DVD Review: DC League of Super-Pets

DC League of Super-Pets
(DVD j DC League)

In the world of DC Comics, over the decades of established continuity, one “Super-Pet” immediately comes to mind: Krypto, Superman’s super-power canine companion. This animated film is his movie — but he’s not the only pet with powers.

 

When a maniacal guinea pig from the labs of Lex Luthor, with delusions of grandeur (Lulu, voiced by Kate McKinnon), harnesses the powers of a fragment of orange kryptonite, she not only gives herself tremendous powers, but she also inadvertently gives super powers to a bunch of animals in the local pet shelter, including tough abandoned boxer Ace (voiced by Kevin Hart), PB, a potbellied pig (voiced by Vanessa Bayer), Merton, a nearsighted and elderly turtle (voiced by Natasha Lyonne), and hyperactive Chip, a squirrel. When Superman (voiced by John Krasinski) is incapacitated by green kryptonite, Krypto (voiced by Dwayne Johnson), with his own powers reduced, is forced to team up with the ragtag band of untrained new super-pets to try to rescue The Man of Steel from a fate worse than death at the paws of the mad guinea pig.

 

This was a witty, funny, sentimental look at both the world of superheroes and the world of human/animal relationships. The voice performances are absolutely terrific and the storyline by writer/director Jared Stern is entertaining and pulls at your heartstrings a bit.

 

This film should appeal to both kids, who may or may not be familiar with Krypto, and adults who’ve grown up on the stories of the DC comics universe. In fact, familiarity with a lot of DC superhero tropes will definitely add layers to your enjoyment of this one. Strongly recommended.

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film ) | ( official DC League of Super-Pets web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Reviews: Minions: The Rise of Gru

Minions: The Rise of Gru
(DVD j Minions)

Fifth in the successful franchise of films from Illumination Studios, to feature the bizzare, hyperactive, gibberish-spouting group of little yellow Minions. They’ve appeared in Despicable Me 1, 2 and 3, and their own film, Minions. Now, in The Rise of Gru, they’ve got a prequel film, set back in the late 1970s. Gru, once again voiced by Steve Carrell, wishes to impress the supervillain group the Vicious 6, led by his personal hero, Wild Knuckles (voiced by Alan Arkin). When there’s a shake-up in the Vicious 6′ membership, Gru decides to leave his little yellow Minion cohorts behind to do an audition meeting with the remaining Vicious 6 members, led by Belle Bottoms (voiced by Teraji P. Henson).

 

With lots of complicated plot twists, Gru ends up teaming up with Wild Knuckles as mentor, and a foursome of the Minions (Kevin, Bob, Stuart and Otto) have to work on their own to try to recover a mystic device that everyone wants and prevent Gru from falling victim to the rest of the Vicious 6′ nefarious plans.

 

There’s a lot of fun poked at 1970s tropes, but there’s a terrific soundtrack to this film. I laughed a lot at the visual humor and the inside jokes. I pitied poor voice actor Pierre Coffin for having to perform as all of the different Minion characters…whose nonsense dialog still somehow remains understandable.

 

In addition to the five feature films and a whole lot of 5-minute shorts, I understand there’s a Despicable Me 4 in pre-production. I wonder how long the Minions will continue to dominate pop culture!?

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the three Despicable Me films and the other prequel, Minions.)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film ) | ( official Minions account on Instagram )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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DVD Review: The Addams Family 2

The Addams Family 2

(DVD j Addams)

 

Following the huge success of the first “modern” Addams Family animated film in 2019 (see my previous review), most of the same vocal and animated talent gathered again to create this sequel, The Addams Family 2. Instead of sticking around the familiar confines of the Addams Family’s gothic mansion, this time, most of the family members go on a road trip, allowing them to poke ghoulish fun at a whole new variety of road trip tropes and cultural stereotypes.

 

The plot of The Addams Family 2, in a nutshell: Continuously morose and darkly disturbing daughter Wednesday makes an impressive showing at a school science fair, but her success deepens her already deep-seated suspicions that she isn’t a real “Addams”. Gomez and Morticia, in an effort to distract Wednesday and also elude a persistent investigator who seems bent on informing them that there was a “switched at birth” accident in the hospital after Wednesday was born, decide to take their oversized mobile home on a trip cross-country.

 

This film, like the earlier one from the same people, veers wildly between dark and slightly morbid humor and violent excess (particularly when Wednesday’s brother Pugsley is allow to let his destructive tendencies go free). The vocal performances by Oscar Isaac as Gomez, Charlize Theron as Morticia, Chloe Grace Moretz as Wednesday and Nick Kroll as Uncle Fester, were all spot-on, and I was pleasantly surprised to see a somewhat emotional subplot for Lurch, the butler, who gets to say far more than “Yooooouuu Raaaaangggg?”

 

All in all, an entertaining Addams Family entry, though I strongly recommend seeing the 2019 film first. I’m still far more of a fan of the 1964-66 black & white sitcom (with John Astin and Carolyn Jones as Gomez and Morticia), or the 1991 and 1993 films, with Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston as Gomez and Morticia. But these new animated version are still very entertaining.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Addams Family (1964-67 available in three individual season sets), The Addams Family (1991) and The Addams Family Values (1993), or The Addams Family (2019 animated).)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film ) | ( official The Addams Family 2 web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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DVD Review: Raya and the Last Dragon

Raya and the Last Dragon

(DVD j Raya)

 

This was the Spring 2021 Walt Disney animated film release, and is a a beautiful, quirky, humorous and heartfelt story. Set in the imagined world of Kumandra, in which the united peoples once lived in harmony with a civilization of magical dragons, the peoples were scattered separate and combative societies when a dark force (the Druun) caused the dragons to disappear (in order to hold the dark force at bay).

 

Unfortunately, the Druun is now returning to the separated lands, and when the lack of trust between the various human clans leads to the apparent destruction of the one remaining dragon icon, Raya, the daughter of one of the remaining chieftains takes on the task of trying to revive the long-lost dragons. This becomes a coming-of-age story for this young woman, who combines efforts with outcast members of each the other sparring clans, and must address the rivalry and betrayal of someone she once trusted and called a friend. But she does have the help of Sisu, the Last Dragon, who may not be as helpful as you’d think.

 

The visuals of Raya and the Last Dragon are as impressive as its message of cooperation and trust. The voice work, mostly from Asian actors, is marvelous, particularly Kelly Marie Tran as Raya, Awkwafina as Sisu, Izaac Wang as Boun and Gemma Chan as Namaari. Sisu may initially be a slightly annoying, flighty character, but she goes through a growth arc that is ultimately as moving as Raya’s.

 

A very charming and touching animated film, highly recommended.

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film ) | ( official Raya and the Last Dragon web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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DVD Review: The Nightmare Before Christmas

The Nightmare Before Christmas

(DVD j Nightmare)

 

Jack Skellington, a skeleton, is the Pumpkin King of Halloweentown, but this year Halloween just isn’t the same and he longs for something more. He stumbles upon a set of colorful doors and goes through one that leads him to Christmastown. Jack is overjoyed with the sights and colors there and rushes back to Halloweentown to share the news. He decides to take over Christmas and recruits townspeople from Halloweentown to help him with the reindeer, presents, and kidnapping Sandy Claws. He also asks Sally, an animated rag doll who is in love with Jack, to sew him a Santa suit. Sally tries to warn him this is a bad idea but he doesn’t listen. Jack tells the children who kidnapped Sandy Claws to keep him somewhere comfortable but they take him to Oogie Boogie, the infamous boogeyman, instead. Sally tries to rescue him but fails and is captured as well. Jack goes back to Christmastown with loads of presents for the girls and boys but his opinion of presents – shrunken heads or toys that attack – are not well-accepted by the residents of Christmastown and they shoot down his sleigh instead. Jack is distraught and returns to Halloweentown where he rescues Sandy Claws and Sally from Oogie Boogie. Sandy Claws returns and saves Christmas but leaves Jack and Halloweentown with a parting gift, snow. Jack and Sally then declare their love for one another.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Corpse Bride, Coraline, Frankenweenie, Hocus Pocus, James and the Giant Peach or Paranorman)

 

 ( Internet Movie Database entry for this film )

 

Recommended by Carrie R.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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DVD Review: The Addams Family (2019 animated)

The Addams Family
[DVD j Addams]

I initially avoided seeing this film because I grew up on the original Addams Family B&W series (ABC 1964-66), starring John Astin, Carolyn Jones, Ted Cassidy and Jackie Coogan, and all subsequent adaptations of Charles Addams’ morbid comics have paled in comparison. I’ve ultimately grown to appreciate the two live-action feature films from 1991 and 1993, which starred Raul Julia, Angelica Huston, Christopher Lloyd, Christina Ricci and others. The stills I’d seen from this new 2019 Addams Family animated film didn’t inspire me to think I’d like it.

 

I’m please to say I was happily surprised. This version of The Addams Family is a marvelous little film. It tells an “origin story” for the family, and how they ended up settling into a crumbling gothic mansion on a hillside above a bland suburban town. Because of the open-ended nature of animation, this film provided the filmmakers with plenty of fertile ground for dark humor and absurd action sequences. But, as should always be the case with the Addams family, it is the characters that drive the film’s plot. Oscar Isaac does a fine job as Gomez Addams, however this film is completely stolen by the performances of main female characters. Charlize Theron is mesmerizing as Morticia, and Chloe Grace Moretz is unforgettable as a disturbingly monotone Wednesday Addams.

 

The plot, in a nutshell, involves a reality TV star, Allison Janney as Margeaux Needler, who has created an entire community of “made over” suburban tract homes in the nearby community. When a fog lifts and the Addams’ mansion is revealed, Margeaux realizes that her live-tv event to unveil her entire town of blandness is going to be ruined by the Addams house, unless she can either give them a “home makeover” or drive them away from the community. Meanwhile, explosives-obsessed Pugsley is approaching a ceremony that his father Gomez feels he is ill-equipped to successfully accomplish — an elaborate swordplay demonstration. With dozens of creepy, kooky relatives descending on the mansion, the conflict between the oddball Addamses and the cookie-cutter suburbanites comes to a head.

 

This is a funny, absurdist romp. Though no-one will ever replace John Astin as Gomez and Carolyn Jones as Morticia, nor Christina Ricci as Wednesday, for my money, these voice actors do an excellent job. And the culture clash between wildly divergent character types is well done in this film. I definitely recommend this 2019 film — it’s a worthy addition to the Addams Family history, though I still recommend the old 1960s TV show even more!

[To explore the original cartoons that have inspired ALL subsequent films/tv-series, check out The World of Chas Addams, an oversized collection of the master’s works.] [ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ]

See Scott’s review of The World of Chas Addams, from the October 2006 Staff Recommendations on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library – Public Service

 

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: Scoob!

Scoob!
[DVD j Scoob]

I grew up on the very earliest series featuring these characters, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1969-70, 1978), though I drifted away from the characters long before they got “spun off” into various subsequent series and sequels. I did kind of enjoy the two live-action feature films adapted from the cartoon, mainly for the presence of Sarah Michelle Geller (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as Daphne. When I saw that producers were going to try to release an all-new animated film that retroactively tinkered with the origins of the characters, I was initially annoyed, but when the film finally came out on DVD, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try.

 

Scoob! succeeds on many levels, but fails on others. The main characters — Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, Velma and Daphne are all well-captured, with new voice actors playing each of them. Fred Welker (the original voice of Fred Jones, now takes on the iconic “ruh-roh!” voice of Scooby, from the late Don Messick, who played that character for decades. And Will Forte replaces the late Casey Kasem as Shaggy, sometimes well and sometimes not so well. A charming section at the beginning of the movie explains how Shaggy and Scooby first met as kids, before the action fast-forwards to the Mystery Inc. gang as young adults (the age they’ve been perpetually stuck at for decades now). There are lots of “in jokes” that people (like me) who grew up on the cartoons will get, but that might go over the heads of young viewers. One of the areas this film “fails” for me is that the series was definitely a child of the late 1960s and early 1970s, but has been updated to the modern age. Therefore, some of the humor falls a little flat. There are a lot of “Easter eggs” (hidden tributes) in the animation — I loved seeing “Hong Kong Phooey” on the side of a videogame in one scene.

 

The producers/writers of this film connect the Scooby-Doo characters with a bunch of other lesser-known but still recognizable animated characters from other series produced by the Hanna-Barbera studio — including The Blue Falcon and Dyno-Mutt, villain Dick Dastardly, and Captain Caveman. In fact, Scoob! is intended as the first film in a new crossover film universe featuring all these old animated properties in their own individual films — much like the Marvel Cinematic Universe films tied all the various Marvel superhero films into a connected “film reality”.

 

Scoob! is far from perfect, and strays from the central character relationships far too often in its attempts to connect Scooby-Doo to other animated characters. But, in the end it was still a fun, entertaining project. And I’m curious to see what the studio does in the future. I miss the old classic character voices, but the replacements were acceptable. A short sequence early in the film that attempts to recreate the opening theme music credits of the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! was highly nostalgic.

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Scoob web site ]

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Their Friends - The Complete Series

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Their Friends – The Complete Series
(DVD j Adventures)

I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed “The Bullwinkle Show” (packaged here as The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Their Friends) as a kid growing up in the mid-1960s. The series actually premiered in November 1959, and continued for five long seasons and a total of 163 episodes, then continued in re-runs. The central figures were Rocky the Flying Squirrel (voiced by June Foray), and Bullwinkle J. Moose, a dimwitted, curious and lovable figure voiced by Bill Scott, who both lived in Frostbite Falls, MN. They constantly got into wild and improbable adventures, told in a serialized format, which often put them in opposition to foreign spies Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale, and their boss Fearless Leader of Pottsylvania.

Interspersed between Rocky and Bullwinkle’s wild and crazy adventures were other ongoing characters and their stories. These included: the adventures of intrepid Canadian Mountie Dudley Do-Right, constantly rescuing his would be love, Nell Fenwick, from the clutches of Snidely Whiplash (a loving parody of old silent movie melodramas — in fact, then used only a single piano as their musical accompaniment; Aesop & Son; Fractured Fairy Tales – featuring absurdly comical takes on traditional fairy tale stories; and Peabody’s Improbable History — featuring the genius dog Mr. Peabody and the boy he has adopted, Sherman, and their adventures in Mr. Peabody’s “Wayback Machine” (time travel machine) as they revisited various events throughout history.

All these series features wry, satirical humor, outrageous puns, over-the-top action sequences and healthy doses of cornball silliness. But in the midst of the tongue-in-cheek humor, the writers managed to slip in quite a bit of actual educational content for the “kiddies” who’d be watching. Some of the content holds up well today, over 50 years after they originally aired, but some are painfully dated. Fortunately, cornball humor usually stands the test of time. The Bullwinkle stories would always end with actor William (Cannon, Jake and the Fat Man) Conrad’s voice-over narrator giving hints and possible titles for the next installment — and frequently engaging in verbal sparring with Rocky and Bullwinkle — the series regularly “broke the fourth wall”, with characters acknowledging the viewers and talking directly to us. There were occasional appearances by Bullwinkle in a short feature called “Mr. Know-It-All”, in which the unflappable moose claimed to be an expert on a variety of topics — with hilarious results.

This massive DVD collection includes several special features, including an interview with Rocky’s voice, June Foray, some classic TV commercials, a highlight on Bullwinkle’s songs, examples of some early Bullwinkle puppet introductions to the cartoons, and more. This series has been adapted into live-action feature films twice (Boris & Natasha — 1992 — in which Rocky & Bullwinkle do not appear, and The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle — a 2000 mix of live-action and computer animation); Dudley Do-Right was adapted into a single 1999 live-action film (which flopped); and Mr. Peabody and Sherman became a successful animated full-length film in 2014. None of those hold a candle to the originals — even though the originals had substandard animation, the writing and voice work was top notch.

Highly recommended.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try to track down the original animated Underdog series, from the same approximate time period.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ Wikipedia page for the original Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Their Friends television series ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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Review: Loving Vincent (on DVD)

Loving Vincent
[DVD Loving]

I had not heard anything about this experimental film before my wife checked it out and brought it home for us to view.

This is a shame, because it is a wonderful little film and deserves more accolades, and a wider viewership, than I believe it has received to date.

The plot of this film is relatively simple. Following the death of artist Vincent Van Gogh, his loyal postman and friend wants to make sure Vincent’s final letter to his brother Theo Van Gogh is delivered. To accomplish that, the postman sends his dilettante son on a journey to hand-deliver the letter. Along the way, the son learns more about Van Gogh’s last days, especially about the struggles the artist had with his mental health, and the complicated relationships the artists had with the people in his life. The postman’s son does some growing up in the process. For anyone only vaguely familiar with Van Gogh — the tortured artist who cut off his own ear and who suffered from mood-altering depressions throughout his short adult life — this film is a revelation.

The most significant thing about the film is not the story it tells, but rather the method in which it tells the story. The entire film is animated, but not animation in a traditional sense — hand-drawn or computer-generated. No, this film was animated entirely with oil paintings. It took over two years for the team of painter/animators to painstakingly create moving images from oil paintings — and all capturing the stylistic look of Van Gogh’s paintings. Most the characters and settings are taken straight from famous Van Gogh paintings! This artistic style of storytelling is simultaneously compelling and off-putting, but the longer you watch it, the more “used to it” you become. Ultimately, it was a fabulous way to add a special type of ambiance to a biographical look at the end of the life of one of humanity’s greatest artist.

[If you enjoy the look of this film, you may be encouraged to read more about Van Gogh and his art. The libraries have numerous art books and biographies that discuss Van Gogh — I recommend those that you’ll find in the 759.92 Gog or qGog shelving sections.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Loving Vincent web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Review: Smallfoot (on DVD)

Smallfoot
[DVD j Smallfoot] 

This fun animated film didn’t get anywhere near the acclaim it deserved during its short theatrical run in 2018. Hopefully, it will find a larger audience with its DVD and streaming releases. It features stellar voice work by Channing Tatum (Migo), James Corden (Percy), Zendaya (Meechee), Common (The Stonekeeper), LeBron James (Gwangi), Danny Devito (Dorgle), Gina Rodriguez (Kolka) and many more.

Smallfoot puts a humorous twist on the Bigfoot/Sasquatch/Yeti mythology, in which humans for decades have claimed to have seen or found evidence of the existence of large, furry, bipedal humanoid figures that live in the remote wilderness. In this film, our heroes are a community of Yeti in a remote, cloud-shrouded village high in the (Himalayan?) mountains. When main character Migo sees a human plane crash near his Yeti village, and encounters the human pilot, he reports to his fellow Yeti villagers that he has seen the legendary Smallfoot himself. The village’s tradition-bound spiritual leader, The Stonekeeper, who wears a robe made of enscribed stones that detail the rules the Yeti villagers must all abide by, banishes Migo to the wilderness for his heretical statements. Migo teams up with a small group of outcasts who all believe in the existence of Smallfoot, and by a series of accidents, ends up finding himself journeying below the cloud bank to a human village further down the mountain. Meanwhile, Percy, a nature show TV host desperate to improve his ratings, plans to feature a pretend Yeti encounter, only to find himself face-to-face with Migo. Hijinks ensue…but it’s not all fun-and-games, because revealing the existence of humans to the Yeti society could cause more problems than Migo can imagine, and Percy has to be taught some lessons in what’s truly important before he can empathize with the Yeti’s plight.

Very funny, very entertaining, but also very thought-provoking. The animations is top notch, and the storytelling was compelling. This film can and should be enjoyed by families! And, surprisingly, it is also a musical, with several well-done original pop music numbers scattered throughout the plot. Who knew Channing Tatum could sing as well as he does here?

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Smallfoot web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Review: Hedgehogs (on DVD)

Hedgehogs
[DVD j Hedgehogs]

This one was a bit of a disappointment for me. My wife and I both love the cute little creatures known as hedgehogs (latin name Erinaceinae). So, when I saw what looked like a cute animated film about the critters, I couldn’t pass it up. I knew, going in to it, that it was not a film from one of the big well-known animation studios — Disney, Pixar, Sony, etc. — but it had a few recognizable actor names among the narrators — Jon Heder, Chevy Chase, Kari Wahlgren, so I presumed it wouldn’t be too disappointing. In the end, it was only mildly amusing. Bobby is an arrogant and prideful “star” hedgehog is in own little tribe. But when he gets in a fight and hits his head, he loses his memory and finds himself stranded in a big city, instead of the countryside he comes from. There are some cute character bits — I particularly liked most scenes with Hubert, the overweight, good-natured pigeon who befriends Bobby. But overall, this all fell a bit flat, and the film-makers’ “messages” related to behavior and conservation were a bit over-the-top.

Still, a slightly amusing romp with fairly decent animation. If you’re not expecting much, you may find yourself enjoying this one!

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Hedgehogs web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Early Man (on DVD)

Early Man
[DVD j Early] 

This 2018 film from Aardman Animation, the folks who’ve previously brought us Chicken Run, Wallace & Gromit, and Shaun the Sheep, didn’t stay in theaters long in early 2018, on its initial release. This is probably due to its very originality — they weren’t capitalizing on any of their established characters, but were trying to break new ground. And, for whatever reason, the audience just didn’t “connect” with it as much as with their previous films. That’s a shame, because this a delightful, entertaining film.

The plot, in a nutshell, involves a tribe of Stone Age primitives, represented primarily by Dug (voice of Eddie Redmayne), struggling to protect the valley where they live, from incursion by miners from a Bronze Age city, represented by the venal local Bronze Age leader Lord Nooth (Tom Hiddleston). The chosen battlefield where their conflict comes to a head is…a soccer field, where Lord Nooth believes his experienced players will easily dominate the primitives, who’ve never played before. Little does he realize that Dug’s ancestors invented the game of soccer years ago, or that a rebellious girl from his own society, Goona (Maisie Williams), will help the Stone Agers to train and give them a fighting chance at saving their homeland.

The film has lots of humor, ranging from simple heartfelt comedy to broad slapstick farce. Director Nick Park provides the “voice” of warthog “Hognob”, Dug’s persistent sidekick, and gets some of the funniest scenes and “lines” for himself. The voice work is terrific across the board, as is the Aardman clay animation. There are a lot of visual jokes to catch, if you’re paying close enough attention. And for fans of “extras” on DVDs, there are a couple of very nice “making of” specials that are worth checking out. A fun film, although I do still prefer the previous offerings from Aardman.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Chicken Run, Wallace & Gromit, and Shaun the Sheep (which is definitely aimed at a much younger audience).]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Early Man web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!