Here to guide you through the best school holiday viewing at the movies is David Michael Brown.
The chill has set in! Winter has well and truly arrived, and the holidays are coming. Here are our top family picks to stay toasty in the warm glow of the silver screen. Or at the very least use as a cinematic babysitter
Despicable Me 4
Despicable Me 4
The world’s favourite super-criminal and his “BANANA” loving minions are back in the fourth instalment of the Despicable Me series. For those living under a rock, the films follow the criminally underrated evil mastermind Gru, once again voiced by Steve Carell and his better half Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig), juggling his family and his nefarious activities as a supervillain turned Anti-Villain League Agent. The new spanners in his work promise to be his vindictive new rug rat Gru Jr. and vengeful prison escapee Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell) and his femme fatale girlfriend Valentina (Sofía Vergara).
Inside Out
Inside Out 2
Pixar’s outstanding achievement Inside Out (2015) matched a gleefully heady concept with candy-coloured visuals as we went deep inside the mind of Riley, a young girl from Minnesota dealing with the pains of growing up. Inside her head we met Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling). In this long-awaited sequel, Riley, voiced by Kensington Tallman, is packing some new emotional baggage as hormones rage and the teenage years start with a vengeance. Welcome Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos) and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) into Riley’s already cluttered headspace.
Panda Bear in Africa
Panda Bear in Africa
Who doesn’t love a panda? Jack Black as Po has ensured the rotund monochrome mammal has become a mainstay of the cinematic holiday season. In Panda Bear in Africa, the titular bear called Pang (Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing) travels from his home in China to Africa to rescue his best friend, Jielong the Dragon (Georgina Verbaan), who has been kidnapped by evil lion Malume (Silas Lekgoathi). Channelling the Kung Fu Panda franchise by way of The Lion King (1994), Pang meets all kinds of critters, including a pack of friendly hyenas, on his quest.
Blue Lock: The Movie – Episode Nagi
Just in time for Euro 2024, a football… sorry soccer-themed anime is hitting the big screen. Muneyuki Kaneshiro and illustrator Yusuke Nomura’s Japanese original Manga has sold over 30 million copies worldwide and this adaptation will be hoping to score in the big league. The action will follow high schooler Nobunaga Shimazaki (Seishiro Nagi) who is invited to join the Blue Lock Project after his football, sorry soccer, obsessed classmate Yuma Uchida (Reo Mikage) realises his friend has a hidden talent that rivals David Beckham. He meets strikers from all over the country who are fighting to represent Japan in the next World Cup. Before you can say, “offside rule” it’s game on!
200% Wolf
200% Wolf
Expect more lycanthropic fun in this sequel to the fun 100% Wolf that will have your younglings howling at the moon. Heroic were-poodle Freddy Lupin (Ilai Swindells) still wishes he was more… wolfish. Then he could take his position as the leader of the pack. He just needs to prove himself to his werewolf elders that he is more than just tuft of pink hair. His chance comes when a wayward wish deposits a mischievous moon sprite on earth and Freddy must restore the cosmic order before the earth and moon collide. Samara Weaving, Ab Fab star Jennifer Saunders and comedian Akmal Saleh are amongst the vocal cast sinking their teeth into 200% Wolf. Woof!
