The Leverton Review

This is the third film that Walt Disney released. After the studio's successes with Pinocchio and Snow White, it is clear that Walt Disney believed he was creating great art. And what could be better or more suitable as great art than the combination of high classical music with high animation? The film ultimately disappoints because of its pretension. The animation, while imaginative, is not as great as the previous two films. The live action interlude with the famous conductor is an artifice that does not hold up, and shows why further films of this nature were not produced. Especially irksome, is the statements that the conductor makes that the animation successfully does this or the animation perfectly does something. Animation should show you what it does, it shouldn't have to be explained to you during the film itself. I honestly hated this and was bored by it. But what is something positive that can be taken from this film? The first is that the Disney animators were mas...

  Pinocchio is Walt Disney's second feature film. It's much better than Snow White. Snow White is the first animated feature film and I can imagine that people were amazed when they were watching something in colour in the 1940s, but it's not actually that good. Pinocchio has great animation, and even a little bit of humour. So I could actually imagine showing young children this film. However, there are some things about the movie that are just bizarre. I'm not the first person to mention this, but it is quite strange that Geppetto longs to have a real son and when his puppet comes to life is very first thing, very first action he does is to send his new son to school. You would think that he would do more investigation as to how this happened, or give more training to Pinocchio in the real world. The other bizarre thing about the plot, and I think this is from the original story, is that Pinocchio has all of these misadventures, and his father goes out looking for him...

This is a classic of animation. It is a rare example of a series that had just enough episodes to bring its story to a conclusion. It's hard to talk about what happens within the story without ruining the story. I will just say that the animation is excellent and the writing of the characters is brilliant. I especially like the fact that the main characters Mabel and Dipper, despite being twins, are portrayed as unique and distinct individuals. There's all of the young heartbreak of a coming-of-age drama, but this is firmly a story for children. I think the best way to describe this would be to say that it is an intelligent X-Files for kids. Leverton Review 5/5

The Incredibles still holds up after 18 years for two reasons. The first is that it manages to create a universe of believable superhero characters without relying on the deep history of Marvel or DC. The other reason is that it deals with a theme that is all too common for adults-the feeling that we have made bad choices and that we wonder how we ended up in the situations we find ourselves. When you are an adult, the dreams that sustained you as a younger person are dead. And I think most people would be tempted if someone gave you the opportunity to feel as you did back then. This is the brilliance of Pixar, other films for children include jokes for the adults to keep them entertained, like Shrek, but Pixar's themes are for the most part adult things, with film elements to keep the children entertained.

  This is a show for adults about kids written by adults who remember what it was like growing up. The characters are obsessed with sex, and think about it a lot more than they actually have it. They have problems with depression, anxiety and hormones and the show doesn't shy away from this. The characters also have to deal with divorce, being gay, bisexual and biracial. It is a show that some would write off as 'woke', but I think it captures the real diversity of life. A gay child comes out to his mom, who he has a very close relationship with, and she rejects him. He comes out to his more distant father, and he is totally cool with it. The characters are absurd, and yet so realistic. It's like Family Guy, but funny.  There are moments when I'm not paying attention, and suddenly-a gigantic laugh. 5/5