Charles Solomon

Although it was made on a smaller budget, "Neverbeast" is a more coherent and entertaining film than the bizarre jukebox musical "Strange Magic."

The visuals in Doukyusei are more original than the rather standard story.

No "Naruto" fan will want to miss "Boruto," which suggests a new direction the franchise may take, now that the long-running TV series has finally concluded.

The film is as lacking in polish and structure as its subject's canvases, which makes it an appropriate tribute to a marginal figure whose dreams of art world and/or Hollywood stardom stubbornly remain "almost there."

At almost two hours, the film feels a bit long and suffers from multiple endings, but Okada is clearly a talent to watch.

An increasingly rare example of traditional 2D American animation, Henry & Me is so well-intentioned, you wish the film were better.

An exciting, upbeat film, but not a very impressive example of the animator's art. [01 Feb 1989, p.8]

Genndy Tartakovsky is a talented director who knows how to telegraph what an animated character is thinking and doing and how to move a character in ways that suggest personality.

The nonstop mayhem will delight “One Piece” fans, but the uninitiated may find the film exhausting.

Director Shinsuke Sato’s film may lack nuance, but fans of martial spectacles will have an enjoyable if exhausting time.

At a time when viewers are calling for greater diversity in film, On Happiness Road marks the introduction of a promising new female voice in animation.

Zilbalodis’ storytelling is intriguing but oblique.

Some of the special effects are genuinely spectacular, but the narrative is often difficult to follow.

Liz and the Blue Bird may appeal to fans of “Sound Euphonium,” but many recent Japanese features have dealt with teen friendships and angst in more interesting ways.

The previous feature, “Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us” (2018), offered an original and relevant story. ”Mewtwo Strikes Back” feels like poké-business as usual.

Although Mark Osborne’s new CG/stop-motion feature succeeds in bringing the essence of Saint-Exupéry to life in the lovely stop-motion sequences, there are only a few of these delightful moments in an otherwise muddled movie that feels like three films ineptly grafted together.

Background stylist/co-director Eric Radomski has created a terrific-looking world of film noir-influenced Art Deco skyscrapers, shadows, gargoyles and windows. Unfortunately, some of the worst-animated characters in any recent feature get in front of those stylish backgrounds.

Rezo Gabriadze comes across as a genial, unpretentious man. But the viewer sees too little of the internationally respected artist and leaves feeling shortchanged.

Belladonna of Sadness is an interesting curiosity from the early days of modern anime, but material that may have seemed daring and adult in the era of Disney's “Robin Hood” and “Snoopy, Come Home” looks exploitative and misogynistic 43 years later.

Sadly, Laika’s new feature, Missing Link, fails to match the striking visuals and compelling characters in its Oscar-nominated 2016 film Kubo and the Two Strings.

The Tower is an angry, ambitious and often moving film from an underrepresented group, but its story might have been told more effectively in live action.

Chance is a well-intended but heavy-handed denunciation of the barbaric blood sport of dog fighting.

Contemporary viewers are more likely to find Fritz the Cat a mildly amusing period piece, as dated as a Nehru jacket.

The film suffers from a surfeit of characters, many of whom remain underdeveloped.

The audience's response to The Prophet is likely to be determined by their feelings for the original book rather than the eclectic, imaginative visuals.

Talky, relentlessly affirming and as predictable as a paint-by-number.

Kirkland manages to rise above the soap opera script with its improbable twists, stilted dialogue and internal contradictions to give a believable and often-sympathetic performance.

Disjointed and unfocused.