The Neverending Story III (1994)
Nov 20, 2000Adventures in a Fantasy Land
Abysmal third entry in the series. The creatures lack any conviction and everything is wrecked by taking the story out of Fantasia back to Earth amid hip contemporary jokes
Jack Black
Crossworlds (1996)
Apr 2, 1999War Between Alternate Worlds
Modest and clever venture on the alternate worlds theme where an average student is dragged into a war for the multiverse after meeting a strange woman at a party
Mars Attacks! (1996)
Mar 17, 2001Gonzo Alien Invasion
Tim Burton makes a film based on the old Topps bubblegum card series about Martian invaders, which becomes an affectionately goofy tribute to 1950s alien invasion cinema
The Cable Guy (1996)
Apr 30, 1999Over-Friendly Stalker Black Comedy
Ben Stiller directed comedy with Jim Carrey playing a stalkerish cable installer who makes Matthew Broderick's life a misery. Carrey's fans didn't seem to want to see him play psycho and this was his only flop of this period
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
Apr 14, 1999Slasher Film
The sequel to I Know What You Did Last Summer. This misses the playful humour and twists of Kevin Williamson's script and becomes no more than a routine slasher movie
Shallow Hal (2001)
Nov 9, 2001Man Suddenly Sees Ugly Girls as Beautiful Comedy
Farrelly Brothers comedy where Jack Black is hypnotised by Tony Robbins and 300 pound Gwyneth Paltrow as beautiful
Ice Age (2002)
Mar 22, 2002Animation/Prehistoric Talking Animals
This begat an interminable number of tedious sequels. However, the original is a still likeable and appealing animated film about a group of prehistoric talking animals migrating with the onset of an Ice Age
Shark Tale (2004)
Sep 24, 2004Animation/Talking Fish
DreamWorks animated talking fish film that was dismissed in the shadow of Pixar’s earlier Finding Nemo but is perfectly likeable in its own right
King Kong (2005)
Dec 15, 2005Giant Ape
Peter Jackson's dream project, a remake of the 1933 film, and his finest work as a filmmaker. Jackson builds the original out considerably and his command of the effects gives us something quite dazzling
Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny (2006)
Mar 26, 2007Rockstars' Gonzo Quest
Film spinoff of the rock parody act headed by Jack Black. This emerges like i>The Blues Brothers recast with Cheech and Chong and delivers some occasionally surreal and amusing gags
Kung Fu Panda (2008)
Jun 29, 2008Animation/Talking Animal Martial Arts
Massively successful animated film for DreamWorks, a comic riff on the martial arts training film that proves amiable and crowd-pleasing without ever being riotously funny
Be Kind Rewind (2008)
Sep 15, 2008Amateur Filmmakers Comedy
Riding at a peak during the mid-2000s, cult director Michel Gondry made this head-scratcher where he eccentrically devotes an entire film to homemade amateur fan filmmaking - all with appealingly wacky results
Year One (2009)
Jan 30, 2010Cavemen Stumble Through the Old Testament Comedy
Not very funny comedy from Harold Ramis and Judd Apatow where Jack Black and Michael Cera are cavemen who stumble through many incidents from the Old Testament
Gulliver’s Travels (2010)
Jan 13, 2011Land of Little People
Jonathan Swift's classic tale of a man in a land of miniature people is turned into a comedy vehicle for Jack Black and outfitted with a series of vulgar and pop culture gags
Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
Jun 16, 2011Animation/Talking Animal Martial Arts
Sequel to DreamWorks hit animated film, this does little more than repeat its predecessor. The detail and texture is amplified to a work of art, although you cannot help but wonder if the under tens care about this
The Muppets (2011)
Nov 19, 2011Muppet Movie
Surprisingly fun revival of the Muppets that reboots the series after the insipid entries of the last few years and succeeds by going back to recapture the sly double-level of humour that Jim Henson patented
Goosebumps (2015)
Oct 25, 2015Horror Writer's Creations Unleashed
A film based on the hugely popular children's horror series. The film creates a story where the creatures from all the books are unleashed. This is fun to watch, yet what we ultimately have is easy, undemanding horror for family audiences
Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)
May 30, 2016Animation/Talking Animal Martial Arts
The Kung Fu Panda series are films for couch potatoes – martial arts films with a hero who proclaims the virtues of laziness, overeating and goes into combat with an self-inflated sense of his own awesomeness
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
Mar 25, 2018Trapped Inside a Jungle-Themed Videogame
A revival of Jumanji. The original's boardgame is now a videogame that sucks the players inside. The adventure elements are routine but the film's has comedic fun with its bodyswapped characters
The House With a Clock in Its Walls (2018)
Mar 10, 2019Boy and His Eccentric Warlock Uncle
Eli Roth is a director associated with the Torture Porn cycle and one does a double-take at him making a family-friendly film. The results emerge somewhere between Harry Potter and a Goosebumps film
Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)
Mar 7, 2020Trapped Inside a Videogame
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, the reboot of the 90s Jumanji, was a box-office success. That mandated a sequel. The central problem is where exactly does a film about characters sucked inside a videogame go with its premise?
Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (2022)
Apr 16, 2022Animation/Coming of Age Story/Kid Flies a NASA Moon Mission
Richard Linklater makes a charming animated film about a kid selected for a secret Moon Landing. Most of all a film with a lovely nostalgia for growing up in the era of the Moon mission
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
May 27, 2023Animation/Videogame Adaptation
Illumination Entertainment, the company behind the Despicable Me films, make an animated film based on the popular videogame franchise. The result was the second highest grossing film of the year
Michel Gondry: Do It Yourself (2023)
Jun 29, 2026Michel Gondry Documentary
A documentary focused on the unique and distinctive French director Michel Gondry, tracing his emergence through music video and to the success of films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Borderlands (2024)
Sep 14, 2024Videogame Adaptation/Planetary Adventure
Eli Roth adapts the popular videogame and corrals a surprisingly high-profile cast in a knockabout planetary adventure. Alas, that met a very mixed reception and was widely regarded as a bad movie
Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024)
Mar 21, 2025Animation/Talking Animal Martial Arts
The fourth entry in DreamWorks popular animated series, which by now is just another entry in the series that is coasting by on recognition factor, while offering minimal difference
A Minecraft Movie (2025)
May 31, 2025Videogame Adaptation
A live-action film based on the popular videogame with Jack Black and Jason Momoa venturing into a brick-based otherworld. This was a reasonable hit.
Anaconda (2025)
Feb 13, 2026Comedy Remake of Anaconda
Anaconda was a CGI monster movie that has subsequently gained a bad movie reputation. The idea of a comedy remake about conducting a remake of the film just seems a little too cutely meta
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026)
May 15, 2026Animation/Videogame Adaptation
Sequel to the animated The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which was the second highest grossing film of 2023. From the people behind the Despicable Me films, this exists as little more than eye candy for five-year-olds