G, 1:40, animation
In a simple stroke of do-it-yourself genius, “Toy Story 4” introduces a pip of a character made out of a spork, named Forky. He has been created by little Bonnie, whose fraught first day of kindergarten provides the highly relatable starting point of this enormously winning sequel. Fished out of the trash by Woody (Tom Hanks, better than ever), Forky (voice by Tony Hale) initially knows nothing beyond an impulse to return to the garbage from whence it came. The narrative deals with various challenges of letting go, and learning to move on, and when to remind yourself that — as we know from Arthur Miller — there’s “a universe of people outside, and you’re responsible to it.”
R, 1:30, horror
In this brutally violent reboot, flame-haired Chucky isn’t haunted with the spirit of a dead serial killer. It’s something far more sinister: corporate malfeasance. Manufactured by the Kaslan Corp. (think Apple/Amazon/Google), Chucky “imprints” on its “best friend” and serves as a bizarre virtual assistant. Single mom Erin (Aubrey Plaza) gets the techno-toy out of the return bin at Zed Mart for her son. Lonely Andy (Gabriel Bateman) has it rough with his mom’s terrible boyfriend, and Chucky is programmed to make Andy happy, no matter how much blood he has to spill. While the movie goes big on gore, it doesn’t muster up any actual scares.
PG, 2:08, family
Briefly, since you’ve probably seen the radically better animated version: In the kingdom of Agrabah, street thief Aladdin (Mena Massoud) and his digital monkey Abu encounter Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott) in the market. The snivelmeister Jafar (Marwan Kenzari) covets the golden lamp hidden in the Cave of Wonders. The lamp ends up in Aladdin’s hands, and out comes good ol’ Will Smith in blue pigment. The new material folds well enough into the existing material. Audiences likely will focus their love, hate or indifference on the matter of how much they like Smith in quick-change genie mode. He goes his own way in a disposable action movie, interrupted by songs.
PG-13, 1:54, action/comedy
In the fourth MIB film, Kumail Nanjiani provides comic relief as the voice of a tiny alien chess piece, named Pawny, who spends much of the film perched on the shoulder of Agent M, played by Tessa Thompson. He opens his tiny digitized mouth and boom: the audience laughs. Agent M is teamed up with arrogant pretty boy Agent H (Chris Hemsworth) in search of a mole within the organization now run by High T (Liam Neeson). Some of the movie is fun, but the action is more straight-up violence than comically tinged action violence. Thompson does here what Tommy Lee Jones did so well in the first “Men in Black” and never quite managed again. —
PG, 1:26, animation
Amid the cute critter shenanigans, this sequel has plenty of lessons for parents. Most of the same gang is back this time: Kevin Hart as the fluffy white bunny Snowball, Eric Stonestreet as the goofy giant Newfoundland, Lake Bell as the laconic cat Chloe and Jenny Slate as the plucky Pomeranian Gidget. This time, though, our main hero terrier Max is voiced by Patton Oswalt, replacing the disgraced Louis CK. There are three interlocking plots — a wise decision since none is deep enough to carry the film alone, forcing some convoluted stitching together. But they manage it, creating a solid piece of entertainment for all ages, if not a terribly revelatory one.
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