Action/Adventure, Drama
The Finest Hours

Disney’s The Finest Hours feels like an old-fashioned adventure yarn that wants to inspire as much as thrill.

Animation, Comedy, Kids
Norm of the North

Jokes about what adults will be able to, um, “bear” aside, this is really a pretty awful kid’s film.

Drama, Sports
The Masked Saint

The idea of a professional wrestler becoming a pastor might seem, well, preposterous. But that’s the part that’s actually “inspired …

Animation, Comedy, Kids
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip

What can you say about yet another Chipmunk movie? Surely nothing all that surprising. Or even enlightening.

Action/Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, War
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

It’s not just the Force awakening in Episode VII. It’s the franchise’s charm. And maybe its life lessons, too.

Drama
The Letters

Mother Teresa’s story is strong enough to inspire us, no matter how it’s presented. And so The Letters challenges each …

Action/Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Drama, Kids, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
The Good Dinosaur

Those who do decide to jump in this rambunctious and alternate-reality river will at least find a few kid-focused lessons.

Drama, Sports
My All-American

The composition of a player’s heart outweighs the force of his bulk. And in the late 1960s, nobody had a …

Drama, Musical
Jem and the Holograms

Four or five stars would be seriously pushing things here. But I guess it’s a flick that’s probably worth at …

Drama, Sports
Woodlawn

Though the context of this movie—which is based on a true story—is football, its lessons apply to so much more …

Action/Adventure, Comedy, Horror, Kids, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Goosebumps

I’m not as sanguine as the film’s star regarding the appropriate age to see a movie like Goosebumps.

Action/Adventure, Kids, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Pan

This explosion of CGI color is a long way from that beloved story about a boy in green tights who …

Drama
The Walk

It just goes to show you that you don’t need a lot of R-rated content to make a pretty thrilling …

Animation, Comedy, Kids
Hotel Transylvania 2

Anything in this oddball Halloween party pic worth really sinking your teeth into, though? Not really. But at least the …

Drama
Everest

There’s no real “woo-hoo!” moment by film’s end. It’s quite simply a well-acted, documentary-like chronicling.