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 With half-term on the horizon it's appropriate
that the third and final installment of my big screen summer preview
is devoted mostly to kids' and family movies, not only impending
megaflicks like Madagascar and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,
but also like-minded classics already on DVD that you can enjoy
between trips to your local cinema.
Although
computer generated animation is pretty much the norm these days,
tried and tested and every bit as good as the best hand-drawn
cartoons ever made, it wasn't all that long ago that we regarded
such films as soulless technical exercises lacking the art and the
heart to really connect with audiences. Toy
Story changed all that, and Pixar, the studio that made it,
continues to prove itself year after year, from Toy
Story 2, A
Bug's Life and Monsters
Inc. to Finding
Nemo and most recently, and perhaps most spectacularly, The
Incredibles. Of the many non-Pixar cartoons made in Toy Story's
wake, my personal favourites include Shrek
2 and Final
Fantasy: The Spirits Within. How Madagascar fares with the
public remains to be seen, but based on the trailer I'd say it looks
like a lot of fun. The story of a lion (voiced by Ben
Stiller), a zebra (Chris
Rock), a giraffe (David
Schwimmer) and a hippo (Jada
Pinkett Smith), all former residents of the New York Public Zoo
suddenly forced to fend for themselves in the real world, Madagascar
hits cinemas July 15. With luck, it'll be as funny as it looks in
the trailer.
Tim
Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (released July 29) is
the latest in a long and mostly successful line of Roald Dahl
adaptations. Already shot once to great effect in 1971 as Willy
Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, a mildly subversive musical
with a scene-stealing title-turn from Gene
Wilder, this second effort stars the great Johnny
Depp and is likely to be a good deal darker and, knowing Burton,
considerably stranger too. If it's even half as incredible as
Burton's previous Dahl-based effort, James
and the Giant Peach (produced by 
Burton with Nightmare
Before Christmas director Henry
Selick in charge), it'll be good enough for me. Also worth
repeated viewings are Nic Roeg's The Witches, a funny, scary,
wonderful movie, and Danny
DeVito's sweetly magical Matilda,
which I can't recommend highly enough. If you haven't seen them yet,
or it's been a while, why not brighten up the half-term stretch with
your own Roald Dahl season?
Long before K.I.T.T. talked his way into our
hearts and Christine taught the world not to mess with a shiny red
1958 Plymouth Fury, there was only one living car leaving tracks on
my heart, a Volkswagen Beetle called Herbie.
Cute as a button with an independent spirit, his star-making
introduction in 1968's
The Love Bug paved the way for years of hilarious Herbie action,
courtesy of various Disney magicians. I'm proud to say I was there
every step of the way: when
he rode again in 1974, when
he went to Monte Carlo in 1977 and when he finally went
bananas in 1980. And I'll be there again when Herbie: Fully
Loaded rides into cinemas on August 5, a brand new chapter of Herbie
mythology with Lindsay Lohan in the driver's seat. Lucky girl.
 Besides
the many Pixar, Dahl and Herbie classics waiting to entertain you,
there are so many more wonderful children's' movies waiting to be
rediscovered, as perfect for grown ups as they are for their kids.
Forgive me if I miss your favourite - drop me a line about it and
I'll be sure to mention it in a later View - but the great family
flicks that spring immediately to my mind are, in no particular
order, The
Princess Bride (with thanks to fellow Trekkie David Baber for
reminding me about that one), Mary
Poppins, The
Iron Giant, Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio,
Dumbo,
Sleeping
Beauty, Beauty
and the Beast, Mouse
Hunt, The
Muppet Christmas Carol, Stuart
Little, The
Secret Garden, Babe
and The
Spongebob Squarepants Movie. You won't have to get up from the
telly all half-term.
The two final movies on my summer preview list
are both based on vintage kids' TV shows, and though I expect both
to do well with teenage audiences, I reckon they'll be an even
bigger hit with those of us who actually grew up watching them.Nicole
Kidman wiggles her nose in Nora
Ephron's modern take on Sixties sitcom Bewitched, released
August 19 and co-starring Will
Ferrell, Shirley
MacLaine and Michael
Caine. And I know I'll be the first in line when The Dukes Of
Hazzard finally tear into town on August 26, with Seann
William Scott and Johnny
Knoxville as cousins Bo and Luke, Willie
Nelson as Uncle Jesse and Burt
Reynolds as Boss Hogg. Fingers crossed they'll both be as good
as The Brady Bunch Movie.
Marshall
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