Category: Genre: Family Film
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The Cat in the Hat. Dir. Bo Welch. DreamWorks Pictures. 2003
It’s fun to have fun but you have to know how! So, when up-tight, control-freak Sally, and born-to-be-wild child Conrad are left at home for the day, Welch’s reimagining of Seuss’ eponymous, anthropomorphic, wisecracking Cat in the Hat makes it his mission to show them how to enjoy themselves within the bounds of their constraining,…
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The Cat in the Hat. Dir. Bo Welch. DreamWorks Pictures. 2003
Bo Welch’s 2003 interpretation of Seuss’ eponymous, anthropomorphic The Cat in the Hat throws the human exceptionalism paradigm into full-blown turmoil as Mike Myers embodies a character that takes on various socially specific, “human” roles all whilst staying in character as Cat. Though it is not unusual for a film of this genre to depict…
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Earwig and The Witch. Dir. by Gorō Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli. 2020
EARWIG AND THE WITCH : Black Cats in Witchcraft Earwig and the Witch tells the story of Aya, an orphan girl adopted by a witch called Yaga and a demon called Mandrake. All along this adventure, Aya only has one friend, the cat of the house, Thomas. Through making potions, drawing and developing plans to…
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Alice in Wonderland. Dir. Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, and Jack Kinney. Walt Disney Pictures. 1951.
A distinctive croquet game featuring flamingos as mallets and hedgehogs as balls becomes a symbol of societal norms and power dynamics in human-animal relationships, reflecting the era’s outlook on animal rights. Whimsy deviates from the real-world issues depicted in the original text, becoming rose-tinted rather than a mirror.
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Fünf Freunde 3. Dir. Mike Marzuk. Constantin Film. 2014.
The movie “Fünf Freunde 3“ is the third filming of Enid Blyton’s book series “The Famous Five”. It is summer, and George and her dog Timmy travel to Thailand, following her father, who works on a project with an old friend concerning greenhouse gas. As usual, George brings her cousins Dick, Anne, and Julian with…
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The Muppet Christmas Carol. Dir. Brian Henson. Walt Disney Pictures. 1992.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is not only a heart-warming Christmas story from the Victorian period, it also speaks volumes about social class inequalities. In The Muppet Christmas Carol, Director Brian Henson uses the species of rats to emblematise the impoverished, low social class. This contributes to Dickens’s interpretation from the original novel, this…
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Ostwind. Dir. Katja von Garnier. Constantin Film. 2013.
Ostwind follows the troubled teenager Mika as she is sent to her grandmother’s horse farm to study and help around the stables. Instead of helping, Mika hides in the stables and meets Ostwind, the horse responsible for Mrs. Kaltenbach’s riding injury. During their first encounter, Mika instantly feels connected to Ostwind and learns about the gift…
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Hotel for Dogs. Dir. Thor Freudenthal. Dreamworks. 2009.
Animals, a cutesy love story and the rise of underdogs… literally. What more could you want in a film? Well, ‘Hotel for Dogs’ (Thor Freudenthal/ 2009) covers a multitude of heart-wrenching topics which are compacted within a fun-loving Nickelodeon film. W.C. Fields stated ‘never work with children or animals’;[1] Thor Freudenthal the director ignores this…
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Paddington Bear. Dir. Paul King. S. 2014
Paddington, directed by Paul King, captures the life of an orphaned bear who travels from Peru to London sponsored by his Aunt Lucy to seek a better life the mythic aspirations of most immigrants. As a young bear club Paddington is presented as a wilful, yet kind hearted character who exhibits dignity despite being faced…
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The Little Prince. Dir. Mark Osborne. Paramount Pictures. 2015
“One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye.” In The Little Prince the depiction of foxes defies conventional animality as they generally symbolise perfidy. But The Fox here is characterised as holding pragmatic intellectual power. He is a teacher but does not hold any other forms of power,…