Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

Clever lil’ goobers Phoebe and Podcast are incredibly endearing, and so is Paul Rudd’s lil’ Grooberson, and Wolfhard’s got his goofy teen thing going, and there’s gooey and hilariously homicidal marshmallows too, and ghosts and gunner seats, and it’s all just gobs of fun, though the character and setting-setting up first half works better than the second, where it feels like the all the good character work gets possessed and discarded by nostalgia and cameos and a big end-of-the-world plot.

6

Frozen II (2019)

Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven leave Arendelle to travel to an ancient, autumn-bound forest of an enchanted land. They set out to find the origin of Elsa’s powers in order to save their kingdom. (IMDb)

Take the fact that I watched this with my 4-year old on her first trip to the cinema as a grain of salt with my assessment of both the film’s flaws and strengths: the plot’s hard to follow (thanks for the running commentary, dear daughter) but damn if it wasn’t just a magical experience (that look of awe on her face I’ll never forget). A beautifully animated tapestry of mysticism, memory, music, and humour with a great set of characters (see the surprising but appropriate resolve to Elsa’s arc).

8/10 (Great)