullied for his intelligence and struggling…
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To coincide with the trailer launch of Ron’s Gone Wrong, the latest animated comedy adventure from 20th Century Studios telling the story of a socially awkward middle-schooler and his digitally-connected, walking, talking “best friend” whose hilarious malfunctions set him apart in this digital age, Peter Gray chatted with the film’s directors, Sarah Smith and Jean-Philippe…
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Australia’s national museum of screen culture, ACMI (formerly Australian Centre for the Moving Image), has brought the internationally acclaimed Disney: The Magic of Animation exhibit to Melbourne for its Australian debut as part of the city’s Melbourne Winter Masterpiece series. From today, May 13th, through to Sunday, October 17th 2021, the exhibition celebrates a near-century…
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Given the fact that Tom & Jerry screenwriter Kevin Costello has a duo of self-aware, critically acclaimed projects to his name – the dramedy Brigsby Bear and Jean Claude Van Damme’s underrated television series Jean Claude Van Johnson – one might think he’d be able to create something innovative off the basis of 7-minute cartoon…
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Given that it’s been 7 years since the first Croods movie was released, the original target audience are all likely scattered across primary and high school now. But displaying the sense that it honestly doesn’t care about this statistic, The Croods: A New Age delights all the same, and very much presents itself as its…
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To coincide with the US release of the hotly anticipated sequel The Croods: A New Age (set for a North American date of November 25th), our own Peter Gray caught up with the film’s director, Joel Crawford, to discuss the coup of reuniting the original cast and furthering the emotional aspect of the original story….
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We really shouldn’t be overly surprised at this point when Pixar release yet another beautiful, thought provoking, emotionally stirring film. What’s more important is the respective film’s ranking in the overall studio canon, and if it will earn longevity (ala Toy Story) or leave little impression (2015’s The Good Dinosaur). Time will tell if Coco…
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