Inside Out (2015)

Inside Out is the Platonic ideal of a Pixar movie. It begins with a simple idea, as though plucked from the brilliant creativity of an infant’s imagination – What do your toys do when you’re not around? What if the world was populated by cars? – or perhaps cribbed from a ’90s television producer –…

The Lego Movie

The Lego Movie (2014)

In an era where blockbuster movies direct their immense budgets towards overcoming the restrictions of cinema, The Lego Movie succeeds by embracing its limitations. Those limitations are found in its animation; computer-generated, sure, but constructed from Lego blocks in their millions. Directors/screenwriters Phil Lord and Christopher Miller get a lot of mileage out of their…

Toy Story (1995)

Some films are just impossible to evaluate with any kind of objectivity. For me, Toy Story is one of those movies; when that Randy Newman theme kicks in I’m transported back to my youth in a nostalgic rush. Even when trying to view the film with a critical eye, it holds up pretty damn well.…

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

“I’m not listening to anything you have to say!” “Then I won’t speak. Just let me show you.” There’s been a renaissance in animation over the last decade, thanks to technology developments but also – significantly – some versatile and creative directors. Films like Wall-E, Up, Wreck-It Ralph or How to Train Your Dragon aren’t…

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

Wreck-It Ralph is the best Pixar film in years, and it’s not even released by Pixar. Its characters aren’t quite as well-realised as Pixar classics like Monsters Inc, Toy Story or Wall-E, but has the other attributes of those films: a creative, original world that feels complete, fully-formed. an impressive attention to detail. Every scene…