All the princess problems — sound stages on fire, casting controversies, misbegotten social media posts and one of the lowest rated teasers since trailers have been tested — haven’t sullied the wishing well for Disney’s latest foray into Snow business. It seems even a woke White can re-awaken for a spell, featuring enchanted anti-Fascist fun for the whole family, extending the Mouse House’s cottage industry of adapting every piece of IP this side of Home on the Range and The Rescuers Down Under. Director Mark Webb’s long promised 2025 live action fairy tale film Disney’s Snow White (B-), delayed for, um … the pandemic? … or strike threats? … maybe, evolves the 1937 animated classic with a sometimes sophisticated screenplay by The Girl on a Train and Secretary erotic thriller scribe (a choice!) Erin Cressida Wilson and a bevy of Broadway talent. And magic mirror, mirror, it’s a musical by golly, with a rousing good versus evil story, a hopeful message and heroine and a few welcome surprises amidst the flurry of fussy but adorable deer and birds. Rachel Zegler is in full command of her luminous star power in the instantly iconic title role, warrior royalty incarnate with a gorgeous, heartfelt belt sensationally suited for Benj Pasek and Justin Paul’s catchy and contemporary original songs. Andrew Burnap is dashing and funny as a new love interest character bricked up for feisty forest fights and the occasional dulcet duet timed to choreographer Mandy Moore’s spry steps. And as the Evil Queen, Gal Gadot is gorgeous and campy AF while posing menacingly in costume guru Sandy Powell’s glam gowns and crowns, sporting Freddy Krueger talons and noshing on cracked crab leg snacks, even though she proves a poor unfortunate soul in the singing department. Webb bobs for apples thematically and tonally until emerging with sweet cinematic cider: for every high point group musical sequence, there’s also a dollop of the dubious: a witch disguise serving Reverend Kane from Poltergeist 2, an inert and unconvincing State of the Union style drawbridge speech and a blatant, inaccurate product plug for the bejeweled theme park roller coaster, to name a few. But even ho-hum is better than heigh-ho when the movie jump-scare reveals seven deadly sins: the what-the-duck-dynasty stop-motion septet of dwarf denizens mining and whining in a nearby uncanny valley. Zegler deserves a lifetime achievement award for singing, dancing and whistling while she works with these supporting hybrid CGI puppet monstrosities, hunkering like Hummels at the gates of hell with dad joke quips. Were there a digital dwarf-free edition of the film, this Disney musical joy-bomb would score more than its otherwise provisional recommendation. As live action Disney movies go, however, this one deserves an electrical light parade following the studio’s prolonged purgatory in a remake cringe festival. Out of Grimm, this film gets a few grins; and it ultimately scores the sweet central duo of Zigler and Burnap big wins.
Despite being loosely based on a tale told better more than three decades ago, Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (B-) doesn’t necessarily lack for ideas. In fact, this all-female makeover of the let’s-capture-ghosts-run-amok-in-Manhattan story is a whirling dervish of special effects and fun gadgetry evoking a mash-up of a haunted Disney dark ride, Q’s invention laboratory and a whack-a-mole carnival gone mad with technicolor Pokemon-style gymnastics. As summer escapist fare, it’s a loud and overstuffed adventure with primary charms provided by Kate McKinnon who, armed with an occasional quip or queef for comic relief, is a welcome Willy Wonka type character entry into the franchise’s pantheon. It’s a bit like she’s working in another dimension from the other collaborators. The film’s biggest disappointments include squandering the talents of Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy with rather bland roles, relying too heavily on throwback cameos that distract from forward momentum and unspooling lame and labored origin story elements. Once the action gets underway, however, the frantic pace glosses over many of the sins of the so-so screenplay. Leslie Jones and Chris Hemsworth are solid in supporting roles, and New York itself – in both a modern and retro dual universe – provides a pleasurable playground of practical effects for spectral warfare. The film rarely crosses the expected streams into the suck, and it’s still a rush to watch a ghost get boxed. This movie is strictly for your inner 13 year old, and the mostly fulfilled “girl power” promised by this reimagining gives enough reason to not give up the ghost.
Gareth Edwards’ vision for a new Godzilla (B+) is a you-are-there disaster epic with undertones of family drama and a down-to-earth reality undergirding its myth and mayhem. There’s no camp or comedy in this mighty, muscular take on the classic monster legend. Gorgeous retro news reels and a globetrotting travelogue of sequences help plot out the possibilities early, even as surprises lurk behind every corner and cavern. Grounding the proceedings in its serious sphere is Aaron Taylor-Johnson as an extremely likable protagonist, balancing duties as father, husband, son and military operative against the backdrop of worldwide catastrophe. Bryan Cranston and Ken Watanabe provide additional heft to the proceedings in supporting roles as men who have studied conspiracies that are finally resurfacing. The monsters and their powers are wisely revealed over time during the film’s somewhat long duration, and the slow burn glimpses help build realism and suspense. The stunt work, art direction and effects are quite remarkable, presenting a modern look and feel while hearkening back to some of the iconography purists will crave. Although Edwards can’t sustain his taut atmosphere through every beat of the obligatory final showdowns in San Francisco, he certainly gives a summer movie audience its packed punch of epic thrills. There’s not gonna be a 13-year-old boy on earth who will be able to resist this action flick; and luckily for folks of all ages, it’s a pretty spectacularly well-made film for this genre if you’re going to venture to the cinema for a big screen blockbuster.
Robin Williams and Nathan Lane are birds of a feather in Mike Nichols’ lightweight comedy The Birdcage (B), based on the French classic La Cage Aux Folles. Their tale of an alternative American family is filled with larger-than-life gags. But for all the preening queens run amuck, there are actually some nice domestic moments between the central couple and the son they reared together that blaze some trails on acceptance. It’s super-funny and proof that it takes all types to make a family.
Visionary director Terry Gilliam comes back from the future in Twelve Monkeys (B+), an imaginative time travel fantasy with Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt. Inventive and moody, the film tames the eccentric filmmaker’s most savage instincts and sustains a very suspenseful and engaging thriller throughout.