Toy Story 5 – Movie Review

TL;DR – A perfectly adequate addition to the series with the odd tender moment, and a lot of coincidence, so much coincidence.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid- and post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Lillypad.

Toy Story 5 Review Introduction

Look, I am just going to make it clear from the get-go that I walked into this film with the strong belief that it was not only unnecessary but profoundly detrimental to the franchise. Toy Story 3 is one of my Top 10 Animated Films of All Time and is the perfect ending to the series. I sort of worked my way through Toy Story 4, which, when you think of it, is more of an epilogue than a standalone film. I didn’t feel there was enough left in the tank to justify a fifth entry, and I think I was right.

So, to set the scene, Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) has been growing up fast, but still loves playing with her toys every day. But Jessie (Joan Cusack) and the gang have been trying to get her out of her shell so she can make some new friends. What Jessie does not know is that there is a storm brewing, and that storm is tech. Across the neighbourhood, toys are being abandoned as kids turn to tech to entertain themselves. But what was a neighbourhood problem is now in their house as a new Lilypad (Greta Lee) device has arrived, and it does not play fair.

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Space Jam: A New Legacy – Movie Review

TL;DR – Take the first Space Jam, introduce it to Tron Legacy while giving Ready Player One a run for its money.      

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene but some pictures in the mid-credits

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film

Space Jam: A New Legacy. Image Credit: Warner Brothers.

Space Jam: A New Legacy Review

When there are 25 years between entries in a film franchise, there is always a fear of who will be your target audience. Are you trying to bring in new fans, or are you catering for those who liked the last film? Today we get a movie that tried to bridge both groups with an entertaining film for kids but filled with moments that only the parents will get.

So to set the scene, we open in Akron, Ohio, in 1998. A young LeBron (Stephen Kankole) is practising, but his coach thinks his head is not in the game, and he has to ditch all the distractions. One montage of LeBron’s career later, and a now champion LeBron James (LeBron James) is raising a family. While he is all about basketball, his son Dominic “Dom” James (Cedric Joe) likes to code and has built a video game. This is heading towards conflict when at Warner Brother Studios, their inbuilt algorithm Al-G Rhythm (Don Cheadle) has devised a plan. A plan that pits son against father and makes the Looney Tunes fight for their very lives.

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