Here to guide you through the best school holiday viewing at the movies is David Michael Brown.
The Summer holidays are here! With all eyes on Christmas presents and air-conditioning bills, what better way to keep your youngsters occupied than singing witches, high-speed monotremes, marmalade-munching bears and a cat dealing with his own mortality.
Piece by Piece
The Pharrell Williams LEGO biography you never knew you wanted is a joyous look at the creative process and a timely reminder just how many songs the N.E.R.D. singer and Neptunes producer has worked his magic on. Plus, there’s a Snoop Dogg minifig. Fo’ shizzle.
Wicked
With a director in tune with musicals, a star-studded cast including Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey and Michelle Yeoh and a wizard selection of songs, Wicked was always going to do big business but Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of the Broadway smash has defied expectations and gravity. Karaoke fans should check out a singalong screening.
Moana 2
Can I get a Chee Hoo? Disney’s much ballyhooed sequel to Moana is here. And while the second instalment may lack the some of the coming-of-age heart of the original film, it still lays on the Polynesian charm in its universal tale of connection. Most of the cast return including as the titular seafarer, a scene stealing Alan Tudyk as the kamikaze chicken Heihei and the always welcome Dwayne Johnson as arrogant shape-shifting demi-god Maui while Starstruck’s Rose Matafeo makes her presence felt as quirky engineer Loto.
Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
Producer Peter Jackson continues his one-man mission to spread the Tolkien word, albeit in animated form, with Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. And after Ralph Bakshi’s ’70s cartoon version of LOTR used then revolutionary rotoscope techniques, this modern prequel goes for painterly landscapes and anime action thanks to director Kenji Kamiyama. With Brian Cox, Gaia Wise, Luke Pasqualino and Miranda Otto all lending their vocal talents, the events are set 183 years before Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy and follows the exploits of defiant Rohir princess Héra (Wise) and her father, hot-headed Helm Hammerhand (Cox), a legendary king of Rohan whose heroism defending his kingdom against an army of Dunlendings inspired the naming of stronghold Helm’s Deep. Directed by Kenji Kamiyama, the early word is that this return to Middle Earth is a trip worth making.
Mufasa: The Lion King
The “live action” version of Disney’s animated classic The Lion King was an enormous success. With a cast including Beyoncé and Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino whose obvious musical skills saw the familiar songs on the soundtrack soar, it was inevitable that a sequel would come. Or prequel in this case as we discover how orphaned cub Mufasa (Aaron Pierre) fulfills his destiny when he meets a sympathetic lion named Taka (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), the heir to a royal bloodline. With many familiar faces, and rear ends, returning including Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner as flatulent warthog Pumbaa and meerkat Timon, Disney will be banking on Mufasa staking his claim as the king of the box-office.
Sonic The Hedgehog 3
Sega’s favourite high-velocity monotreme zips onto the screen for another accelerated adventure. The first two levels of this gaming icon’s cinematic journey have seen Jim Carrey steal the show as the moustachioed malevolent Dr. Robotnik, and he looks like he will do it again not only as the psychotic brainiac Eggman but as his Grandpa Robotnik. But will he join forces with Sonic (Ben Schwartz), Knuckles (Idris Elba) and Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessy) as they take on new adversary Shadow voiced by Keanu Reeves? Here’s hoping the threequel keeps up to speed mixing irreverent humour, fast thrills and more than an occasionally cheeky nod to its 8-Bit source material.
Paddington in Peru
If all you want for Christmas are the bear necessities, then Paddington in Peru will be your one-stop shop. Following in the footsteps of the much-loved original that exuded British quaintness and the first sequel with a scene stealing Hugh Grant that is uttered in the same breath as The Godfather Part 2 and The Empire Strikes Back as the greatest sequel of all time, the threequel has a lot to live up to. Doing exactly what it says on the tin, the globe-trotting plot will return Paddington to darkest Peru, no doubt with a suitcase full of marmalade sandwiches, and audiences to the world of Michael Bond.
10 Lives
Following in the footsteps of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish in the niche animated sub-genre of cats dealing with their own mortality, 10 Lives is the tale of Beckett, voiced by Mo Gilligan, a pampered spoilt rescue cat who has recklessly taken his nine lives for granted while living with scatty student Rose. That all changes when he loses his last life and rather than heading to moggy heaven, he finds himself in a Beetlejuice-esque waiting room. Only when he is given a second chance, with each returning life a different animal, does he begin to understand the lessons he should have learnt each time he lost one of his first nine lives. Bill Nighy voices an evil bee obsessed scientist, while Bridgerton’s Simone Ashley and One Direction’s Zayne Malik lend vocal support.
Dragonkeeper (AUS/NZ Jan 16, 2025)
Thanks to How to Train Your Dragon and Game of Thrones, dragons are all the rage with audiences young and old. Written by author Carole Wilkinson, based on her novel of the same name, Dragonkeeper is set in Han Imperial China, an era when dragons are on the brink of extinction. Their survival falls into the hands of plucky slave girl Ping—voiced in the English version of the film by Mayalinee Griffiths—when she come into possession of a precious and rare dragon egg. Bill Bailey and Bill Nighy who gives voice to a dragon bolster the cast. Fire-breathing epic-ness ensues as Ping follows her destiny to become a Dragonkeeper with an evil dragon hunter on her tail.
