Based on Judith Viorst’s beloved children’s book “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” this new iteration of the tale centers on Alexander Garcia (the adorable Thom Nemer from FX’s “Snowfall”) and a road trip gone, of course, horribly wrong. Alex’s mother, Val (Eva Longoria), wants to inspire some family bonding by bringing her children to Mexico City to get in touch with their roots. So — along with his father, Frank (Jesse Garcia), and older sister, Mia (Paulina Chávez) — Alex gets ready to set off in a fancy recreational vehicle.
But before they leave their home in Denver, Alex finds an ancient idol in their attic, which unleashes chaos and all the terrible, horrible things you’d expect in a road-trip comedy gone berserk — including Grandma Lidia (Rose Portillo) getting left behind at a gas station. (Cheech Marin plays Grandpa Gil.)
Marvin Lemus directed from a script by Matt Lopez (who wrote the 2022 version of “Father of the Bride”).
I saw this in the theater with my son in December, and he was transfixed from the first photorealistic frame. Since the hit 1994 Disney movie in which James Earl Jones voiced Mufasa, there has been a long-running Broadway show, TV spinoffs and the 2019 Jon Favreau-directed version — to name a few offshoots.
The Oscar winner Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”) directs this latest installment, which is an origin story about how Mufasa (voiced as a cub by Braelyn Rankins and as an adult by Aaron Pierre) meets Taka, a.k.a. Scar (Theo Somolu as a cub and Kelvin Harrison Jr. as an adult). Just as she did in Favreau’s version, Beyoncé voices the lioness Nala, and this time, her daughter Blue Ivy Carter voices a cub named Kiara.
Younger children will care more about the adventure, the drama and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s songs than the star power, though. There are lessons about loyalty, family and bravery as Taka and Mufasa go from adoptive brothers to archenemies, and Jenkins creates some pretty epic action sequences. You also get to learn how Rafiki (John Kani) got his staff. Mads Mikkelsen voices the bad-guy lion Kiros, and Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner provide some over-the-top comic relief as Pumbaa and Timon. Jeff Nathanson, who penned 2019’s “The Lion King,” wrote the script.
‘Around the World in 80 Days’
Like “The Lion King,” Jules Verne’s 1872 classic has seen its fair share of cinematic retellings, this time with a young marmoset named Passepartout (voiced in English by Cory Doran) taking the journey around his island home alongside his charming con-artist friend, a surfing frog named Phileas (Rob Tinkler). This French-Belgian production isn’t quite the 1956 Oscar-winning version with David Niven and Cantinflas in the lead roles, but it’s packed with endearing silliness and humor.
The film is best suited for toddlers and younger elementary-aged children. Passepartout’s overbearing mother (Shoshana Sperling) sounds like she’s from the Bronx for some reason; it’s an odd touch, but little ones are unlikely to question the mishmash of accents. Despite her warnings to “do nothing until you’re fully prepared,” Passepartout sets off with Phileas to make good on his bet to traverse the world (in this case, their island) in 80 days. Along the way, they meet a frog princess named Aouda (Madi Monroe) and Passepartout’s hero Juan Frog de Leon (Juan Chioran). The ultimate message is, as Phileas tells his little buddy, “Dream big, man, you can do it.”
Samuel Tourneux directed, and Gerry Swallow and David Michel wrote the screenplay.
‘Scoob!’
How exactly did the best friends Scooby and Shaggy meet, you might wonder? According to this telling, Young Shaggy (voiced by the “Young Sheldon” star Iain Armitage as a kid and Will Forte as an adult) was eating a sandwich at Venice Beach one day when a cute stray pup wandered over, and the rest is history. Frank Welker, who has been voicing the goofy Great Dane for over 20 years, adds his voice talent to an impressive cast that includes Amanda Seyfried as Daphne, Gina Rodriguez as Velma and Zac Efron as Fred — as well as Mark Wahlberg as an insecure yet egocentric superhero, Jason Isaacs as the baddie Dick Dastardly and Tracy Morgan as Captain Caveman.
Dick Dastardly wants to unleash evil upon the world in the form of a glowing green Cerberus, and poor Scooby is the pooch who has the power to help him do just that. The mix of Greek mythology, robots and mechanical flying scorpions is a little all over the place, but my son was plenty entertained by Scooby and Shaggy’s ability to act like bumbling fools one minute and brave heroes the next. Fred’s beloved Mystery Machine even gets a modern-day makeover.
This reboot is a little light on mystery, but it’s a fun addition to the franchise led by the longtime Looney Tunes director Tony Cervone and written by Adam Sztykiel, Jack C. Donaldson, Derek Elliott and Matt Lieberman.
‘My Freaky Family’
At the start of this Australian-Irish production, a young couple, Aneska (Miranda Otto) and Nerlin Flood (Ardal O’Hanlon), are scared away from their mountain cabin one snowy night. A pregnant Aneska tries to use her magic to dispel an evil force, but it’s no use. Cut to years later, and the Floods are raising a teenage daughter, Betty (Evanna Lynch, who played Luna Lovegood in “Harry Potter” franchise), along with a gaggle of other Munsters-esque children: Winchflat (Ed Byrne); lavender-haired twins Morbid and Silent (Sarah Aubrey); and their talking dog, Staniel (Neil Delamere). Betty longs to possess magical powers like everyone else in her freaky family (even Staniel), but her only real talents are singing and playing music on her hot-pink violin.
Inspired by a children’s book series by Colin Thompson, this movie focuses on an evil king (who happens to be Betty’s grandfather) who banished music and magic from the land. It’s up to Betty, of course, to bring harmony back to their people, and along the way, she comes to understand that being human is its own sort of magic. The Australian television veteran Mark Gravas directed, and Cleon Prineas and Penny Greenhalgh wrote the script.
