New Kids Movies
Elio follows the life of a shy, introverted 11-year-old, whose mother is involved in a space-related military mission. When he accidentally makes contact with another galaxy, he is mistaken to be the intergalactic ambassador of Earth. The film is completely computer-animated and may bring back the signature ‘Disney tradition’ of discussing complex philosophies through simple stories.
5 upcoming best Disney movies of 2024
At the D23 Expo of 2022, Disney revealed the details of several highly anticipated projects while also announcing some new projects for the next couple of years to come. Disney is arguably the world’s most successful movie studio, considering the kind of success that Marvel films and shows have been bringing in recent years.
While a number of announcements for Marvel shows and movies were expected, fans have been eagerly awaiting for details about animated films from Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar. Despite all the major new developments in production, the company is still heavily associated with bringing brilliantly written children’s stories to life using the most delightful animation techniques.
Top 5 Disney films for 2024
1) Elio
Elio is a Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar production that seems to be bringing back the tradition of telling larger than life stories in dreamy ways. The film is expected to be released in theaters on March 1, 2024 and was one of the biggest projects that were announced in the D23 Expo.
Adrian Molina, who previously directed Coco and contributed to the screenplay of The Good Dinosaur, will be directing Elio. Since the release of Soul in 2020 from the same production houses, expectations for the upcoming animated films have been fairly high.
Elio follows the life of a shy, introverted 11-year-old, whose mother is involved in a space-related military mission. When he accidentally makes contact with another galaxy, he is mistaken to be the intergalactic ambassador of Earth. The film is completely computer-animated and may bring back the signature ‘Disney tradition’ of discussing complex philosophies through simple stories.
2) Snow White
The trend of remaking animated classics into live-action began many years ago and is still quite popular with the recent release of Tom Hanks starrer Pinocchio. Another film announced at the D23 Expo was the live-action remake of Snow White, one of Disney’s oldest animated films.
Although the live-action remakes didn’t receive as much love as the originals, the remakes of previous movies such as The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast, made way for great cinematic experiences in the theater.
The live-action version of Snow White will be released in theaters on March 22, 2024, and will star Rachel Zegler who has previously played Ariel in Little Mermaid and Princess Fiona in Shrek the Musical. The film also stars Gal Gadot as the evil step-mother and has a screenplay co-written by Greta Gerwig.
3) Inside Out 2
Inside Out is one of the finest animated films to have been ever made. The sensitivity and care with which the film talks about the human psyche and emotional health while telling an optimistic children’s story is remarkable. It was widely watched and loved by children and adults alike.
The announcement of a sequel to Inside Out is one of the most exciting news to come out of the D23 Expo. It is one of Disney’s highest-grossing films and the sequel is expected to do even better at the box-office.
Inside Out 2 will be releasing in theaters on June 14, 2024 and will be taking place inside the head of a now older Riley who begins to experience newer emotions.
4) Mufasa: Lion King
While the animated 1994 film Lion King is one of Disney’s most loved films, its 2019 remake into live-action did not impress the audience as much. The film was heavily criticized for a lack of added nuance in the live-action version. However, the studio has now announced Mufasa: Lion King, a prequel to the 2019 remake, which is expected to dwell deeper into the story and origins of Mufasa.
While a lot of fans did think of Scar as a better subject for the prequel, Mufasa, being one of Disney’s most adored characters, did generate just as much excitement.
The classic comical characters of Timon, Pumbaa and Rafiki will be reprising their roles and will be playing an important role in the course of the story which will probably be told through their lens.
5) Lilo and Stitch
When the animated film Lilo and Stitch first released in 2002, it was instantly loved by a wide audience and also received highly positive reviews. The film is a science-fiction, comedy-drama which also inspired the creation of a two-season long television series. Remaking such a widely acclaimed film into live-action, would bring with it great responsibility and pressure too.
New Kids Movies
As the father of three young adults, I remember clearly those days when we’d watch just about any new kids movie that was released. And I also remember feeling like studios took advantage of that desperation for entertainment, filling the latest unoriginal script with enough silly gags that the little ones would giggle as the parents checked the time. I was always so thankful for those rare family films made with the same kind of care that went into the latest arthouse flick.
We’re keeping a running list of the latest movies for children for you to peruse and find something that the whole family might enjoy. We’ve included a synopsis of each.
Here are 15 of the biggest new kids movies from the last few months:
1. The Boy and the Heron
Release Date: December 8, 2023
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Stars: Soma Santoki, Masaki Suda, Ko Shibasaki, Aimyon, Yoshino Kimura, Takuya Kimura, Karou Kobayashi, Shinobu Otake
Rating: NR
Paste Review Score: 10.0
In theaters December 8
Genzaburo Yoshino’s 1937 novel How Do You Live? is a time capsule, preserving the virtues of the society it was made and circulated in. It’s about how to live as a good person in this world, about the childhood experience of discovering difference, disparity, and loss—and, thus, turning to philosophy. The influence of the text is apparent in Miyazaki’s work at Ghibli. While the protagonist of his latest film, Mahito (Soma Santoki), is styled around Miyazaki’s childhood, Miyazaki himself appears as he is today more directly in the figure of Mahito’s granduncle (Shōhei Hino), a man who built a mysterious library on the family estate decades ago before disappearing into his stories forever. The Boy and the Heron, released in Japan with the same name as Yoshino’s novel, becomes a firm reminder of the need to grow up, but one that recognizes the importance of the ephemeral experiences of childhood. Unlike Miyazaki’s semi-biographical 2013 swan song The Wind Rises, the quasi-autobiographical The Boy and the Heron is styled as the fantasy Bildungsroman that he became famous for—with a mature, edgier bent. The opening sequence depicts a 1943 firebombing, rendered with striking animation that entirely breaks with the art style of the rest of the film, veering into the abstract. Mahito’s ill mother dies in the flames. Afterwards, the 12-year-old moves to the countryside as his father Shoichi (Takuya Kimura), an industrialist contributing to the war effort, remarries his late mother’s younger sister, Natsuko (Yoshino Kimura). Unlike the bucolic farmland of My Neighbor Totoro that imagines a space closer to nature or the remnants of a nostalgic past in Spirited Away that facilitates its fantastical traversal, the impetus for Mahito’s journey is an act of self-harm. The spirits find Mahito, feverish and delirious, on the family’s rural estate. A particularly nettlesome gray heron (Masaki Suda) harasses the boy, drawing him towards the site of his coming-of-age journey. His guide hereafter is apprehensive, the fantasies tainted with death and decay. From here, the script (trans. Don Brown) is perhaps Miyazaki’s best. Sharing its outline with all these past films, The Boy and the Heron utilizes a different narrative mode: The mythic. This is a fantasy world that deals in archetypes instead of history orientated by the polemics of fascists and philosophers. Everything is handled with delicate ambivalence, all implicit, the intentions left ambiguous. It is an open text begging to be read. To see The Boy and the Heron is to see Miyazaki. The film is as complicated as the man it is about, and this is what makes The Boy and the Heron a masterwork. I can see him still writing his stories, still drawing his airplanes.–Autumn Wright
2. Blue Giant
Release Date: October 8, 2023
Director: Yuzuru Tachikawa
Stars: Amane Okayama, Yuki Yamada, Shotaro Mamiya
Rating: NR
Paste Review Score: 7.0
In theaters
In his first feature since wrapping the critically acclaimed third season of Mob Psycho 100, director Yuzuru Tachikawa takes on the hallowed musical anime. Adapted from Shinichi Ishizuka’s ongoing manga series, Blue Giant is a film about a boy who wants to become the greatest jazz musician in the world, as he takes the most consequential step of his journey: Moving to Tokyo to break into the dying scene. Dai (Yuki Yamada), having left his hometown with a backpack and tenor sax, imposes on an old friend who moved to the city for college. He’s quickly met with the fact that there’s not enough venues left to make playing for money a possibility and begins working to pay his now-roommate Shunji (Amane Okayama) rent while scouring the city for musicians. He quickly meets pianist Yukinori (Shotaro Mamiya), who, unlike Dai, was surrounded by music at a young age. The two’s contrasting backgrounds and proximity to the world of professional music leads them to butt heads and build each other up the way rivalries-turned-bromances do in sports anime. Yukinori is more jaded, but also more technically proficient; Dai’s spirit undeniably comes through his sax’s sound. In anime, at least, that’s enough. Blue Giant is a somewhat tropey story that captures its characters’ big feelings, and its incorporation of live combo recordings contributes something unique to the steadily growing canon of musical anime. While not quite the feature I would’ve expected from Tachikawa after Mob Psycho 100, it’s a strong next step in the director’s career. —Autumn Wright
3. Spy Kids: Armageddon
Release Date: September 22, 2023
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Stars: Everly Carganilla, Connor Esterson, Gina Rodriguez, Zachary Levi, Billy Magnussen
Rating: PG
Paste Review Score: 6.2
It’s tempting to say that Spy Kids: Armageddon is to Robert Rodriguez’s kid-targeted movies as Hypnotic is to his grown-up stuff: A modest, entertaining, halfway-return to not-quite-form; something silly that will benefit from low expectations. And that’s largely true. It is most of those things. But while Hypnotic derived some novelty from what it didn’t much resemble in Rodriguez’s filmography–a 1940s B-movie noir in color, featuring a contemporary movie star with a complicated public image–this Armageddon has clearly been brought about by Spy Kids past. We once again meet a pair of boy-girl siblings: Tony (Connor Esterson) and Patty Tango-Torrez (Everly Carganilla), whose parents Nora (Gina Rodriguez) and Terrence (Zachary Levi) secretly make their living as ill-defined spies. Once again, the kids have to step up when their parents are incapacitated by a world-threatening supervillain. Beyond this durable premise, Armageddon includes a mom-and-dad fairytale-mission flashback, like in the first Spy Kids; fighting skeletons, like in Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams; and scenes that take place inside a videogame landscape, like in Spy Kids 3 (and, metaphorically, like most of Rodriguez’s movies from the past two decades). These seem like conscious nods to the original trilogy, and most of them have their own little twists on the formula. What the movie fails to pick up is the finer points of its predecessors’ style and, especially, their eye for casting. Not just in the literal absence of the original kids (and the woeful substitution of Zachary Levi for Antonio Banderas), which is to be expected, but in the spirit of packing the cast with delightful supporting players like Danny Trejo, Steve Buscemi, Alan Cumming and Bill Paxton, who all enliven the original trilogy. (Even Sylvester Stallone gave it his best shot in the third one.) That’s not a knock on Billy Magnussen, who plays a game developer who wrests control of the world’s technology–a funny, parent-friendly echo of Terrence’s desire to control his son’s obsessive tech use. He just doesn’t have anyone to play off of; the whole movie feels weirdly underpopulated, with some neat-looking CG figures getting more screentime than the flesh-and-blood actors who typically inhabit Rodriguez’s Austin-shot virtual worlds. —Jesse Hassenger
4. The Inventor
Release Date: September 22, 2023
Director: Jim Capobianco
Stars: Stephen Fry, Daisy Ridley, Marion Cotillard, Gauthier Battoue, Matt Berry
Rating: PG
Paste Review Score: 8.2
In theaters
What a delight it is to be reminded that the creative endeavors of artists living today can reconnect us so exquisitely to both the vitality and frustrations of an artist who lived 500 years ago. Director Jim Capobianco and co-director Pierre-Luc Granjon do just that with The Inventor, their gorgeously rendered hand-drawn and stop-motion animated interpretation of the last years of Leonardo da Vinci. One of the smartest things that The Inventor does in its presentation of da Vinci’s life, which makes it accessible for both young and older viewers, is constraining its storytelling scope. The tight 90-minute runtime doesn’t attempt to compress the depth and breadth of da Vinci’s prolific life of creation and invention into a typical biopic. Instead, Capobianco’s script wisely focuses on the last four years of his life. As for the animation itself, the film mainly uses the same materials available to da Vinci’s for his own creative expression: Paper, wood, ink, paints and brushes. The Inventor employs them to create a handmade aesthetic which reflects the tactile creativity of one of humanity’s greatest minds. Capobianco and Granjon’s choice to eschew CGI animation in favor of 2D and stop-motion is spot-on, as they best convey the authentic diligence of da Vinci’s own creations. That’s an inspired framework to not only tell da Vinci’s story in a clever way, but to showcase the two kinds of animation in a way that allows them both to shine. —Tara Bennett
5. Ernest and Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia
Release Date: September 1, 2023
Director: Jean-Christophe Roger, Julien Chheng
Stars: Lambert Wilson, Pauline Brunner, Michel Lerousseau, Céline Ronté, Lévanah Solomon
Rating: PG
Paste Review Score: 7.5
In theaters
A crowd of bears gathers around a piano. A lone musician sits on its bench, earnestly cracking his fingers in preparation for what’s to come. The concert begins; it’s a lackluster musical performance executed on a single piano key. When the noise ceases, the onlookers erupt into applause. In Ernest and Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia, the curious scene described above (which, admittedly, sounds like the setup of a mind-numbing riddle) is actually a startling portrait of life under authoritarian rule. At the start of this sequel to Ernest and Celestine—the lauded 2012 animated feature by directors Benjamin Renner, Vincent Patar and Stéphane Aubier—Celestine (Pauline Brunner) has accidentally broken Ernest’s (Lambert Wilson) beloved “Stradibearius” violin. This mishap prompts the adorable mouse and bear duo to embark on an action-packed expedition to Ernest’s country of Gibbertia, which is home to the only luthier who can repair the instrument. The pair arrive at the mysterious territory searching for the craftsman, but are instead shocked to learn that all forms of music have been criminalized in Gibbertia. A land once recognized across the globe for its phenomenal musical talent has now become intolerant to even the sweet melodies of birds chirping in the morning light. Up against henchmen-like “music police,” familial dysfunction and a government which refuses to let go of its old ways, Ernest and Celestine must harness the powers of nonconformity and friendship to challenge the status quo. With all its rebellious encouragement and unique visual flair, Ernest and Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia crafts a moral tale undoubtedly worth the watch—so that the next time we encounter a group of politically oppressed bears listening to single-note music, we’re better prepared to take a stand. —Kathy Michelle Chacón
6. The Monkey King
Release Date: August 18, 2023
Director: Anthony Stacchi
Stars: Jimmy O. Yang, Bowen Yang, Jo Koy, Stephanie Hsu, BD Wong
Rating: PG
Paste Review Score: 9.0
The Monkey King journeys to the Western streaming services once more with Netflix’s animated adventure from director Anthony Stacchi (The Boxtrolls, Open Season). As a notorious trickster figure of Chinese mythology, The Monkey King’s story is told time and again. His appearance in the 16th century epic Journey to the West, in which he atones for his misdeeds by aiding a Buddhist monk traveling to India in search of scriptures, makes him a mischievous yet reforming character who models and satirizes ancient Chinese values. Netflix’s delightful retelling of The Monkey King’s story takes place before the events of Journey to the West. Hatched from a rock as a baby monkey with laser vision, our hero quickly learns he doesn’t fit in with the other monkeys. But tricksters are all outsiders, and The Monkey King (Jimmy O. Yang) embraces his liminal status, striking out on his own to meet his destiny. (Re)united with his staff, named Stick for this retelling (with sentient throat-singing by Nan Li), he foils the Dragon King (Bowen Yang) and sets off on a quest to join The Immortal Ones. But The Monkey King never ventures alone. This time he’s accompanied by Lin (Jolie Hoang-Rappaport), a headstrong young villager who is a bit of an outcast herself. Together they’ll journey to hell, heaven and back again, with a bit of havoc along the way. The Monkey King becomes a work of cosmic color that changes form almost as often as its main character. The animation styles whiz by in kaleidoscopic fashion. The few songs written by composers Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss are just as eclectic as the animation styles. Jimmy O. Yang voices our trickster hero with a fitting power and mischievousness. Bowen Yang’s wry and riotous performance as the Dragon King is nothing short of robe-dropping. Those who have grown up steeped in Chinese mythology and iterations of The Monkey King’s story will catch the continual references to other chapters in his saga and Chinese mythology in general. Still, The Monkey King feels like a proper place for experiments in cross-cultural entertainment because Journey to the West is a story of cultures mixing and learning. The film is an enjoyably swinging adventure across time, worlds, and cultures. It’s an enchanting reminder that mythology can be diplomatic and a wonderful way to venture into new worldviews. —B. Panther
7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Release Date: August 2, 2023
Director: Jeff Rowe, Kyler Spears (co-director)
Stars: Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Brady Noon, Nicolas Cantu, Jackie Chan, Ice Cube
Rating: PG
Paste Review Score: 9.0
A visual tour de force of hybrid 2D and 3D animation, Mutant Mayhem is not only the most authentically New York version of the Turtles yet, it’s arguably the most inventive. Rowe, Spears and production designer Yashar Kassai have rendered the brothers as if they’re hand-drawn, complete with messy sketch lines, doodle flairs and a graffiti aesthetic. This is the ultimate paint-outside-the-lines take on the Turtles and it works on every level. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is swinging for the fences with its story and voice performances to ambitiously, quantifiably shake up the artistic rut that theatrical computer animation has been stuck in for the last two decades. Another plus is that the brothers are voiced by non-adult voice actors Nicolas Cantu (Leo), Brady Noon (Raph), Shamon Brown Jr. (Mikey) and Micah Abbey (Donnie), who recorded together, and were encouraged to excitedly talk over one another like a gaggle of real, tight-knit brothers would do. It translates into rapid-fire, organic quips and seemingly effortless timing that conveys a rapport that is singular to this iteration. It also elevates the script so that it doesn’t sound like it was written by a bunch of 40-year-olds trying to be hip and young. Rowe and Spears have a firm hold on their pacing, especially in how they use comedy to enhance their action beats. They also chart a progression to the brother’s battle prowess that is satisfying and pays off in satisfying full-circle moments. There’s also much to be admired in their choice to frame a lot of sequences with hand-held camera blocking, which leans into the unpredictable youth of the heroes that works so well in the gritty New York environs they’re sparring in. The filmmakers are also delightfully experimental throughout the Mutant Mayhem, using inspired live-action inserts, segueing into different artistic styles (including a homage to Eastman and Laird’s comic art) and embracing the asymmetrical character design that gives the film a fresh and energetic looseness. Rowe and company prove that there’s no strength to the myth of IP fatigue when you have the vision and passion to reinvent with such bold and fun intention. —Tara Bennett
8. Haunted Mansion
Release Date: July 28, 2023
Director: Justin Simien
Stars: LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Chase W. Dillon, Dan Levy, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jared Leto
Rating: PG-13
Paste Review Score: 2.0
Haunted Mansion is an ugly, bloated, ungainly mess of shallow brand augmentation; a completely spiritless movie about spirits. Expectedly, the extended lore of the famous Disney World dark ride is used as the basis of the story. We’re first introduced to Ben (LaKeith Stanfield), a withdrawn former astrophysicist that now hosts corny walking history tours of New Orleans, but who has also built a ghost-catching camera that has caught the attention of Father Kent (Owen Wilson). Kent enlists Ben in helping single mother Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) and her son Travis (Chase W. Dillon, somehow eking out the best performance of anyone here) to rid their new ominous manor of a major inundation of ghosts they’ve gotten stuck with. What no one tells Ben before stepping into the house is that if he ever tries to leave, he will be followed and tormented by ghostly activity until he is compelled to return, which is how our motley crew of characters—eventually also including the eccentric psychic Harriet (Tiffany Haddish) and crotchety university professor Bruce (Danny DeVito)—all end up trapped and investigating the mystery of this old estate. Everything seems to lead back to one particularly evil spirit: The Hatbox Ghost, an infamous component of the actual ride who is manifested here as a garish CGI creation supposedly played by Jared Leto. The story is plodding, the themes overfamiliar, the characters woefully uninteresting. It’s too colorless for kids and too trite for grown-ups. The performances are universally poor, a toxic combination of actors working with bad writing for parts they weren’t well-cast in the first place, their unification into an ensemble totally butchered by mangled, awkward editing. The comedic appeal of performers like Wilson, Haddish, and especially DeVito is bungled, their personalities diluted by being structured around attempts at humor that the performers don’t seem too confident in—everyone is operating at a lukewarm register that makes every scene play with an ambivalent, low-energy mien. A movie like Haunted Mansion is always going to be, at its heart, a cinematic advertisement for the theme park, but couldn’t we at least run with that idea and make it fun? —Trace Sauveur
9. Barbie
Release Date: July 21, 2023
Director: Greta Gerwig
Stars: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Issa Rae, Hari Nef, Simu Liu, Will Ferrell
Rating: PG-13
Paste Review Score: 9.1
Only in theaters
Bursting with big ideas on the complexities surrounding womanhood, patriarchy and the legacy of its eponymous subject, Barbie scores a hat trick for its magnificent balance of comedy, emotional intelligence and cultural relevance. The picture begins with a playful homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey’s Dawn of Man sequence. Except, in Gerwig’s prelude, the apes are young girls and the wondrous discovery they make is not a monolith, but a 100-foot tall bathing-suit-wearing Barbie (Margot Robbie), who is there to put an end to Planet Earth’s sexism with her mere aspirationalism. Life is idyllic until Robbie’s Barbie, who refers to herself as Stereotypical Barbie, begins to experience an unprecedented existential crisis. These uncharacteristic anxieties, coupled with the fact that her once-permanently-tippy-toed feet have fallen flat, lead Barbie on a quest to the Real World in hopes of returning back to her normal, carefree self. When her adoring Ken (Ryan Gosling) joins her in her cross-realm voyage, ideologies are swapped, havoc is wreaked and major changes are brought upon Barbie Land. Gerwig is grappling with these heavy ideas of patriarchy and gender, but Barbie always maintains a delightful sense of play and lightheartedness. This is largely due to the pink, campy, absurd and absolutely bewitching set work created by Barbie’s production designer, Sarah Greenwood, and set decorator, Katie Spencer. The incredible sets that we see in the film are real, tangible places whose presence create a nostalgic desire to feel, grab and touch. The believability of the sets—“this is a real Barbie Dream House and Robbie is a real life Barbie doll,” we think—makes for an interesting meta layer for the film. This sense of self-awareness touches almost every aspect of Barbie, from the set design to the campy performances and even its handling of its source material. Writers Gerwig and Noah Baumbach obviously have a soft spot for Robbie’s character, and the beauty of humans in general, but they don’t allow their work with a large corporation like Mattel to prevent them from exploring Barbie’s complicated legacy throughout the film. Like its protagonist, Barbie is all the things all at once. Funny. Sentimental. Entertaining. Confrontational. Celebratory. Heartfelt. Heartbreaking. Kooky. Emotional. And, maybe most interestingly of all, a damn good time capsule for what was exciting and frightening in mainstream culture at this particular societal moment.—Kathy Michelle Chacón
10. Ladybug and Cat Noir: The Movie
Release Date: June 21, 2023
Directors: Jeremy Zag
Stars: Anouck Hautbois, Benjamin Bollen, Antoine Tomé, Marie Nonnenmacher, Thierry Kazazian
Genre: Kids, animation
Rating: PG
Ladybug and Cat Noir are two teenaged superheroes in Paris. Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a socially awkward girl who transforms into Ladybug, while popular boy Adrien Agreste becomes Cat Noir in the long-running French animated series that leads up to the new film.
11. Nimona
Release Date: June 30, 2023
Director: Nick Bruno, Troy Quane
Stars: Chloë Grace Moretz, Riz Ahmed, Eugene Lee Yang, Frances Conroy, Lorraine Toussaint, Beck Bennett, Indya Moore, RuPaul, Julio Torres, Sarah Sherman
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: PG
Paste Review Score: 8.0
You know that joke about how we would all side with the queer-coded villains of our childhood? ND Stevenson’s now decade-old webcomic-turned-graphic-novel Nimona is a commitment to that bit. Like its source material, Nimona is a legend for the freaks and the queers, a story told in figures, archetypes and tropes. Nimona understands that villains are often made villainous for their bodies and identities. Nimona embraces queer coding and turns it into a subversive power fantasy. In the original webcomic, Nimona is a queer anarchist revolutionary who adopts the brown-skinned, disabled Boldheart as her master. He has found himself conned into maintaining the status quo as the villain that the forces of power in his kingdom need, but he gets to prolong his homoerotic rivalry with his nemesis and ex-lover, the Institute’s champion and white pretty boy, Goldenloin. Together, Nimona and Boldheart can, through villainy, actually take down the shockingly malicious Institute that maintains strict order over the kingdom and inspire their followers to see the world differently. There’s no sympathizing with royalists here. You should absolutely go read Nimona. It won’t take much longer to read than it will to watch the 99-minute film (and you should watch it after), but with that space, Stevenson establishes and subverts the archetypes and tropes that shape not just narrative, but world view. It’s not subversive of just form or structure, but of narrative and ideology. Now in the hands of Spies in Disguise directorial duo Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, Nimona is roughly the same chaotic gremlin that fans of Stevenson’s work loved—with some notable reworks to fit into an animated kids movie on Netflix. It kinda skips the whole villain arc of the original story, which I would be more annoyed about if the many other adjustments and the reworked scope didn’t make this such a good standalone adaptation. The movie still captures the heart of Nimona. It may make for a less subversive take on villainy, but remains a thoughtful commentary on systems of power and the othering of non-normative bodies. In many ways, it feels tailored for this moment, for this audience. —Autumn Wright
12. Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken
Release Date: June 30, 2023
Director: Kirk DeMicco
Stars: Lana Condor, Toni Collette, Annie Murphy, Jane Fonda, Sam Richardson, Colman Domingo, Will Forte, Jaboukie Young-White
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: PG
Paste Review Score: 6.6
As Disney celebrates its latest sorta-live-action redo from their library of beloved animated classics, DreamWorks has its own not-so-little mermaid serve as the not-so-secret bad guy of Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, an otherwise not-especially-satirical animated coming-of-age comedy. Ruby (Lana Condor), by contrast with Ariels past and present, isn’t an angel-voiced princess of the sea. She’s a blue-skinned, noseless, suspiciously flexible and long-fingered teenager, inexplicably fitting in at her seaside high school with her family’s Coneheads-esque cover story that they’re simply Canadian. In reality, they’re a family of human-scaled kraken, who require proximity to the ocean but must also be careful not to actually fall in, lest they reveal their origins. Warned off by her high-achieving mother Agatha (Toni Collette), Ruby does her best to simply not be seen, though she has managed to make two close friends and tutor her crush Connor (Jaboukie Young-White) in math. Chelsea (Annie Murphy), on the other hand, floats into Ruby’s school as a transfer student with boundless confidence and an unmistakably Ariel-like shade of bright red hair. She’s the Little Mermaid as a living Bratz doll, and a marked contrast to Ruby’s more timid existence. But when Ruby saves Connor from the briny depths during a promposal gone wrong, she discovers her true kraken powers, which are much greater than her family has ever told her. Tutored by her underwater-dwelling warrior-queen grandma (Jane Fonda), Ruby explores these newfound abilities and investigates a long-standing rivalry between krakens and mermaids. And just as Ruby engages in tween-friendly versions of both high school shenanigans and Aquaman-esque mythology, her movie keeps zipping back and forth between the tedious comfort of DreamWorks traditions and something freer of animated-franchise expectations. The movie, directed by Kirk DeMicco, is bookended by the usual opening here’s-the-deal-with-this-world narration and the usual closing dance party, while its animation has a buoyancy closer to what Sony routinely turns out. This is a cute kids’ movie whose target audience may eventually look back on it with affection – or maybe a little suspicion, for how easily it smooths over its teenage strife. —Jesse Hassenger
13. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Release Date: June 30, 2023
Director: James Mangold
Stars: Harrison Ford, John Rhys-Davies, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, Shaunette Renée Wilson, Thomas Kretschmann, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Ethann Isidore, Mads Mikkelsen
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: PG
Paste Review Score: 7.0
Only in theaters
There’s a lot riding on James Mangold taking up the mantle from Spielberg to craft a new, and no doubt last Indiana Jones film starring Harrison Ford. It’s all the more fitting, perhaps, that the storyline of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny explicitly evokes a love of the past and the navigation of an uncertain future, where the newest McGuffin has less to do with metaphysics and more with mathematics, as if this iteration has been scientifically arranged to evoke nostalgia and closure at the same time. From its opening scenes, we know we’re in for something both familiar and markedly different, a mash-up that works well most of the time. The opening action sequence is bold and brash, but the flurry of shots lacks some of regular Indy director Steven Spielberg’s more calibrated shot choices. There’s applause for a chase through a ticker-tape parade, then marks deducted for claustrophobically a motorcycle/horse chase is captured. We have a train chase like in The Last Crusade, but this time at night and in the dark, evoking what came before with a new palette. Over and over, there are these echoes to what came before, refusing to erase even what some find most egregious about the last chapter. Rather than leaning into the retirement narrative, Dial of Destiny tries to have it both ways, with a man out of time called to make the difference that saves the world…one more time. We can’t revisit our first experience with this character, with the same eyes with which we first saw him, nor can we truly revel in the past, free from how the present shapes us. At its best, Dial of Destiny approaches this conundrum head on, allowing Ford’s wrinkles to evoke the mileage that this character has travelled. At times it feels like mimicry of what has taken place on the big screen over the last four decades, while in many other ways it’s a fine send off for this iconic character, one far more satisfying than other goodbyes that Ford’s been focusing on over the last few years. —Jason Gorber
14. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Release Date: June 2, 2023
Director: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson
Stars: Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar Isaac, Issa Rae, Jason Schwartzman
Rating: PG
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse webs its way into a far more jaded world, one overstuffed with superhero sequels, and specifically, multiverse storytelling. And yet Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse swings in and, yet again, wipes the floor with its genre brethren by presenting a sequel that is both kinetic and deeply emotional. The script by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Dave Callaham (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) smartly builds upon the foundation of its already established characters, their relationships and the ongoing consequences from the first film to further explore the lives of secret teen superheroes Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) and Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) a year after the first film. The writers do so with a clear agenda to not only best themselves visually, but by upping the game of the now-familiar multiple-timeline tropes. Together with the talents of directing team Joaquim Dos Santos (The Legend of Korra), Kemp Powers (Soul) and Justin K. Thompson (Into the Spider-Verse), Across the Spider-Verse—across the board—swings for the cinematic fences in the rare sequel that feels like every frame has been crafted with the intention of wringing every bit of visual wonder and emotional impact that the animators, the performers and the very medium can achieve. The hybrid computer-animation meets hand-drawn techniques established in the first films returns with a more sleek execution that’s a bit easier on the eyes, which affords the animators to get even more ambitious with their array of techniques and character-centric presentations. The depth and breadth of the animation and illustration styles are jaw-dropping. There are frames you just want to fall into, they’re so beautifully rendered and conceived. If there’s any critique, it’s that the more action-centric sequences are almost too detailed, so that the incredible work of the animators moves off-screen so quickly that you feel like you’re not able to fully appreciate everything coming at you. As a middle film in the trilogy (Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse is due in theaters in 2024), it’s a joy to be able to say that Across the Spider-Verse stands well on its own, based on the merits of its story and stakes. There’s also a killer cliffhanger that sets the stage for a third chapter that doesn’t feel like it’s cheating its audience like some other recent films have done (cough Dune cough). In fact, repeat viewings of Across the Spider-Verse to bridge the gap until the final installment next year sounds like a great way to savor this film as it so richly deserves.—Tara Bennett
15. Elemental
Release Date: May 27, 2023
Director: Peter Sohn
Stars: Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Ronnie del Carmen, Shila Ommi, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Catherine O’Hara, Mason Wertheimer, Joe Pera, Matt Yang King
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: PG
Paste Review Score: 7.0
Back in 2009, Peter Sohn directed the Pixar short Partly Cloudy that, for many, is considered among the best the studio ever produced. Cut to over a decade later and Sohn again has his head in the clouds, this time with Elemental, another bold, impressive feat of technical animation prowess with an emotionally rich storyline that runs throughout. At its heart, Elemental is a cross-cultural love story, a tale of immigrant tenacity and struggle, and a movie about the challenges of cultural siloing and the responsibilities to respect the sacrifices of those that came before us. Ember Lumen (Leah Lewis) is a hot-tempered resident of Fire Town. She works at her father’s store, where Bernie (Ronnie del Carmen) has spent years waiting for the day to pass it onto the new generation and keep the flame alive. He and his wife Cinder (Shila Ommi) immigrated, and her reticence to accept other elements has made her protective of her community and her daughter’s outlook. When a water element bureaucrat named Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie) unexpectedly enters Ember’s life, things truly start to boil as the two of them are forced to cooperate to solve an existential issue for Fire Town. Along the way they are drawn closer despite their obvious differences and encounter other, more earthy and airy characters, with each contributing their own aspect to the greater community. Elemental may not rise to the heights that Up soared to, but the ingredients of Elemental combine in ways that are both satisfying and even moving. It’s a tonally challenging film to get right, and easily could have devolved into something either too straightforward or overly strident in its messaging. Instead, we’re granted a movie that rises and lowers in intensity, flowing along with a confident trajectory that speaks to larger issues without ever drowning in overt messaging. —Jason Gorber