Starring: (voices) Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt
Director: John Lasseter
Country: USA
Genre: Animation, Family
Vroooooooooooooooooom!
The lesser of Pixar’s films is still comparatively one hell of a fun film that doesn’t skimp on the true-to-heart formula they’ve more than mastered. What is lost in being able to emotionally connect to these characters instantly through their appearance, they more than make up with personality, humor, and a surprisingly touching story. Outside of Up this is one of the more luscious color palates that a Pixar movie has had, coupled with slight improvements to their animation techniques makes Cars a really awesome movie to look at. Surprisingly, Larry “The Cable Guy” is rather charming instead of obnoxious. The entire voice cast, as all Pixar films are, is spot on and toe the line perfectly between funny as hell and heartwarming.
Starring: Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden
Director: Kevin Lima
Country: USA
Genre: Family
Enchanted is targeted toward twelve-year-old girls and this guy over here.
Why does this film work? For all intents and purposes, it should be obnoxious as hell, but there’s something about its complete and utter lack of shame at being so innocent and sentimental that allow it to succeed. Amy Adams, no doubt, is the reason this film flourishes. It’s one of the best bits of casting in the entire decade, as she looks like a cartoon character and plays her naivety at a perfect volume. James Marsden provides quite a few laughs, that should be cheesy, but if you’re buying into the film by the time he arrives it’s not hard to find yourself chuckling. Enchanted straddles a line between Disney parodying itself and paying homage to the films that made it famous. If you’re open to the possibility that a family film could be entertaining, you might actually find a lot of pleasure in this film. If you’re a bitter cynic, stay away, stay far far away.
Starring: (voices) George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Wes Anderson
Country: USA
Genre: Animation, Adventure
The wonderfully amazing Fantastic Mr. Fox is an awesomely brilliant dose of excitement.
2009 seems to be the year that a lot of directors are answering to their inner child as they delve into more childlike films, and thank goodness, (though let’s be honest and admit that neither this nor Where The Wild Things Are are children films.) Wes Anderson’s stop-motion animation flick is anything but conventional. It’s so inventive in fact, that I often felt awestruck watching it, in a way that I really hadn’t since I was a young’n and saw the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, (does that date me?) Anderson uses his specific theatrical directorial style to its full extent, squeezing out every minutia of humor, adventure, and even drama. I’m beginning to realize that calling a film like this “brave” for not hiding elements of real life from kids, (like cussing, pregnancy, death, and even *gasp* smoking!) is silly. It’s just common sense. Fantastic Mr. Fox is just so much fun, and fulfills that gap in adventure films that will unlock creativity in children as they plot out their own schematics in their playtime.
Starring: Albert Brooks (voice), Ellen DeGeneres (voice)
Director: Andrew Stanton
Country: USA
Genre: Animation, Family
It’s not far off from Man On Fire, minus all of that violent revenge stuff.
This isn’t the first time I’m going to gush over Pixar, and it certainly isn’t the last. They once again craft a brilliantly touching and hilarious story of overcoming the odds. If you somehow managed to miss this film because having a child around that you have to occupy by putting something in the DVD player, or if you didn’t feel compelled to be that child within the theater, do it. This tale is basically a man searching for his child, only… not men, fish. Most Pixar films have their main characters going on a quest of some sort, which is the perfect vessel for natural character development. But it’s not all about an internal struggle, because how would that be fun for the whole family? It’s exciting as heck, (particularly the Sharks Anonymous scene,) and funny enough to have children quoting it until the point of annoyance (and younger adults too… Chelsea, I’m looking at you.)
Starring: Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche
Director: Peter Hedges
Country: USA
Genre: Comedy
“Plan to be surprised.”
This is one of those small films that doesn’t necessarily have any specifically life-changing moments, but as a whole it develops something very unique. It’s kind of vague if it’s the tone of the film, or just some indeterminate warm-fuzzy feeling that comes from drinking cocoa by the fire, but whatever it is, Dan In Real Life has it in spades. We follow Dan, a widower father, and his three daughters on a weekend with their large family that results in a chance encounter with the woman of his dreams… his brother’s girlfriend. Dan isn’t without its faults. At times it resembles one of those god-awful Olive Garden Commercials (why is everything always so damn funny?!) but somehow despite that it manages to create a very realistic family and a film that I continue to return to over and over.
Starring: The best ensemble ever.
Director: Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris
Country: USA
Genre: Comedy
Not to be confused with the writings of Roger Hargreaves, as I’m pretty confident there wasn’t a character with heroine addiction in the series.
It’s not easy being a dramedy. So few films can balance outrageous comedy with personal character drama and pull it off. If not done properly, this hybrid will end up somewhere not too funny and not too emotional. Little Miss Sunshine handles both extreme ends of the spectrum with so much care that it makes the extravagant humor hysterical and the quiet moments of self-realization heart-breaking. We follow this family of six on a road trip from New Mexico to California to allow their quirky young daughter compete in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant. Little do they know, it’ll be a trip both The Griswolds and Timothy Hutton would(n’t) envy.
Starring: Max Records, Catherine Keener, James Gandolfini
Director: Spike Jonze
Country: USA
Genre: Fantasy, Family
The children & family genre is overstuffed with bubblegum movies that it makes a film like Where The Wild Things Are almost impossible to determine how it will play with its [supposed] target audience. This is probably the most personal children’s film I’ve ever seen. While it is told, brilliantly I might add, through the eyes of a child, it seems like it goes one step further and is told through the eyes of an adult looking through the eyes of a child, (Being John Malkovich?) It’s smart, it’s scary, it’s heartwarming, its tearjerking. The entire movie had me feeling like I had the heart of The Grinch when it swells up too big for my chest. It’s truly a spectacle. By the time the credits were rolling I was already thinking fondly back on it. Oh, and the score by Karen O and the Kids = amazement.
Starring: (voices) Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt
2006 Films | this guy over here March 13, 2010 | 
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