Casper (1995)
May 1, 2001Friendly Ghost
Film adaptation of the popular Casper the Friendly Ghost comic book ends up being like its title character - cute but insubstantial. Mostly this feels driven by slapstick scenes.
Brad Garrett
The Country Bears (2002)
Jan 11, 2003Talking Bear Country-and-Western Band
Another film spun off from a Disneyland attraction, this hardly inspiring effort features a Country and Western band made up of talking bears and follows them as they set out on a reunion tour.
Finding Nemo (2003)
Sep 11, 2003Pixar Animation/Talking Fish
An unabashed delight among the Pixar films about a fish parent on a quest to find his missing son. This comes with an extraordinarily vibrant palette of colours and a line-up of winningly eccentric characters
Garfield (2004)
Oct 4, 2004Lazy Talking Cat/Comic-Strip Adaptation
Big screen version of the massively popular Garfield comic-strips in live-action with a CGI talking Garfield. Here Garfield has been tacked onto a plot that feels assembled from every other talking animals film
The Pacifier (2005)
May 2, 2005Action Hero Becomes Babysitter Comedy
Vin Diesel seemed to fairly much kill his career off with this excruciating comedy in which he deflates his tough guy persona by playing off a bunch of kids
Night at the Museum (2006)
Feb 11, 2007Museum Exhibits Come to Life
Popular family hit with Ben Stiller as a night watchman at New York’s Museum of Natural History who discovers that the exhibits come to life at night. More a cute idea than a full film, there is some fun to the characters and effects
Ratatouille (2007)
Sep 9, 2007Pixar Animation/Talking Rat Chef
The eighth film from Pixar and Brad Bird's follow-up to the hit of The Incredibles. Telling the story of a rat that becomes a gourmet chef, this is slightly the lesser among the high standard that Pixar have set nevertheless still immensely enjoyable
Underdog (2007)
Sep 23, 2007Canine Superhero/Cartoon in Live-Action
Excruciating and unfunny live-action version of the animated tv series about a superpowered dog. Everything is now run over with lame slapstick and smartass one-liners
Tangled (2010)
Apr 14, 2011Disney Animation/Rapunzel Adaptation
Disney fairytale Lite. The story of Rapunzel gets hiply modernised and is now no more than a cute adventure/romance about a handsome rogue and a girl who has magical hair. Eminently forgettable Disney animation.
Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil (2011)
May 7, 2011Animation/Fairytale Parody
A wholly unnecessary sequel to Hoodwinked!, this again runs the fairytale characters over with modern quips and pop culture references
World of Cars: Planes (2013)
Aug 10, 2013Disney Animation/Talking Aircraft
A spinoff from Pixar's Cars series (although is not in itself a Pixar film but comes from Disney) that sets out to do the same with anthropomorphic planes. Amiable, even likeable but more a wannabe that seems like it is trying to be than actually hits the cleverness and creative heights of Pixar
Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014)
Jul 20, 2014Disney Animation/Talking Aircraft
The second of Disney’s spinoffs from Pixar’s Cars films featuring talking anthropomorphic planes. Like the first film, this is amiable and occasionally cute but lightweight. This is beginning to feel like a franchise that is spinning out thinning ideas solely for its own sake
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016)
Jun 12, 2016Comic-Book Superheroes
Nobody has good things to say about the 2014 reboot of the Turtles. This sequel is stuck with its legacy – giant over-sized Turtles that lacked the cuteness of the originals; bitchy non-acting Megan Fox – but comes out winningly by doing one thing – emulating the spirit of the original cartoon series
Christopher Robin (2018)
Jan 20, 2019Live-Action Winnie the Pooh Film
A live-action adaptation of the Winnie the Pooh characters. This is a mix of Hook with Christopher grown up and having forgotten about the animals and the Paddington films with the animals conducting slapstick chaos in London