Great New Kids’ Movies of 2018
The new year is only a few months old and Hollywood has been busy preparing some awesome kids’ movies to provide families with fun-filled entertainment. The reviews are coming in and the online casino bets are that this will be the Year of the Family Film for kids and kids-at-heart of all ages.
Some movies have already been released while others will be in the theatres in the near future. Some of those that look like winners:
Paddington 2
Paddington Bear was high popular with British youngsters but he didn’t cross the sea until the first Paddington Bear movie appeared in 2014. The sweet film about a friendly bear who takes his battered suitcase, duffle coat and love of marmalade on his adventures. The furry, cuddly and personalable bear has delighted generations of children since he first appeared in A Bear Called Paddington in 1958.
The films try to keep Paddington as he was written – always polite and kindhearted. The first film was a commercial success and now Paddington 2 is on its way to delight kids and parents alike.
In the 2018 Paddington movie, the loveable bear stumbles upon the perfect gift for his Aunt Lucy’s 100th birthday, a pop-up book. When someone snatches the gift before he’s presented it, Paddington heads out to unmask the thief and track down the book so that Aunt Lucy will have it before her big day.
The movie was rated PG (for some action and mild rude humor). Peter Rainier of the Christian Science Monitor summarized the movie by saying ”
A movie that promotes the importance of family and good manners might seem like it could become the squarest of snoozes, but Paddington 2 is so transcendentally cheerful that it carries the day – and then some.”
A Wrinkle in Time
The anxiously-anticipated adaption of the Madeleine L’Engle book is ambitious and heartening. A Wrinkle in Time has been on childrens’ bookshelves for decades and is the winner of a Newberry Award as well as other awards for children’s literature.
L’Engle wrote A Wrinkle in Time as the first book in her Time Quintet series in which she follows the Murry and O’Keefe families. In the story Meg, a middle-schooler and daughter of two world-reknowned physicists, struggles with issues of self-worth as she tries to fit into the crowd. When Mr. Murray disappears Meg, her brother Charles Wallace and her friend Calvin join celestial guides who are on earth searching for their own father.
The group sets out together on their individual quest, traveling via a wrinkling of time and space known as tessering. They are transported to new worlds in which they are faced with a powerful evil which they must confront. Meg is forced to look deep within herself and embrace her flaws to defeat the darkness and bring her friends home.
Critics offer mixed reviews of this movie but Michael Orr of the Atlantic seems to sum it up when he says ” Judged on its own terms, A Wrinkle in Time is a pretty good, perhaps even a quite good, movie. But it is a children’s movie. See it with a child or–as DuVernay recommends–with a child’s wonder. Otherwise, probably don’t bother seeing it at all.”
Early Man
The newest Claymation comedy, Early Man, brings caveman Dug (Eddie Redmayne) and his partner Hognob to the fore as they join forces to fight off Lord Nooth of the Bronze Age City. Wallace and Grumit fans will be pleased to see the genre return to the screen in this animated, prehistoric comedy. Dug and Hognob’s tribe look to the dynamic duo to return them to their home after invaders displace them. Rather than take them to the battlefield Dug decides to challenge the invading interlopers to a game of soccer with hilarious results.
Reviews of this movie are mixed. Some critics find it over-ambitious while others question the storyline. Super-Reviewer is one of the movie’s biggest fans, saying ” Thank the film gods Aardman still exists. Their wispy, homespun animated films, bring us down to a simpler time. Early Man, is perhaps their least satisfying Claymation effort story-wise, but it is funny and light enough to enjoy as old-fashioned animated entertainment.”
The Incredibles 2
The Incredibles continue to battle for good and righteousness in the second Incredibles film of what looks to become a franchise. The film is due out in June but the reviews are predicting success for this light-hearted look at the Incredible family’s lives.
Helen Incredible goes out to fight evil while Bob Incredible stays home with the young’uns – Violet and Dash – to be a hero in everyday life. Bob struggles, not only with his new role but also with Jack’s emerging superpowers.
When a new villain hatches a brilliant and dangerous plot, Frozone joins Bob, Helen, Violet and Dash as they work together to battle the menace.
There are no reviews yet for this movie but if Incredibles 2 is anything like Incredibles 1, young viewers are in for a treat.
Great New Kids' Movies of 2018,
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