If Pinky and the Brain was ever turned into a live-action show, it’d be What About Bob?
Neurotic Bob Wiley (Bill Murray) is a hypochondriac who’s scared of his own shadow and can’t leave his house without chanting a mantra of “I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful.” His case gets handed off to Dr. Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss right before he’s set to go on vacation with his family. At their first appointment, he hands a copy of his best-selling book, Baby Steps, about breaking down big things into small things in order to mentally and emotionally handle life. Its methods are something that Bob immediately takes to heart. He also forms an immediate emotional bond with his new therapist leading him to take baby steps to follow Dr. Marvin and his family on vacation. Bob’s actions drive the doctor to insanity and could potentially lead to explosive consequences for them both. What About Bob? is a laugh out loud funny movie and one of Bill Murray’s best where surprisingly you learn there’s more in his acting wheelhouse than the ability to play insufferable jerks. Like in a certain Christmas film that is best left nameless. What About Bob? is a great enough movie,and outside of a couple strings of Tourette’s inspired expletives, is nearly enough to make me forget the aforementioned nameless Christmas disaster. Colorful expletives your young children will learn include dickhead, son of a bitch, numbnuts, and shit for brains among others. And if your little angels ever tell you to burn in hell, you’ll know from what movie they got it from.
They’re Pinky and the Brain Yes, Pinky and the Brain One is a genius The other’s insane.
What About Bob explores the question of the above lyrics. The answer may surprise you. You can can buy or rent What About Bob from any online retailer.
Nick Snowden (Tom Cavanagh) is busy preparing for Christmas when one of his reindeer goes missing. Transporting himself from the North Pole via magic mirror, Nick finds Buddy at the San Ernesto zoo in the care of zookeeper Sandy Brooks (Ashley Williams). They need to work together to rescue Buddy from Buck Segar (Patrick Fabian) before Buddy is sold to a game farm for the purpose of hunting. Nick’s on a tight deadline to be back at the Pole by Christmas Eve since all those presents won’t deliver themselves, but there’s always time for a love story because this is rom-com, and you have to squeeze the rom in somewhere.
When I found out the guy who plays one of my favorite Flash characters, Harrison Wells and all his variants, I knew I had to watch it. This is one of my favorite versions of Santa: cute, a bit nerdy, and super awkward. ♥️ I loved this movie! It was so cute! And the best thing is there’s a sequel which I’ll be watching later this month. Snow is available to stream on the ABC app.
When Sandy (Ashley Willams) and Nick (Tom Cavanagh) have a fight 3 days before Christmas, he leaves via magic mirror portal and winds up with amnesia. When Nick’s nemesis Buck (Patrick Fabian) finds out, he tries to take advantage of the situation to get his revenge and not only ruin Christmas but also get his hands on the reindeer who got away. It’s up to Sandy and some new friends to once again save Christmas.
Snow 2 was just as fun as the original if not more so. It was full of laughs and full of heart. I wish there was a third. Stream it now on the ABC app.
Reality can be better than fiction, but sometimes a break would be nice.
Angela’s (Christina Milan) we’ll-meaning but pushy family wants her to marry and settle down and arrange dates for her with her neighbors down the hall. She receives a special delivery from her new neighbor, Eddie: A magical snow globe that transports her inside to the perfect little town with the perfect little Christmas to match that includes the perfect guy. Every time she exits the snow globe something or someone always comes with her meaning that fantasy and reality collide in a way they’re never meant to. Over time, Angela learns that reality is better than fiction and she gets the cute neighbor in the bargain which is always a plus.
This movie was cute but cheesy. Sometimes too cheesy, but it was still fun. There’s one use of what the hell and a few misuses of God’s name that’s it. Stream it now on the Freeform app.
Jingle Bells Drax smells Bacon runs away Oh what fun it is to watch Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Hey!
It’s Christmastime and Peter Quill AKA Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) is feeling blue. It hasn’t been easy since losing Gamora, and he’s not in a holiday spirit kinda mood. In an effort to cheer their friend up, Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and Drax (Dave Bautista) devise a poorly hatched plan to travel to Earth and kidnap Earth’s Legendary Hero, Kevin Bacon, and give him to Peter as a present. What could possibly go wrong?!?! I’ll give you a hint. Everything. Everything goes wrong.
The Guardians gang is all here for an outta this galaxy Holiday Special! It all the great things any Guardians of the Galaxy movie has: My favorite group of characters, great humor (Seriously, it’s so funny!), a fun action sequence, and fantastic music including two fun numbers original to the story: I Don’t Know What Christmas Is and Here It Is Christmastime.
I LOVED IT!!! I was smiling and laughing the entire time. It’s so much fun! And as usual, the story is heartwarming in a totally weird way that only Guardians of the Galaxy could pull off! I loved the focus on Drax and Mantis. I love these charts even more than I did before. Stream it now on Disney Plus. If you don’t, you’re really missing out! A side note for parents: Damn is used 3 times. Shit is used once. Just a heads up in case you don’t want to expand your child’s vocabulary in a new colorful direction.
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 comes out May 5, 2023, and I can’t wait. Except I can because I’m not ready to say goodbye to any of these amazing characters yet! Be on the lookout for my reviews of Guardians 1&2 coming in the Spring.
Alex (Tia Mowry) and Camryn (Tamera Mowry) are twin witches separated at birth for their own protection against the Darkness. They’re adopted by two different families, and through a little magical interference from their protectors, are reunited on their 21st birthday. They discover they have magical powers that are stronger when used at the same time. They must work together to save their homeland Coventry and themselves from the Darkness before it destroys everything and everyone they love.
I enjoyed this movie. It’s one Disney Channel’s better originals. Tia and Tamera are awesome together as always. This is basically Sister Sister with magical powers. They even meet at a clothing store like they did in Sister Sister.
Families are going to find the witchcraft in the story hard to navigate. Some are going to find it harder than others. Some will understandably want to avoid it altogether. Others aren’t going to be bothered by it. The magic involved is Bewitched level effects, though in my opinion, Bewitched did it better in the 60s than Twitches did in the 2000’s. The Darkness is meant to be scary and it has its moments, but I’ve watched Doctor Who episodes that were scarier in comparison. In the end, every family has to decide what’s best for them to watch.
SPOILER ALERT The Darkness is actually the twins’s evil Uncle who’s jealous that his brother had everything that he felt that he deserved. Together the twins use a combination of love and light to defeat him. There’s a great message about light and love being needed to defeat the darkness, but some families aren’t going to want to watch Twitches in order to get to the good message at the end. You can it now on Disney Plus.
In 1999, Disney Channel released a little sci-fi/fantasy movie called Smart House not knowing that in 2022 automated homes would be a reality. This concept was considered futuristic and probably impossible back in the 90s. A bit far-fetched for people to comprehend. Something you’d find in the Jetsons rather than something you would find in real life. Naturally, this isn’t a Halloween movie either, but it’s sci-fi, and even though it’s a bit outdated, I’m counting it! Ben (Ryan Merriman) wins a completely automated Smart House run by an operating system known as PAT (Katey Segal). He hopes that this will deter his widowed father from marrying again since PAT will prove to be all the wife and mother that they need. He even programs her to act like a sitcom mom from the fifties. Things seem to be fine until PAT develops a mind of her own and tries to completely take over the Coopers’ lives.
Smart House was fun! An outdated concept, but still worth watching. It’s hard to believe that this is a Disney Channel Original movie. There’s no magic and it’s not a musical. This is one of the best DCOMs I’ve watched. It’s a fun story but also deals with a more serious topic. In this case it’s a teenager dealing with the loss of his mom, and his selfishness toward his dad for wanting to find love again. It makes me want to watch more older DCOMs. You can stream Smart House now on Disney Plus.
Based on the Marvel comics of the same name, Men in Black is a secret government operation that takes care of alien threats to the world and Galaxy at large. Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) has been charged with finding a new recruit for the Men in Black. NYPD officer James Edwards (Will Smith) is the lucky man chosen for the job. Agents K and J must work together to stop an alien from the Bug race from stealing an entire Galaxy used as a super energy source.
Men in Black is a fun sci-fi action comedy. It’s also one of my favorite Will Smith performances. It’s got some great action and funny moments. There’s some typical sci-fi related violence. A couple people are hurt or killed by aliens. The main villain wears his victim as a skin suit. The language is quite excessive for a rated PG-13 movie which is why I knocked half a star off the rating. Words include various uses of hell, ass, and shit. God’s name is misused and is paired at least three times with damn. Various other language is also used throughout. There’s some sexual innuendo. Unless you want to expand your kids’ vocabulary in a more colorful direction, I don’t recommend this movie for them. It’s better suited for teens and adults. You can stream Men in Black on Netflix.
Let’s get this out of the way. If a review is marked 2¢ After Dark, it is NOT for kids. These titles will be rated: PG-13, TV-14, R, and TV-MA.
Once upon a time High Priest Imhotep couldn’t keep his hands to himself, touched the Pharaoh’s scantily clad mistress and paid the price by being cursed, mummified, and buried alive to be eaten by scarabs. Fast forward to 1926, librarian Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) and her brother Jonathan (John Hannah) rescue adventurer Rick O’Connell (Brenden Fraser) from death and team up to travel to the lost city of Hamunaptra where they accidentally resurrect Imhotep’s mummy. The mummy causes complete chaos including revisiting the ten plagues of Egypt in his mission to resurrect Anck Su Namun, and he’ll need a human sacrifice to do it.
As someone who enjoys Egyptian history and mythology, I absolutely love this movie! It’s also an amazing action movie. It’s fast-paced and action-packed from beginning to end. Some scenes can be dark and intense, but everything ends well. There are many content issues especially for Christians, but everything included like the violence, suicide, murder, and Egyptian mysticism contribute to the overall story and everything has its place within context of the story. Language including hell, damn, and ass, along with a few others like bastard and several misuses of God and Jesus’s names occur sporadically throughout the movie. The language in this movie was infrequent compared with Men in Black, and I found it refreshing. You can stream it on Hulu if you have a premium subscription.
With the announcement of a Winnie the Pooh horror movie about to be released, I decided to rewatch the only Pooh live-action reboot that matters: Christopher Robin.
The movie poses the question: What happens when Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor) grows up? The answer? He grows up, gets married, has a family, becomes a workaholic, and leaves any wonder and imagination in the past where it belongs. He’s an adult now. There’s no time for that sort of thing, and his friends from the 100- Acre Wood are best left as a distant memory. But some memories refuse to be forgotten. Pooh (Jim Cummings) wakes up one morning to find his friends missing. Not knowing what to do, he goes to find his old friend Christopher Robin for help. Thinking he’s hallucinating, Christopher refuses to believe his childhood friend is real, then he’s deep to return Pooh home so he can return to his real adult life. It’s up to Pooh and the rest to remind Christopher that it’s alright to be childish sometimes. If he doesn’t, he could risk losing everything important.
This movie is one of Disney’s best remakes, if you can even call it that. It’s more of a continuation. It’s heartwarming and funny. Brad Garrett as Eyore was the perfect casting. Perfect voice for the role and so funny! Another standout was Toby Jones as Piglet. Even better as Piglet than as Dobby. And he was great as Dobby. And it was smart on Disney’s part to bring Jim Cummings back as both Pooh and Tigger as well.
Christopher Robin is the perfect Pooh live-action remake. It’s great for adults while keeping the spirit of the original source material in tact. They can keep that Horror piece of crap. This is the only live-action version I need! You can stream it now on Disney Plus.
After being chased off by an angry crowd on their wedding day, Gomez (Oscar Isaac) and Morticia (Charlize Theron) Addams move to a haunted mansion in New Jersey to start a family. 13 years later, Wednesday (Chloe-Grace Moretz) is curious about the outside world and all it has to offer, and Gomez is preparing Puggsley (Finn Wolfhard) for the Gomez family traditional saber ceremony. When Wednesday befriends Parker (Ellie Fisher), her mother realizes how different the Addams family is, and will stop at nothing to drive them out of her perfect town of Assimilation. This movie is fun, and has an animation style as quirky as the Addams’s family themselves most likely drawing inspiration from the original Addams family comic strips. It’s funny and has good messages about staying true to who you are and accepting others’ differences. There’s a scene where Morticia uses an ouija board to communicate with her dead parents, but that’s about as dark as this movie gets. It’s fine for the whole family to enjoy. You can stream it now on Prime Video.
Faced with the fact that Wednesday (Chloe-Grace Moretz) and Pugsley (Javon Walton) are growing up, Gomez (Oscar Issac) and Morticia (Charlize Theron) decide to take the family on vacation in their haunted camper. Meanwhile, a mad scientist tries luring Wednesday away from her family to get his hands on her successful experiment of being able to combine human traits with animal traits. He nearly succeeds by convincing her that she was switched at birth, and her family tries to save her before it’s too late!
This sequel is a lot of fun and a good follow-up to the first one. The animation gets crazy and cartoonish which is a perfect fit for a movie like this. I wouldn’t mind a threequel. The villain was a little too obvious. You know who it was going to be from the first moment he appeared onscreen. Wednesday uses a voodoo doll to control Pugsley and make him do whatever she wants. Typical Addams sibling stuff. There’s nothing problematic beyond that. You can stream it now on Prime Video.
Pop star Kat Valdez (Jennifer Lopez) is set to marry the love of her life, Bastian (Meluma), onstage in front of thousands of her closest fans. But before the wedding, Page 6 reports Bastian has cheated on her, so in a moment of what most would consider to be insanity, she “marries” math teacher Charlie Gilbert (Owen Wilson), a random stranger from the audience. To save face after her mental breakdown, Kat and Charlie stay married for publicity reasons only. Over time, they start falling for each other, but reality and different life situations try pulling them apart. Do they have what it takes to make their publicity stunt of a relationship last? Spoiler alert: Yes, and it’s wonderful! ♥️
Owen Wilson and J-Lo are one of the oddest pairings, a rom-com odd couple. I would never have thought to put these two together, but it works! Marry Me took a bit for me to get into, but I completely in love with it by the end!
It’s rated PG-13. There’s occasional language and a closed-door sex scene, you see nothing. The movie starts with Kat singing My Church and dancing seductively onstage in a nude skintight bodysuit with backup dancers dressed up as nuns. The comparison of a romantic relationship with Christianity will be considered offensive to Christans (not that Hollywood cares). Personally, my least favorite scene and song in the movie. (The rest of the songs were great.) There was nowhere to but up from there! Fun for teens and adults, but not a movie meant for young children. You can stream Marry Me on Prime Video and Peacock, NBC’s streaming service.
In 2020, before the world shut down, Sonic the Hedgehog raced into theaters. Based on the popular video games and anime, Sonic is a lightning fast blue hedgehog with rings that transport him to other worlds. I have no prior experience with this property other than a Happy Meal electronic game I played when I was a kid.
Sonic (Ben Schwartz) has to leave his home planet and winds up on Earth in a small town in the middle of nowhere. After causing a power outage and alerting the United States government of his existence, Sonic hides out in garage where he’s discovered by local cop, Tom (James Marsden). Evil genius, Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey), is hell-bent on capturing Sonic and eventual world domination. After accidentally losing his world-hopping rings in San Francisco, Sonic and Tom go on a road-trip to escape Robotnik and find the rings to send Sonic to a safe mushroom planet. This movie is a lot of fun even if you’re not familiar with any prior shows or games. It’s funny and action-packed. The cast is wonderful. James Marsden shines when acting alongside CGI characters and is the best actor to do so with previous starring roles in Hop and Enchanted. Jim Carrey is at his best when allowed to completely go nuts with the animated style of acting he’s best known for. In an interview, he stated that he wants to retire and if Sonic 2 is his last movie, he’ll go out on a high note. And speaking of Sonic 2, that review will be next. I recommend checking this one for a fun family movie night. I rented this off Amazon, and it’s currently streaming on Paramount Plus.
Sonic (Ben Shwartz) is back for another round in a sequel that doubles up on the action and the humor with a returning cast of characters and introducing a couple of new ones. Sonic is left home alone when Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter) world hop to Hawaii for her sister’s wedding. Then Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) manages to get off Planet Mushroom and pops by for an evening of chaos with brand new ally Knuckles the Echidna (Idris Elba) in tow. Thankfully, Sonic gets a new friend and ally in adorable little Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) so he doesn’t have to face his enemies alone. Tails and Sonic must work together to keep an all-powerful emerald that has the power to both build and destroy worlds out of the hands of Dr. Robotnik. In doing so, Sonic learns the true meaning of heroism.
This was the BEST SEQUEL EVER!! It was even better than the original which is extremely rare to achieve! Idris killed it as Knuckles. I absolutely loved his performance! Tails is now one of my favorite characters. I might need to go back and watch some of the cartoons at some because I need more of him! He’s so cute! And kudos to casting for allowing Colleen to reprise the role she’s had since 2014. They rarely keep original voice actors in their roles for Hollywood big screen films. It’s nothing short of a miracle when they do, and she totally rocked it! Extra props for adding her name to the poster! Voice actors deserve more mainstream recognition.
I loved this movie so much! Number 3 has a lot to live up to! Stream it now on Prime Video or Paramount Plus.
In 2006, Pixar asked the age-old question: What if cars had feelings?
Hotshot rookie Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) wants nothing more than to win the Piston Cup. Something he thinks he can achieve completely on his own. After the last race ends in a three-way tie, it’s off to California for a tie-breaking race. In a hurry to get there before the competition, he forces his driver Mac (John Ratzenberger) to drive through the night. Due to some troublemakers, Lightning ends up stranded in the middle of nowhere in Radiator Springs. He’s arrested and forced to repave the road forcing this fast car to slow down and focus on what’s really important in life.
I enjoyed rewatching this. It’s been years since I’ve seen it. I loved the animation of the cars in general. Larry the Cable Guy is perfectly cast as Mater the tow truck. Mater and Lightning McQueen are one of the best duos to come from Disney in general. There’s occasional language and a few adult references throughout that will be amusing for the parents but hopefully fly over the heads of the kids. Overall, it’s a great movie with themes of friendship, needing community and reprioritizing what’s really important in life. Who knew that a movie about Cars would be one of Pixar’s best? Stream it now on Disney Plus.
Fun fact that nobody asked for: When we went to Florida on vacation, we got stuck in traffic for hours, but my brother and I didn’t know it at first because we were busy watching Cars on our brand new travel DVD player our grandfather bought for us before we left.
Cars 2 is a movie usually found near the bottom of most people’s Pixar’s rankings, but does it deserve the hate that it gets?
In 2011, Cars 2 asked the question What if cars could be secret agents?
McQueen (Owen Wilson) and Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) are back again. This time traveling around the world for a World Grand Prix that Mater has accidentally roped McQueen into. Wherever Mater goes, trouble follows, and he winds up being mistaken for an American spy caught up in a diabolical plot to put an end to natural fuel. Long live Gasoline! Will Mater be able to solve the case before someone ends up dead?
When I first saw this movie I hated it! I thought having Mater be the star of the show was a mistake. He’s better off as the lovable sidekick. While I still feel that Mater is better in the sidekick role and that him and McQueen are better together than apart, I actually enjoyed Cars 2 this time around. It’s actually surprisingly good. The secret agent storyline is still weird, but it’s fun.
It’s a bit dark for a kids movie with a car getting murdered onscreen, and there are a couple of adult references. It has a great focus on friendship and being yourself. It’s still near the bottom of my favorite Pixar movie list, but it’s moved up a space or two. Stream it now on Disney Plus.
After a potentially career ending accident, Lightning McQueen’s (Owen Wilson) future is thrown off the tracks. Some encouragement from Sally (Bonnie Hunt) is enough to get him to try one more, and he heads off to the Rusteeze Training Center to train with the latest and greatest technology to try to keep up with hotshot rookie, Jackson Storm (Armie Hammer).
Soon realizing that training using the new methods and technology isn’t working out, McQueen heads off in search of Doc Hudson’s mentor, Smoky (Chris Cooper). He drags his trainer and race-car wannabe Cruz (Cristela Alozo) along for the ride. To secure his future in racing, McQueen has to win his next race or be forced into retirement.
Pixar brought their A-Game and saved the best for last with the Cars trilogy. The story is amazing and emotion-packed. Cars 3 has a more serious, mature tone than the ones that came before. The animation is beautiful, especially the sequence where Mac is taking McQueen to the training center. The scenery is gorgeous!
Armie Hammer as Jackson Storm and Nathan Fillion as Sterling were great additions to the cast. The movie has wonderful themes of not giving up and believing in yourself. I love this movie so much! What a way to end the series on a high note! Cars 3 is streaming now on Disney Plus, and the new series, Cars on the Road, will begin streaming on Disney Plus Day, September 8th.
2¢ Movie Reviews 