“Captain Underpants – The First Epic Movie” Embraces Anti-Authority Silliness

George and Harold are two fourth graders with a penchant for potty humor, hanging out in their treehouse, and creating their own comic books.  The cream of their crop is Captain Underpants, a broad knock-off of Superman, right down to his exoplanetary origin story, bizarre mishmash of superpowers, and proclivity for dressing in – you … Read more

“The Secret Life of Pets” and the “Trailer Problem”

The Secret Life of Pets, from Illumination Entertainment, occupies a strange space in the world of animated films.  The movie is a cut above the slapstick-and-farts formula of the most childish entries (I am looking at you, Ice Age 5).  It even avoids the over-reliance on pop culture reference to get chuckles out of the tag-a-long parents who are invariably forced into the seats in the theater.  But, it is disappointing that the best part of the movie was entirely revealed in the trailer — the teaser trailer!  That’s right, those 2+ minutes that introduced us to The Secret Life of Pets function as the cold open of the film, unchanged.  And they are still probably the best part of the whole movie. 

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