Since I felt putting all 59 DC Comic movies was a bit too much for one list, I decided to make a second post of it! That way, there’s most stability and this specific ranking doesn’t feel too clutter for one piece. My previous one was rankings from #59 to #26. This list will consist of #25 to #1!
No more time and filler! Let’s finish this MASSIVE movie ranking!
25.) Watchmen
24.) Zack Snyder’s Justice League
23.) Stardust
22.) Blue Beetle
21.) Clayface
20.) Teen Titans Go! To The Movies
19.) Aquaman
18.) The Suicide Squad
17.) The Lego Batman Movie
16.) Superman II
15.) Superman (2025)
14.) Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
Now that Clayface is now out in theaters, I decided to do something totally insane and rank every single DC movie ever! Not just the movies related to the DC Extended Universe or the brand new DC Universe but all theatrically-released films that have some sort of connection to DC. That includes all the Batman, Superman, DC imprints, and even animated films that have been released in theaters of all kind!
Throughout last year, I actually took the time to watch every other DC-related film that I haven’t got around to just for the sake of making this list. Why? Because I have no life whatsoever and I like making insane lists! That’s why!
But anyways, let’s get into list making and rank all 59 theatrically-released DC Comics films from best to worst! If you agree with this list, awesome! If you disagree, fine and I likely will by the time I actually publish this! Either way, let’s have some fun and rank these superhero flicks!
Btw, NO I’m not going into any sort of description of each said film because then this list would take a million years to make! I’m just gonna let the ranked number for each film speak for themselves!
Remember when Sony did those incredibly pointless Spidey villains spin-offs that nobody went to see except for the Venom movies for….some reason?! And remember how some of you actually enjoyed those Venom movies in an “ironic” way, even though that entire trilogy was nothing but big, dumb messes with tonal inconsistences, bizarre directing and acting choices, and having virtually no identity of their own whatsoever?! Well, here’s DC Studios equivalent of that except you can actually enjoy it in an UNIRONIC way, strictly because it is actually a smart and clever movie with a perfectly controlled tone, directing and acting choices that are actually ON point, and a film that has an actually identity of it’s own. To put it simply, if you wanted to see an actual good Venom movie that does NOT star Logan Marshall-Green, Clayface has you covered.
Premise: Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) is an actor whose face is disguised, and he turns to a scientist (Naomi Ackie) who transforms his body into clay, but begins to lose his sanity as he is unable to recognize himself.
The key to Clayface working as well as it does is by applying the formula that has worked for most modern horror films: win big by playing small. It’s no secret that Clayface has a budget that’s much smaller than your usual superhero film, reported to be around $30 to $44 million at best. However, it’s able to use it’s limited budget to it’s fullest advantage, proving the right amount of grossness and gnarly nature that feels appropriate for it’s story and titled character. Sometimes all it takes is only limiting yourself to a handful of tricks and you get some rather impressive results. While you do feel the budget restraint somewhat in it’s first two acts, by the time we get to the final stretch, it goes into full unleashed mode and does NOT hold back whatsoever.
What also helps wonders is the lead performance by Tom Rhys Harries. He’s completely buyable as the A-list Hollywood movie star that Matt Hagen has build his reputation as throughout his career AND his total transformation into one of Batman’s rose gallery baddies, using his new powers to get revenge on those that destroyed his lives. Even if you don’t 100% buy his motivations to want to get back on everyone that backstabbed him, you won’t be able to deny that it’s so damn satisfying to watch him return the favor. He also has pretty good chemistry with Naomi Ackie’s Dr. Corr, the woman that is responsible for Matt’s transformation and the only source of happiness that he has after he becomes the monster that he never believed he was destined to be. I’m so gonna dread the day when Batman has to go up against this version of Clayface.
Although Clayface does work pretty well as a “Venom but done right” experiment and fits perfectly in the same realm of compelling side adventures with Batman’s foes such as Joker, The Penguin, and Birds of Prey (That movie rocks! Don’t @ me!), it does feel lacking when you compare it to other recent horror flicks with limited budgets. Perhaps had this film came out a decade ago, it wouldn’t be as noticeable. But considering the 2020s had given us instant original horror classics such as Sinners, Obsession, Weapons, Talk To Me, and The Substance, all films of which were made with pure pennies compared to 99% of blockbusters today, it is understandable to be tad underwhelmed that Clayface isn’t quite in the same league as that.
And this also might be the least interesting version of Gotham City that we have ever seen in any live-action Batman medium. Nothing in here represents the Gotham City we have been accustomed too in any way, shape, or form. You could’ve replaced this with literally any other city and it wouldn’t make a difference whatsoever. And that’s not even taking away the fact that Batman is no where to be seen here. Between this, The Penguin, and the ungodly long wait for The Batman: Part II, our favorite Caped Crusader has been slacking off as of late (Can’t wait to see How It Should Have Ended’s next superhero parody!).
Also, while the slow burn direction of seeing the journey of Clayface in his final finished form is quite satisfying for me considering how compelling of a character Matt Hagen is here, for those that are expecting the actual Clayface itself to gain the majority of screentime will be very dissapointed here.
To give it a hint, Clayface himself has just SLIGHTLY more screentime here than the spider-women did in Madame Web! (At least here, it works for the development of the main character and not just in some random flashbacks sequences that could’ve been completely cut out of the finished film entirely!).
In the end, I still don’t think we needed a Clayface movie in the DCU before say we got Wonder Woman or even freaking Batman but for what we got here, it’s pretty damn good. It’s able to work as an engaging villain origin story, an intriguing character study, AND an enjoyable B-level horror flick all at the same time. The special effects are great, it moves at a good pace, and it doesn’t wear out it’s welcome, making for an enjoyable night out at the movies AND for a solid Halloween pick for the fall season.
If you happened to be that one sane individual that wanted to see a live-action R-rated version of the both “Feat of Clay” episodes from Batman: The Animated Series, you got your wish here!
Alright, I haven’t been able to be upload pieces on here like I’ve wanted to do for the past month for personal life related reasons. Because of that, I’ve decided to started doing more mini-reviews on here so that I actually have free time AND you all get reviews of recent movies. I’ll still plan to do a more in-depth review every now and then whenever I have the time to do so but I would expect more short and quick-to-the-point reviews for right now. There’s just too much going on in my personal life right now to stay 100% focused on here.
But earlier this week, I attended the fan screening for Laika’s newest film Wildwood, a stop motion animated epic that is based of the 2011 novel of the same name by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis AND has been in development for 16 years. In the film, a teenage girl named Prue (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) and her classmate Curtis (Justin Tremblay) travel into an enchanted forest in search of her infant brother after he is abducted. They find a manor and learn about a coming war from a mysterious woman who tragically lost her son.
To get to the main point, Wildwood is yet another impressive achievement in terms of stop motion and animation from Laika studios. The narrative hook of a young girl going through the ends of the earth to save her baby brother and learning fascinating revolutions about him along the way is incredibly engaging and refreshing, there is not a single moment of art or craftsmanship that feels lazy and phoned in, the set pieces are among the best in any animated film in recent memory (the flying sequences make the original How To Train Your Dragon look tame in comparison), the entire voice cast, regardless of how big or small their roles are, bring their absolute A game, and the soundtrack by Dario Marianelli adds an extra layer to the film that it likely wouldn’t have had if it were in the hands of any other composer. If this film really took 16 years to get made like they say it did, then those were 16 years that were very well spent.
I don’t think it’s the very best from Laika Animation or up to the levels that Paranoman, Kubo and the Two Strings, and Coraline were. There are times where the pacing comes to a screeching halt in order to allow for more emotional moments to come into play during the middle stretch and the runtime can get on the wayside once we get to the second half of the film. There is also the resolution which makes sense in terms of arcs and themes but felt like it was missing an extra beat or two to really hit home, almost like it was requested from the studios to trim the runtime a hair so it doesn’t fall into the two and a half hour long trap that most live-action movies suffer from nowadays. None of these flaws are able to put a dagger on the film whatsoever but I DO think they do enough to prevent it from being the near flawless masterpieces of some of Laika’s other work. Then again, even middle-of-the-pack Laika far surpasses the middle-of-the-pack likes of say Illumination Animation and dare I say….modern Disney.
I should also give a big warning that this is NOT a film for young kids whatsoever. This is Laika’s very first PG-13 rated film and you can DEFINITELY tell. The very first scene of the film involves a naked child committing suicide for crying out loud! (No, there’s nothing too graphic about that moment but it perfectly sets the dark tone the film has going for!) Wildwood contains it’s fair share of cruelty and mild haunting imagery such as strong fantasy violence, mild bloody scenes, and a couple of characters saying some naughty words.
There is just NO way in hell that you can sell this movie as just being another hard PG rated movie like Laika’s previous work or even the kind of PG movies that studios had back in the 1970s and 1980s before PG-13 was even a thing! Coraline was able to operate perfectly as being little Johnny’s very first horror film. For the most part, Wildwood is able to operate as little Johnny’s very first stop motion epic, giving the glimpse feeling of what it felt like to be in the same cultural wave as The Lord of the Rings back in the early 2000s. Just make sure he has a parent with him in the movie theaters!
After hearing that this film took 16 years to make, I can’t help but think how far we have come since 2010, for both better or worse. While animation has been taking into new heights and it has now become a medium that is able to push the storytelling boundaries you couldn’t possibly imagine back before 2010, we also have seen AI come into affect since then, coming to terms with the fact that the days of actual craftmanship in film are being numbered as each passing day goes on. Wildwood is proof that pure art and craftmanship still holds strongly to this day and stands up anything that robots could do.
I’m sorry but you can NOT tell me that ChatGPT, Claw, Grok, or any other AI generated slop would be able to top the whimsical and wonder of every flying sequence with the birds, the enhancing world building of Wildwood, the dramatic and emotional scenes with Prue and her entire family, or even the (slightly) overlong yet still equally amusing subplot with Curtis trying to prove his worth to a girl he likes in class. I’m sure it can give a slight hand in detecting bugs and errors but that’s it and that’s the way it should be. (Or if you ask director Travis Knight, it shouldn’t be a way…..at all).
When that day comes and we see that it is no longer possible for any film production to function without having AI involved, I can only imagine that I will view Wildwood in the same spotlight that I do with ParaNorman, Kubo and the Two Strings, and Coraline, as being among the last remains of a golden era of animation and filmmaking. Still, even when Laika is not quite perfect, it still leaps and bounds ahead of plenty other animation studios working today. And Wildwood is certainly no exception to that!
But for now, I will give this film a very strong 3.5 out of 4 stars but put a pin in there for a potential 4 out of 4 stars for the near future.
Let’s address the broken record out of the gate: Aaron Sorkin can’t direct! Despite being one of our finest screenwriters working today, he can never translated his thought provoking ideas properly on the big screen whenever he is given the full director’s chair. A Few Good Men, The American President, Moneyball, Steve Jobs, and of course, The Social Network all benefitted because Rob Reiner (RIP!), Danny Boyle, Bennett Miller, and of course, David Fincher were behind the camera and NOT him. He has a directorial vision that isn’t so much tryhard or style over substance but having ZERO sense of tryhard or ZERO sense of style or substance to speak off, just constantly delivering motion pictures that are visually flat despite hard hitting material, containing clunky direction with massively talented actors forced to carry their own weight, and constantly going to class at the Joss Whedon school of characters being overly clever and quippy just because. Every time he is given a chance at directing, Sorkin ALWAYS gets exposed butt ass naked off his own personal flaws as an entertainment creative. For all the redeemable qualities that the scripts for Molly’s Game and The Trial of the Chicago 7 contained, both films would have benefitted GREATLY if literally anyone else was behind the camera.
And I don’t think there’s a better place to test that hypothesis of Sorkin’s own limits as a director than with his newest directorial feature The Social Reckoning, the spiritual successor (NOT the OTHER S word!) to 2010’s The Social Network that dramatizes the 2021 Facebook leaks by the whistleblower Frances Haugen and Jeff Horwitz. However, this time around, Mr. Fincher is not directing as he is too busy working with Quentin Tarantino, with his spin-off of his (supposed) second-to-last film he will ever make, The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth. That leaves only Aaron himself to carry the baton that he helped start but has been left alone to do it all on his own yet again. And even more so than his other directed films, The Social Reckoning displays Aaron Sorkin flaws harder than ever!
Premise: Facebook engineer Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison) and The Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White) blow the whistle on the social network’s most guarded secrets.
It’s easy to see why Sorkin was interested in returning to the world of Facebook and revisiting the legacy of Meta Head/Facebook Creator Mark Zuckerberg given the current political climate and how more critical social media has played a role in our lives now. In 2010, Facebook felt like it was living up to it’s intended goals, creating a social network service designed to bring people together from all walks of life, regardless if you met a person in real life or on the internet, to a create a much bigger and more unifying world that you couldn’t before. While there were negative side effects of it, the pros almost certainly outweigh any major cons.
Fast forward to 16 years later and that special, optimistic nature of Facebook is long gone, replaced by nonstop cynicism, tiresome rage bait and “hate” speech, and the constant spreading of “fake” news left and right. And despite all the complaining and acknowledgement of the obvious elephant in the room over the years, we still find ourselves stuck in a constant loop that is this bleak era of the internet we are currently living in because well….we have no where else to go.
To give credit to Sorkin, he has no desire of repeating the same notes he did back in 2010. In The Social Network, that not only fully explored the origins of how Facebook came to be and the bumpy as hell road to it’s creation but also the massive benefits that would come for it. In The Social Reckoning, it’s all about the massive downsides that have come with Facebook and how exactly it has operated to being the negative cesspool it has become. And with a writer that is known from using his own wits and intelligence to craft multilayered, satisfying scripts, what better person to tackle how bleak Facebook and the internet as a whole has become throughout the past 16 years other than him. While making a follow-up on that angle makes perfect sense in theory, the execution of it leaves plenty to be desired.
The Social Reckoning isn’t so much interested in exploring the effects on the mental health and radicalization of folks who use Facebook on a daily basis but more so of the ins and outs of how it became to be. This main narrative thread is carried by our two leads with Frances Haugen and Jeff Horwitz, played by Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White respectively. Frances is interested in getting to bottom as to why Facebook has become so hateful after seeing her friend get radicalized by supposed far-right, white extremist internet groups despite being a very progressive liberal at some point in her life. Jeff takes her under his wing (So much so that he has her wearing incredibly revealing dresses whenever she comes over to his apartment to give the impression they are on a date to his neighbors!). He is a Wall Street Journal reporter that covers the political landscape and believes current day factors have contributed to the rise of constant negativity on Facebook. Oh, and Mark Zuckerberg is in here too (played by the shockingly flat Jeremy Strong) because he attended a senate hearing about fake news and misinformation constantly being spread on Facebook after a certain controversial election, which the meeting also happens to take place on the exact same day as a certain controversial event that took place in our nation’s capital.
The underlining problem here is that the journey to discovering the extremely flawed algorithms of Facebook is not particularly interesting. I don’t really care how Facebook was operated to be the negative cesspool that is now, I’m only interested in seeing the consequences of it from it’s daily users and how it has affected them mentally. The handful scenes we do get of seeing the folks affected by Facebook and the desire for more internet restrictions plays out like comically over-the-top Saturday Night Live sketches and the cinematic equivalent of Boomer parents demanding for the internet to be banned because they can’t do their damn jobs themselves of keeping their kids off of it. Yes, it’s sad that kids get bullied on a daily basis on the internet, maybe the parents should supervise them to keep them away from any kind of cyberbullying.
The whole experience comes crashing down in the final act of the film, where we see the full events of January 6th, 2021 unfold (Yeah, spoiler alert but it’s already been revealed that the film contains it!). Even if you take away the fact that the film commits the cardinal sin of inserting it’s own OC to tie into this horrific day for no reason or how the whole sequence of events is shot like a Sydney Sweeney sports gambling commercial, the film seems to be under the impression that the results of January 6th is in large part because Zuckerberg couldn’t be bothered to censor or fact-check Facebook “enough”. It’s not the algorithms or plain extremism of political ideology that caused these events to happen, it’s because Facebook was allowing too much free speech on it’s platform and the government should have more eyes and ears about what is said on the internet. Aaron, you do know that protests and riots have occurred BEFORE the rise of the internet, right?!?! I get you don’t like Mark (I don’t either!) but come on!
This is suppose to act as the major culmination of the film but it comes off more as Sorkin spinning his narrative wheels all willy nilly, perfectly displaying how this time period of fake news and misinformation is still going on with no end in sight and no solution to present. It’s even more laughable by the time the credits roll and we get notified of the events that transpired after January 6th, only to be reminded that no lessons were learned at all, little to no consequences of Facebook and the rioters occurred, and we are still living through the aftermath of that event five years later. It makes you wonder why Sorkin even bothered to make the film at all if the main points that are brought up constantly throughout the film ends up contradicting itself by the end.
It’s not a totally unwatchable experience. Much like prior written and directed Sorkin films, it does move along at a nice, breezy pace and contains enough zingers that has become a staple of his filmography that helps carry the entire picture. Despite the film constantly jumping from multiple different timeframes throughout, I never felt lost or confused, largely because there is always a reminder after each scene as to what year each new scene takes place, which surprisingly flows much better than you would think.
Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White do good work here, having the most engaging banter and material throughout the film. It doesn’t play into traditional couple dynamics or even working relationship tropes but just two determined individuals trying to bring something into light that could cause them both deeply. Bill Burr stands out greatly as Charlie Garrigan, a former Facebook investor and member of Zuckerberg’s legal counsel, even if a majority of the scenes is largely takes place in that exact senate hearing, with the same tiresome “fact check” sequences with Zuckerberg that only work because Burr is so believable in everything he’s in.
Speaking of which, Jeremy Strong does not work as Mark Zuckerberg whatsoever. Removed from the charming sociopath nature that Jessie Eisenberg brought in The Social Network, Strong ends up playing Zuckerberg as the most straightforward tech bro figure you could possibly imagine, with nothing standing out from your usual straightforward tech bro figure. This may not be entirely Strong’s fault as Sorkin was clearly NOT expecting Eisenberg to step down from his game changing role as the world’s three or fourth most infamous billionaire but he doesn’t do himself any wonders here.
The Social Reckoning is certainly a film to admire on the surface, having the balls to address a major cancer that has polluted internet and political discourse throughout the past decade plus is a genius one. But none of the material is put to good use, with it falling into the same trappings that prior directed Sorkin films does (The score by Alexandre Desplat is disturbingly flat btw!) and no unique perspective to fall back on here that makes it worth backing despite it’s subject matter. Much like with Digger, I might agree with what the film has to say but that doesn’t mean I have to like the film because of it.
I suppose if you just want a film that will make you angry at tech bro billionaires for two hours and have you leaving the theater raising your fists, there are certainly worse alternatives than The Social Reckoning. But considering we got a Elon Musk documentary in theaters now and Artificial on it’s way to theaters in a couple of months to give you that exact fall, you might just want to log out for this one.
And NO, I am NOT watching that four-hour long Elon Musk documentary! I have more important things in life to spend four hours of my life on!
Alejandro González Iñárritu and Tom Cruise’s newest film, Digger is now out in theaters…..and playing in completely empty screenings. While I highly doubt anyone thought this would do Spider-Man: Brand New Day numbers, Digger is bombing at the box office in ways that very few films ever has before. With a budget that’s somewhere between $125 to $180 million dollars to a market campaign that did everything except explain what the actual plot of the film was, this is looking to be one of the biggest financial bombs in recent history, only grossing $8 million domestically and $20 million overall in it’s opening weekend. Considering all the other films that have crashed and burn since the 2020s have come around, Digger being among the worst of the worst is saying a LOT!
After seeing the film, it’s easy to see why this has not attract an audience whatsoever. It’s just really, REALLY bad! It’s certainly bad in a FASCINATING way and a bad film in a way that only an unconventional director like Alejandro González Iñárritu could possibly make, but it’s still bad all the same. Similar to what I say about Joker: Folie à Deux just two years ago, I can’t help but feel like this will be among the last “special” bad films we are ever going to get anytime soon. Not only because of how much money has been thrown at this with little to no satisfying box office results and it’s rather divisive critical reception but because of the massive black whale that is Paramount Skydance about to swallow up Warner Bros Discovery.
In case you haven’t heard, Paramount Skydance have been giving the full greenlight to purchase Warner Bros Discovery, anti-trust lawsuits and monopoly laws be damned! It’s believe that after tomorrow October 6th, the merger will be 100% completed and the faith of Warner Bros Discovery will be in the hands of CEO David Ellison, A.K.A. the father of Larry Ellison, A.K.A. the head of Oracle and the SECOND richest man in the world! Now strictly known as Skydance, Ellison is looking to use his recent purchases of Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros Discovery to conquer the movie industry and define how big films will be featured for the foreseeable future in Hollywood!
What once was the peak, is now just the beginning.
Paramount and Warner Bros. shaped over a century of culture. By combining them, we aren't rewriting history — we're equipping these iconic studios with a more powerful engine. Together, we are Skydance: a creative-first home for… pic.twitter.com/uInLRY3IrE
I can go into a million different reasons why this is horrifying beyond measures but put it simply, if you didn’t like it when Disney bought 21st Century Fox back in 2017, well you are almost certainly not gonna like a buyout that is basically the STEROIDS equivalent of that! While Ellison has constantly promised that the combination of Skydance, Paramount, and Warner Bros will help release up to 30 films a year, there is absolutely no guarantee of that happening giving the insane amount of debt that will be attached to the studio come Tuesday morning. And if we are going by the track record of 21st Century Studios since Disney bought them and David Ellison’s Hollywood resume as whole, that will mean far more focus on brand recognition and IP and far less on actual original projects like Digger!
And even though Digger is technically awful, it’s the kind of awful that only happens when a director with a complete vision helms the project without the higher ups at the studio weighing it down. It’s the kind of awful film that almost warrants seeing just to be a part of the conversation and NOT something that isn’t worth paying attention to because it’s the same old corporate slop that Hollywood has been serving for a long time. And best of all, it’s the kind of awful film that a studio head like Ellison wouldn’t greenlight in a million years because it’s ultimately a critique of people like him and why the world is in the dark, cynical place that’s it in right now due to people like him.
To further explain what I’m talking about, it’s time to go into full spoiler territory for Digger! If you haven’t seen the film and/or don’t want any spoilers, you might want to stop now and click off the article! You have been warned!
If anyone was wondering why the trailers didn’t show jacks**t about this entire film other than how Tom Cruise has been Hollywood Jesus for the past 40 years, that’s because in doing so would give away the big spoiler reveal/plot twist that is revealed after the initial reel. That twist being that none of the events happening in the movie is real!
Tom Cruise is NOT the actual titled character of Digger but just an actor named Curtis Markson playing the role of Digger Rockwell, a wealthy oil tycoon whose company causes a potential world-ending disaster in Greenland. The events that is shown throughout the entire film aren’t actually events that’s happening in real life but from a staged play titled Fossil Fools, a satirical Climate Change play about an event that played out that sunk the whole world to a complete and utter abyss and the incompetent clowns that were largely responsible for that. This is all taken place in a dystopian future where global disasters have already happened and AI and government officials have 100% taken over our lives as a result of it!
So, yeah! I think you can understand why they couldn’t show anything in the trailers. Not only because this would’ve given away what the film is actually about in ways that are beyond unsatisfying but this would’ve been the quickest way to turn any sane individual off from spending 15 to 20 dollars on a movie ticket to see in theaters. This ain’t a story where Tom Cruise gets to be Tom Cruise and dig his way through the whole mess that he caused, it’s a story where Tom Cruise imagines a “What If?” of an already happened scenario of him doing just that. (As a matter of fact, I don’t even think we get a single shot of the movie with Digger with an actual shovel outside of when he is in his pajamas!) This ain’t a film where a film where Alejandro González Iñárritu wants to use a black comedy satire to go into the ins and outs about global warming and climate change but wants to use a black comedy satire OF a black comedy satire that goes into the ins and outs about global warming and climate change.
The oddest part of all of this is the way the film continues to just trot along after revealing the big blockbuster after the first half hour of the film. It goes back and forth of Curtis doing rehearsals of Fossil Fools with Cruise doing his awkward accent that you’ve seen in the trailers and Curtis offstage drama with his wife and daughter, with Cruise going back to his normal voice. Even though the cat is out of the bag and the big magic bunny has already been pulled out of the hat, the film kinda acts like it never did that and still continues along with it’s full satire play is being played completely straight, with moments where it feels like Iñárritu has to come on camera and explain the themes of the movie, as if he doesn’t think his audience is smart enough to get it. It’s like Iñárritu watched Vice and Don’t Look Up on loop and thought, “Hold my beer!”
The closest thing we get to a real conflict with our main character Curtis is when we get updates of what’s going on with his daughter, whose plane she’s on disappeared on a radar because of a hurricane that transpires throughout the course of the film. And even then, that gets responded with a complete whole, “OH, SHE’S OKAY NOW, I GUESS!” and that’s it. You don’t even get to see Curtis reuniting with his daughter in person or even on the phone, we’re just told she’s okay at the end and because of that, everything is fine and daddy now…..until we are reveal in the last frame and in the credits that it’s totally not.
On one hand, it is admirable for Alejandro González Iñárritu to make a film that refuses to play by the rules and will almost certainly cause review bombings based on the kind of satire and individuals it is mocking. However, he still forgot to make an engaging film in it’s own right and one that works regardless if you look at it as a self-parody, political commentary, or just a good old piece of art in general. Once you known the big reveal of Digger and the point that Iñárritu is trying to get across, the rest of the film just feels…….pointless. When you nothing that is happening on screen is real and the only engaging conflict is resolved off screen, what exactly is there to invest in here other than Tom Cruise trying to become the first actor in history to win an Oscar AND a Razzie at the exact same time?!
Even if you buy into the factor about the movie being about how sometimes we need a comedic distraction to take our mind off of what’s happening in our world today, I don’t think it’s best to get that message across with a play that is about a big global disaster that occurs and the men that are directly responsible for it. Yes, it’s funny to watch great actors give comedically over-the-top bad performances to get the point across but it’s not so much laughing through tears of laughter but laughing because crying would hurt too much. But at least we get to laugh at all….I guess.
Yet again, I can’t help but feel like I’m gonna be nostalgic when these special kind of bad films don’t get made anymore from Warner Bros, or strictly now known as Skydance. Even taken away Ellison’s personal politics, a spectacular bomb such as Digger will only scare away studios from trying a failed experiment like this again and only resort to making your Days of Thunder 2 and Gremlins 2 for the foreseeable future. And unfortunately, you won’t always be able to count on YouTube filmmakers to pop out Iron Lung, Obsession, and Backrooms to say the day for originality in filmmaking.
With more and more mergers coming into fruition, more independent films such as Digger will become rarer and rarer! After acquisitions such as Disney buying Fox and Skydance buying Paramount and Warner Bros, it’s clear that studios are going to put the majority of their focus on pumping out big blockbusters films and less on smaller and more independent films. There will always be one or two of them that will be able to squeeze through the system (We did get Send Help from 21st Century Studios this year after all!) but for the most part, you are likely to get more Minecraft movies than you would films like Sinners and One Battle After Another. Holes will need to be filled to plug in that gape for fresh and original films to still be able to shine, providing that variety of selected films made for theaters that major studios aren’t bothering to invest in anymore. While I’m sure current independent film studios like A24 and Focus Feature will still keep that bright light glowing, I would not expect a massive studio like Skydance to focus on that anytime soon, especially with the insane amount of debt they will be in.
If Digger really does act as the final film to ever get the full Warner Bros logo and the last hoorah from prior WB co-chair heads Pamela Abdy and Michael De Luca (who were responsible for the terrific 2025 for WB but a terrible 2026 so far), then at least it would be a fitting it to a legendary run from one of the greatest film studios in the history of cinema! Not because it’s a good movie but it’s probably the last good bad movie we will ever get from them. At least David Zaslav gets his half billion dollar retirement!
This weekend saw the re-release of Avengers: Endgame, or as it’s referred to in the marketing as Avengers Endgame- Encore. For the first time since 2019, Marvel’s biggest cinematic achievement returned to the big screens, not only for the sole purpose of FINALLY retaking it’s crown from James Cameron for the highest grossing film of all time but also to get fans and audiences ready for Avengers: Doomsday, which is schedule to be released on December 18th later this year. While it’s largely the same film that you remember from seven years ago, there have been a few extra scenes added in for the sole purpose of adding some form of connective tissue between Endgame and Doomsday that recent Marvel films couldn’t because well…….Kevin Feige had to abandon his plans for Kang as the main bad guy and pay RDJ extra bucks to come back as Iron Ma…..I mean Doctor Doom. Marvel Studios are treating this as a trip back in time to the good old days while the Russo Brothers have treated this as required viewing before Doomsday.
For those that don’t have the money or time to go a watch a three-hour long movie you already saw in theaters back in 2019, you might be wondering what exactly is in this Encore version that makes it so urgent to watch before Doomsday? What could possibly the Russo Brothers had possibly added to this version that makes it worth spending 15-20 bucks for a ticket to go see in a movie theater once again? Well, not a whole lot but there are at least four new narrative scenes that were included, plus a promised custom intro.
Encore’s four new scenes includes three new post credit scenes that sets up Dr. Doom AND the current status of the multiverse and a slight tweak to the ending of the film that connects Steve Rogers involvement for Doomsday. So, no this is NOT an extended version releasing in theaters like say Spider-Man: No Way Home had back in 2022 but it’s basically just the exact same movie as the original Avengers: Endgame but a slight rewrite to the original ending along with two new mid credit scenes AND one end credit scene. Because of that, I’ll go over into detail what exactly these four new added scenes are and what I believe it means for the future.
1.) The New Ending
Remember that heartwarming dance sequence that Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter shared at the end of Avengers: Endgame? That ending that saw Cap going back in time and FINALLY given his best girl the dance that she has wanted since The First Avenger. With Steve at peace with himself and getting to spend his new life with the woman he loves the most and then it cuts to credits. Well, this new ending sees a man knocking on the door at Steve and Peggy’s house during their dance, with the man wanting to see Steve Rogers. That man is no other than……Loki!
That’s right! The same Loki that we followed in his own Disney Plus series arrives at Steve’s house. Steve hides at first with Peggy opening the door. Loki asks Peggy if Steve is there. Peggy asks Loki, if she can help him with anything, with Loki replying that it’s HE that can help THEM! Steve steps into view and it cuts to credits.
It’s to anyone’s guess what this will lead to but it makes it all the more apparent that Steve’s journey in the MCU is not done yet. Could this be Steve finally facing the consequences of his actions of staying back in time after Endgame, which lead to the multiverse being out of whack and now having to face Doom head on as a result? Who knows, but hey, it’s a new ending that leaves the door open for what Steve’s role in Doomsday could possibly be.
2.) Mid Credit Scene #1
This one is actually not strictly a mid-credit scene for Avengers: Endgame but more so for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Hear we see Bruce Banner regaining his own self after losing himself as Hulk once again by Jean Grey in Brand New Day. Now, he’s isolated in a deep underground facility, recording a video diary as he works on a certain experiment. After the events of Brand New Day, Bruce has been working on a gamma-suppression serum, most likely to gain the same control as Hulk he did before and to avoid another incident like he just had from happening ever again. However, the feed glitches, with a weird mix of glowing and green runes in the background.
Bruce is confronted by a man. That man being Doctor Doom. Once Doom arrives at the facility, he tells Bruce, “I’m here to collect you!” Banner turns into Hulk and lets out a roar! Once the picture returns to a full screen, both are gone; with Doom’s fingerprints all over the floor at the facility.
Despite the reports that Bruce Banner would NOT have a big role in Doomsday, this mid credits scene confirms that might indeed be false. Whether this is a set up for Doomsday or for next year’s Secret Wars remains to be seen but it all but confirms that both Bruce Banner AND Hulk WILL return in the future! Well, at least we know Mark Ruffalo hasn’t been totally blacklisted from Hollywood…..yet!
3.) Mid Credit Scene #2
This one sees a connection back to the Loki series, which the first season aired in 2021 and the second/final season aired in 2023. We see the characters from Loki that include Mobius, O.B. (Ouroboros), Casey, and Miss Minutes at the TVA. There’s a sign that calls Loki, the “Employee of all time.” (Gen Z memes, am I right?!?!) They watch an incursion happen right before their very eyes: Earth-10005 (the Fox X-Men Universe) and Earth-1127 (Anyone’s guess?) colliding and firing on each other. They also see more worlds piling into each other and thousands of universes being terminated. As O.B. says, “The multiverse is collapsing!”
I can make a quip about how this might be a metaphor for the multiverse saga itself collapsing under it’s own weight for Marvel Studios , so much so that they now need the beloved heroes from the past to come back and save them. Besides that, this is clearly an insight as to what’s going on now with the multiverse itself within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that it’s fallen apart and the TVA doesn’t know how to stop it. I sure hope to god this will be made much clearer in the finished film because man, anyone that did NOT watch Loki before seeing Doomsday are going to be COMPLETELY lost.
4.) End Credit Scene
At the very end of the re-release, we see one last tease for Doomsday. It’s at the very end of the credits where the original Iron Man cave-hammer sound-only sting gets replaced. Taking it’s place are quick flashes of Doctor Doom forging and putting on a mask, similar to Tony Stark putting on his Iron Man mask, with the same metal-striking audio playing in the back ground. As RDJ explained during his Doom reveal at Comic Con, new mask, same task….kinda!
I don’t know what this is suppose to add other than including one last little feature for the very end for the heck of it and hint at a potential parallel between Tony Stark and Victor Von Doom for Doomsday but it’s there anyway!
Well, there you have it! Those are the four new added scenes to Avengers: Endgame- Encore. Whether re-releasing the same 2019 film but including an extra two minutes was necessary is up to debate, but when watching it again in theaters, I was thoroughly impressed how swiftly Marvel was able to stick the landing for the Infinity Saga. Coming off in the same year which Game of Thornes and Star Wars badly butchered their endings to their respective series, the fact the Russo Brothers were able to make it all look too easily is extremely commendable. Now, let’s see if they make lightning strike at least two more times now!
Avengers: Endgame- Encore is now out in theaters for Standard, IMAX, and Infinity Vision.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Disney scrapped a Pixar film that had been in development for three years known as Be Fri, a film about two teenage girls whose friendship was on life support and wondering if it could possibly stand the test of time. It was confirmed that the project got canned because the higher-ups of Mickey Mouse felt a female-centered animated film like that wouldn’t appeal to younger boys. Whether or not you believe that was the main reason for that film being axed (considering the amount of female-led content Disney has produced the last few years, I’m gonna go with an absolute NO!), it’s quite fascinating that DreamWorks Animation’s newest release seems to act as the perfect antidote for those that were underwhelmed of Be Fri never seeing the light of day.
Much like the non-existent Pixar film, it’s main premise too surrounds the relationship surrounding two teenage girls whose friendship is put to the test and wondering if it can stand the test of time. Only it’s main setting is on a mysterious and whimsical island! Oh, and these are Filipino girls! Oh, and it’s also directed by the same guys that gave us Puss In Boots: The Last Wish nearly four years ago! All of those ingredients make this film seem like a match made in heaven and I’m happy to reported that it’s exactly that!
Forgotten Island not only makes for another fine animated adventure from DreamWorks Animation but it’s the best animated film of the year so far! This is a beautiful, funny, and emotionally moving film about two young girls learning the importance of friendship and knowing when to let each other go. The hyper style animation that worked tremendous well with The Last Wish works just as well here, the best friend dynamic between the two leads is incredibly engaging, the male driven side characters are giving enough moments and laughs without overstaying their welcome, and the Filipino cultural representation is absolutely off the charts, being able to capture that same lightning in a bottle with representation that Disney used to be able to do in their SLEEP! It does take a minute to get fully going and the 90s references and comedic male sidekicks won’t be for everybody, but Forgotten Island is the real deal and I highly recommend it!
Premise: Best friends Jo (H.E.R.) and Raissa (Liza Soberano) stumble upon a mysterious portal that transports them to Nakali, a fantastical island that’s filled with magical creatures. When they discover that the memories of their entire friendship are the price for returning home, they try to find a way to leave the island before they forget each other forever.
Admittedly, for the first third of the film, Forgotten Island plays out exactly like the film that the trailer depicted it as, a kid friendly mix of The Hangover and After Hours, with 90s references and pretty visuals flying off the screen willy nilly and using it’s cultural representation as a shield to deflect any kind of mainstream criticism. Yes, the grade/high school friendship setup is cute enough but it can only go so far if it all it has to offer is the absolute bare minimum of decent at best chemistry between the two leads. However, once we see Jo and Raissa enter the unknown island that they’ve heard so much stories off, the picture becomes much more than meets the eye (and I am absolutely NOT making that reference based off another recent animated film that too was hurt by weak trailers and marketing!).
It’s then we see Forgotten Island using it’s own original premise based off to it’s finest advantage. Despite offering plenty of the same slapstick, laughs, and eye popping imagery that the initial reel does, there is still a solid central story here to connect with, with two girls using the memories of their distinct friendship and time together to navigating their way through a mysterious island, with the wonder of how long can their friendship last on the island and off of it once Raissa leaves for college. An island which it’s own gimmick is making you forget of all the time you have spent with the ones you love both on and off the island. While there’s a certain uncanny valley vibe here that directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado brought with their previous film, The Last Wish, with themes surrounding time and not throwing your lives away, Forgotten Island does exist in it’s own bubble with it’s main characters making actions not strictly through their own sense of selfishness like Puss in Boots does in The Last Wish but also through their own sense of selflessness. That throughline is what makes this newest DreamWorks animated classic the real masterstroke, making for about as good of a spiritual successor to The Last Wish as anyone could hope for.
Once we get to the forgotten island, we are greeted to several male sidekicks and some other female additions to the cast. These are all individuals of the island that Jo and Raissa have interacted with before but can’t remember when. Without going too much into details with each character, they all serve their purpose here without having roles come across as too small or too large. I can’t guarantee you will laugh at every joke that comes from Dave Franco’s mouth as Raww or won’t see the true motives coming with Jenny Slate’s Batiba but that make enough of a unique presence that only adds to the friendship of our two main leads rather than take away from them. Don’t be surprise if you see Raww added in to the next brand new DreamWorks Animation logo.
The film is able to finish off on a strong note, with a third act that is both equally parts funny and tearjerkingly moving (Did I REALLY get misty-eyed during the climax?!). It’s able to tie up it’s messages and central arcs for it’s two main characters in a way that resolves everything in a satisfying bow that never feels manipulative, contradicts the themes of the story, or even breaks it’s own rules of the forgotten island. It even manages takes perhaps the most infamous end of second act/beginning of third act trope that has become a staple with animated films and actually manages to make it work in a way that I haven’t seen done properly since Wreck-It Ralph. Despite all the laughs, gags, and jaw dropping animation to be found here, it never loses it’s heart and soul and the third act proves it.
The animation is as ever bit of gorgeous as you would expect for a brand new 3D animation film released in 2026! The visuals are eye popping and blend perfectly with the colorful art style that the film presents itself with. And much like the other hyper stylized 3D animated films we have gotten in recent memory, it’s able to use it’s animation to create genuine unique set pieces and imagery that you could possibly never do in live-action. Even if you are someone that is getting sick and tired of the Spider-Verse-like animation style, you can’t deny that filmmakers are doing everything to do their advantages to make animation stand out among the best mediums in film.
The directing by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado is excellent, it moves at a brisk and fast pace that makes every use it can of it’s 109 minute long runtime, it’s constantly funny throughout with plenty of amusing and creative gags throughout, the voice acting is on point, with H.E.R., Liza Soberano, Dave Franco, and Manny Jacintno standing out the best, and it’s Filipino representation is incredibly refreshing for a mainstream animated film, with plenty of love and care put into every single frame here. Also, having an end credits that shows off the photos of the cast and crew with their friends and families is genuinely heartwarming stuff.
I wouldn’t put Forgotten Island on the same level as Puss in Boots: The Last Wish as it does have some imperfections that weight it down a bit. It takes a second to kick into high gear, with the first reel containing all the tropes you expected with the trailer and a slightly rushed montage of Jo and Raissa’s friendship, the humor among the side characters won’t be to everyone’s tastes, and while it’s cool that the film is set in the 90s, I’m not entirely sure what difference it would make if you just set in modern day other than being free to include as many 90s references as possible and….the 1990s were cool I guess.
Forgotten Island makes for another home run to go with the other home runs that DreamWorks Animations has hit throughout the 2020s. Between the excellent The Bad Guys, Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, The Wild Robot, and this to the very good/great Dog Man and The Bad Guys 2, it might be time to start declaring DreamWorks as perhaps the best western animation studio at the moment. Regardless of your opinions on Megamind 2, Kung Fu Panda 4, or the other sequels from their lesser known franchises that no one remembers, there’s not enough animation studio out there that makes hits click as well as they did, making any recent shortcomings seem forgivable in the long run. Now please DreamWorks, just nail it with Shrek 5 next year and I no longer have to keep defending you!
Regardless, Forgotten Island is the best animated film of 2026 thus far and deserves your money and support in theaters!
Last year mark the 30th anniversary of when DreamWorks Pictures and DreamWorks Animation was first founded.
If you were ask me what major studio out there acts as major competition towards Disney, the answer you would likely get more times than not is DreamWorks. When comparing to two, it’s like comparing Marvel to DC. While the former have be more consistent in quality and have a lot more good movies under their belt, the latter on the other hand tends to have both higher highs and lower lows than their competition. However, when they nail a movie, they really, REALLY nail it!
While their inconsistent through their three decade long history is frustrating, there has been PLENTY of greatness to come from DreamWorks Animation throughout their history. And I decided to make a top 20 list to celebrate that greatness.
20.) The Madagascar Trilogy
When it comes to comparing all the successful DreamWorks franchises out there, Madagascar is a series that sits comfortably in the middle-of-the-road for me, and I mean that in a respectful way. It doesn’t reach the highs with the likes of Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, and How To Train Your Dragon but it’s certainly no Shark Tale, The Boss Baby, or Trolls either. It first perfectly as being solid, enjoyable animated flicks about a bunch of misfits animals that are trying to do everything in their power to get back home to New York. They are about to as creative, funny, and energetic as you can possibly expect for these kind of movies. with no deviation from that quality whatsoever. It’s hard to distance themselves as individuals films, which is why I decided to put the entire trilogy together in order to find a spot for them on this list. While far from the greatest from DreamWorks Animation, the Madagascar trilogy does it’s job to be as hilarious and entertaining as they can possibly be.
You might want to also check out The Penguins of Madagascar tv series, that is really great!
19.) Chicken Run
DreamWorks’s first ever stop-motion feature film is known more for it’s reputation as oppose to it’s quality but it’s quality is still quite good regardless. The animation, character, humor, and voice work are all good here if not a bit dated. Maybe it’s because it’s not a movie that I grew up with or have much nostalgia that’s holding it back from being ranked higher on the list but Chicken Run is certainly worth a spot on this list due to it being one of the first memorable works to come from DreamWorks Animation.
18.) Shrek Forever After
The (to-date) final entry of the Shrek series did not get much love when it came out back in 2010 (even I talked down to it a few times on here) but time has certainly been kind to Shrek Forever After. It takes a page from the book of It’s A Wonderful Life to make this a culmination of the entire Shrek franchise up to this point, which we see a universe where Shrek never exists and how it impacted those he has grown attached to. The animation is stellar, Rumpelstiltskin is one of the better antagonists in the series, and it has a handful of pay-off moments that might just satisfy long-time fans who grew up with the series. Unfortunately, it’s held back by Shrek’s overall arc, which is mostly just a repeat of his arc from the last one (Shrek is not satisfied with his current life and wants to go back to the old one) and that infamous outburst scene that set this arc in motion feels WAY too out of character for our beloved ogre. Still, it is at least able to act as a better series capper than say, Shrek the Third.
17.) Dog Man
This is about as fun, chaotic, and scatterbrained as the source material it’s based on, a dog that is literally cosplaying as a cop. How more wacky can you get than that?! There was clearly a lot of love and care put into the colorful animation, creative humor, and translating the charming character of Dog Man properly to the big screen. While not quite on the level of something like Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (at least when it comes to familiar source material), Dog Man makes for a perfectly enjoyable film for kids and family that I’m sure fans of the book will fall high over heels for.
16.) The Road To El Dorado
The Road of El Dorado deserved a much better reputation than it got back when it came out in 2000. This is basically Moana meets Uncharted meets The Mummy meets The Emperor’s New Groove. It’s got beautiful animation, fun main characters, plenty of witty humor and catch songs, and a charismatic voice cast to carry the entire picture through. It’s not the very best of the best from DreamWorks and does follow most of the “animated road trip movies” cliches to a T but this is still a very enjoyable animated film that deserves recognition.
15.) The Bad Guys 2
For as all over the place DreamWorks Animation can be in terms of quality, if there is one thing they know how to do consistently, it’s making a darn good sequel, particularly a darn good Part Two. And The Bad Guys 2 is certainly no exception to that. This is able to continue the story of our beloved misfit animals, as they try to take their next step into society to be better people, even if they live in a society that just won’t let them do that. When they see them getting into action when an all-female squad known as The Bad Girls, the crew comes out of retirement to doing what they are good at, just being plain bad. Everything you love about the original from an animated, comedic, and dramatic standpoint is still present throughout The Bad Guys 2, being able to capture the charm of the original while also able to blaze it’s own path from a narrative standpoint, setting the table for an even better Part Three. It may not feel as “fresh” as the original but The Bad Guys 2 is still able to deliver the Part Two goods when it counts the most.
14.) Captain Underpants
That’s right, I got Captain Underpants on here! Sue me! What might just be the most CRIMINALLY underrated/overlooked movie that DreamWorks has ever released, Captain Underpants: The Epic Movie is an absolute gem that is not just a perfect adaption of it’s source material but it’s a great animated film in it’s own right. It’s a bright, colorful, charming, and EXTREMELY silly movie about two troublemakers living out their childhood fantasies and facing the potential consequences for doing so. Kevin Hart and Thomas Middleditch have great chemistry with one another and helps make the film standout as a laugh out loud riot. The film’s toilet and slapstick humor will certainly not appeal to everyone but then again, this is literally a movie called CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS for crying out loud! If you never seen or heard of Captain Underpants: The Epic Movie, check it out as it’s pretty darn great.
13.) Megamind
Yes, the sequel that came out recently was absolutely terrible. That does NOT change the fact that the original Megamind was just awesome. Able to subvert the standards and cliches of most superhero flicks to create something more interesting and layer, this is able to act as a massively entertaining destruction of the sub genre that has dominated Hollywood blockbusters for the majority of the 21st century. Will Ferrell is perfect as the title character and has great chemistry with David Cross’s Minion, Jonah Hill makes for a super fun bad guy as Titan, and Tina Fey is able to make Roxanne Ritchi stand out as one of the better superhero news report ladies out there. We also can’t forget the superb animation, awesome set pieces, and song choices and needle drops that all fit perfectly. Do not let the awful sequel or recent tv series distract you from the fact that the original Megamind is one of the better and most creative DreamWorks animated movies they have ever made.
12.) The Bad Guys
The Bad Guys is the DreamWorks equivalent of Zootopia and Suicide Squad and it could not be better for it. A fun, beautifully animated flick about the joys of being well the bad guys, with exciting and energetic set pieces to boot. The characters are all likable, the animation style is unique and works perfectly with it’s art style, and even for a film technically made for kids, there’s a bunch a fun little nods and gags for adults to enjoy, the kind of ones that kids won’t recognize until they rewatch this movie a decade or two later. It’s not quite as clever or subversive as other DreamWorks properties out there such as Megamind but it definitely makes for one gloriously entertaining watch and has great potential to be DreamWorks’s next big franchise going forward. Also, Diane Foxington! Just…………Diane Foxington!
11.) How To Train Your Dragon 2
Fulfilling it’s role as the dark middle chapter of DreamWorks’s most critically acclaimed film series, How To Train Your Dragon 2 is a strong example as to why DreamWorks themselves can be counted on to deliver strong middle chapters for stories when they count the most. Taking the next level in terms of animation and technical achievements, this sequel is able to exceed for the same reasons that the very best sequels out there are able to do. It takes the characters to the next step of their development by putting them on a journey which makes them challenges who they are and why they do what they do. The voice work is particularly strong here, especially with Cate Blanchett acting as Hiccup’s long lost mother, delivering in the most powerful dramatic moments of the film. Not to mention, the surprising fate with one of the characters stands as one of the most bold moves that any DreamWorks film has every made. While the antagonist himself is a weak line and it lacks the freshness and novelty the first film had, How To Train Your Dragon 2 is still a very impressive animated sequel that is worthy of praise.
10.) Shrek
Enter the iconic character that acts as DreamWorks most popular franchise, the original Shrek still holds up gracefully! Being able to bring together the traditional fairytale characters and tropes while also doing something incredibly fresh, funny, and subversive with them. Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz all fit their roles like a glove and help make their characters of Shrek, Donkey, and Fiona more iconic than they have any right to be. The song choices are inspired, the pop culture references actually work very well, and it has an overall nice moral of never judging someone solely on their appearance. It’s a shame that certain folks out there only recognize this movie for it’s memes and not for the actual top quality of this motion picture. Even when taking away the memes and self-aware jokes, Shrek is still a genuine classic that has stood the test of time as being one of DreamWorks’s greats.
9.) Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
The second feature film from both Aardman and Nick Park, coming off the pretty good Chicken Run, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is proof that the duo could in fact make lightning strike twice. This is a hilarious stop-motion picture with unique animation, great jokes, and likable characters that are able to pull the hold thing through. Not to mention, Gromit might be the cutest and most wholesome dog in movie history. The villain is quite flat here and I admittedly don’t know how this will appeal to those that aren’t the fondest of stop-motion animated films. However, looking at it objectively and being among the most inventive DreamWorks films throughout it’s history, there’s not much you can pick apart about Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. This vegetable caper is definitely entertaining and a cracking good film to watch whenever you need a good laugh. And thankfully, the most recent animated sequel (Which was NOT distributed by DreamWorks btw) is able to be no exception to that either.
8.) Forgotten Island
The dynamic directing duo to Puss in Boots: The Last Wish are able to make lightning strike yet again with Forgotten Island. This is a beautiful, funny, and emotionally moving animated adventure with two Filipino female leads about the importance of friendship and learning when to let go. The hyper style animation that worked tremendous well in telling the story of The Last Wish works just as well here, the best friend dynamic between the two leads is incredibly engaging, and the Filipino cultural representation is on complete full display here, being able to capture that lightning in a bottle with representation that Disney used to be able to do masterfully in the past. It does sag a tad bit in the middle and the 90s references and comedic male sidekicks won’t be for everybody but Forgotten Island is yet another superb 2020s winner for DreamWorks Animation, proving that they might just be the best American animation studio at the moment!
7.) Kung Fu Panda
If there is one movie out there that is basically the textbook definition of “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover!”, that would be Kung Fu Panda. On paper, this sounds like the dumbest idea ever. A big fat panda voiced by Jack Black learning Kung Fu?! That feels like an idea that came from the same person that thought The Emoji Movie would be a great hit! However, once the movie came out during the summer of 2008, we all could not have been wrong about Kung Fu Panda. It’s able to use that “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” mindset that not only acts what most folks thought of Kung Fu Panda when watching it but use that as the central theme throughout the film. And it’s that theme that makes for the perfect way to tell the story of the main character of Po, the titled panda that learns kung fu. We also got terrific animation, superb fight sequences, a wonderful supporting cast of characters, a riveting musical score and amazing character development all the way through. It’s those exact reasons and much more that makes Kung Fu Panda as good as it is. This is a film that doesn’t in spite of it’s delightfully silly premise, it works BECAUSE of it! And it could NOT be any better for it!
6.) The Prince of Egypt
The Prince of Egypt is one of the most beloved animated films ever made and you can certainly understand why. The animation is stellar, the music is great, the tone feels just right, the art style works, it’s religious aspects are interesting and very well explored, and it’s an overall moving story about two brothers that start out being together until the end of time but then later becomes bitter rivals to their last dying breath. Some of the songs aren’t the greatest and don’t fit (especially the Priests song) and it’s something you definitely have to be in the right “mood” to enjoy but for what it’s worth, The Prince of the Egypt is still a very impressive animated film and perhaps the best depiction of the Moses story that’s been seen on film to date, animation or otherwise. Even if you aren’t a religious person or dread having any ties to any known religion, this is one of the few movies of it’s own kind that I could recommend to just about anybody. It’s that darn good!
5.) Shrek 2
If you want to talk about the perfect sequel, look no further than Shrek 2, along with the other sequels on this list of course. The story is more engaging, the characters are more lovable and charming, the animation is more gorgeous, the voice work is more stellar, the set pieces are more creative, the fairytale/pop culture references are even better utilized, and the humor is much more funny this time around. Add in the wonderful presence of Antonino Bandera’s Puss in Boots, the Fairy Godmother as the main villain, and one of the best climaxes arguably in film history with an AMAZING usage of I Need A Hero and you got one beautifully done animated sequel. There are a handful of logic issues (Like how it takes forever for Shrek and company to get to Far Far Away but only takes Gingy, Pinnochio, and others like a couple of hours to get there) but when a sequel is this well-made, heartfelt, and absolutely HILARIOUS (The C.O.P.S. gag gets me EVERY time!), it’s impossible to care. Great comedy sequels are really hard to come by and Shrek 2 stands out as one of the very best in that regard!
4.) How To Train Your Dragon
On paper, How To Train Your Dragon movie seems like every traditional hero journey and human-animal bonding flick you have ever seen. However, not only does it do just about all of those traditions so well, it’s done in an extraordinary way that it feels like you are watching this story on fold for the very first time before your very eyes. Hiccup makes for a very likeable protagonist that’s easy to root for and his relationship between his pet dragon, Toothless, and his soon-to-be lover/partner in Astrid are so engaging, acting as the beating heart of the film. And don’t get me started on it’s stellar animation and flying sequences that blew my mind when seeing it in theaters back in 2010 and still blows my mind to this day. How To Train Your Dragon is prove that just because you are telling a familiar story does NOT mean you have to tell it in a familiar way. If you add enough freshness and novelty to it where it feels like you are seeing this story being told for the first time ever, then you have succeeded entirely and have one big animated classic on your hands. While I may not known how faithfully this is from an adaption standpoint (Yes, this is based off a book), as a film, the original How To Train Your Dragon was pretty much perfect.
3.) Kung Fu Panda 2
Kung Fu Panda 2 is one of the rare sequels that not only is as good as the original Kung Fu Panda, it’s even better. It does EVERYTHING you want a sequel to do. Instead of doing the same old same old, it actually does something new and different. It takes the characters into exciting and new directions, it expands upon it’s story and lore in the most logically way possible, the action and animation are taken to the next level, the villain of Lord Shen is given more focus and is used perfectly, and it’s able to act as the best possible next step for the journey of Po as oppose to do just retreating steps from his first go around. Also, the scene where Po discovers inner peace is the series true definite moment up to this point, as well as just being one of the most beautifully done sequences in animation film history! (You are a robot if you did not cry during that scene!) Kung Fu Panda 2 is not only the best Kung Fu Panda movie thus far but it’s possibly one of the best animated film sequels ever made period. It’s so good that there’s a good argument to be made that this is where the series officially peaked.
2.) Puss In Boots: The Last Wish
Acting as perhaps the most surprising film that DreamWorks Animation has ever done, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is an exciting, triumphing Part Two to go along with the other great Part Twos that DreamWorks Animation has created with their filmography. The animation is spectacular, the characters are engaging, the set pieces are fun and inventive, the story goes into dark places you wouldn’t think a simple “kids” movie would go, and it teaches a very valuable lesson on how we should live our life to the fullest with the ones we love before it’s too late. This also has perhaps the most entertaining bad guy in DreamWorks with Jack Horner and the most scary and intimating villain in possibly all of DreamWorks with The Killer Wolf, A.K.A. Death. For a 11-year long sequel that no one was really asking for, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish acted as a near perfect animated film, with phenomenal animation, writing, and voice acting to justify it’s own existence completely. Never in a million years would I guess that it would be frigging Puss in Boots of all characters that could be in the conversation of best DreamWorks Animation film ever made but I guess anything is possible.
1.) The Wild Robot
This may be recency bias but I honestly can’t think of a DreamWorks animated picture that is as complex, layered, and impressive as The Wild Robot. It represents the pinnacle of DreamWorks Animation, delivering one last final triumph before they have to rely on tools and resources from other studios for the immediate future. The animation is jaw droppingly gorgeous, the characters are all engaging, endearing, and wonderful to follow, the voice cast is all terrific with everyone being 100% committed to their role, the musical score is mesmerizing and carries the film on it’s own on several occasions, there’s is plenty of funny gags and emotional beats that work greatly, and the way it tackles the themes surrounding survival, parenthood, kindness, purpose, and coexistence is nothing short of marvelous. The amount of plates is able to spend in the air at once and how many hoops it dares to jump through is able to make the film stand out in ways that it had no business of doing so. This is animation and multilayered storytelling at it’s finest and The Wild Robot might just be the next prime example for that. Thank you to all the folks at DreamWorks who worked in-house for the company and I hope the very best awaits you in the future!
With this weekend’s release of Resident Evil (2026), now is a good time to talk about what I consider to be the best video game movies ever made. Despite all the constant negative reputation surrounding films that acts as adaption of well-known gaming franchises, I think most would agree that there has been an enormous quality leap for those in recent years. While I still believe there was always a solid video game movie flick every now and then, it was sometime between the late 2010s and early 2020s which saw much better and more faithful video game adaptions in movie forms. Perhaps it has to do with more cast and crew involved with these projects nowadays that actually have a knowledge and respect towards the property it’s based on but, it’s definitely nice and refreshing to see better video game flicks come out as of late, especially after several years of folks claiming that video game just can’t work in movie form whatsoever.
Now that another video game movie in Resident Evil (2026) is now out in theaters, I’m gonna talk about 15 video game films that I believe range from decent to being worthy of their source material. A friendly reminder that I am only referring to movies that are STRICTLY adaption of video games and not just ones that have video game elements to them. That’s why you won’t see movies such as Wreck-It Ralph and Free Guy on here.
Onwards to the top 15 best video game movies of all time!
15.) Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
This is one that gets a ton of flack from fans but it’s much better than it’s haters would want you to believe. While this is certainly a departure from the games themselves with a setting that takes place on Earth in the year 2065, it still succeeds on it’s own merits of telling a new and original story. Instead of trying to awkwardly cram an entire plot of a RPG game into a single film with all of the famous fantasy elements of the game shoehorned in, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within puts more of an emphasis on blending the sci-fi and fantasy genre together with a more straightforward and different plot that can stand on it’s own merits. Yeah, the CGI animation hasn’t aged particularly well (especially with the dead shot eyes of the characters) and those that were expecting a complete “easter egg” fest will be disappointed, but Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is still a fairly interesting adaption overall from the creator of Final Fantasy himself.
14.) Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
While this got a bad reputation when it came out in 2001, time has been quite kind to the first installment of the two-parted Lara Croft spin with Angelina Jolie. It’s full of camp and cheese but it still does it’s title character justice, seeing her being the beautiful experience badass that she is meant to be on the big screen. No offense to Alicia Vikander and Sophie Turner but Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft is complete and utter perfection, so much so that she can easily slip back into the character again all these years later and she would still be good. It certainly does acquire a certain suspension of disbelief, kinda like with the games, and there are times where there’s a bit too much fan service for it’s own good, but for what’s it worth, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is still an enjoyable time and I would certainly be open for a sequel with Vikander’s return.
13.) Detective Pikachu
A Pokémon movie had all the potential to work as a feature film, especially since there had already been several straight-to-dvd films that had come before this. However, there had never been a well-known live-action Pokémon movie until 2019’s Detective Pikachu. Thankfully, it is able to deliver a good time that fully embraces the world that Pokémon is established in while maintaining a good sense of humor throughout. Ryan Reynolds works very well as Pikachu and has good chemistry with Justice Smith’s Tim, forming the perfect kind of bond ship I imagine players always saw themselves with their own fellow Pokémon from their favorite installments in the series. It doesn’t break any new ground but Detective Pikachu has plenty of heart, laughs, and amusing set pieces that will likely leave any die hard Pokémon fan with a smile on their face after watching it.
12.) Sonic The Hedgehog
This was a film that everyone and their mother was determined to hate the moment the very first trailer dropped with the fugly Sonic design. But then, the film was delayed to change up the design and things looked more promising. Then we all saw it and it was pretty damn good. Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the very few films to take the whole “cartoon characters in the real world” gimmick and actually make it work. Even if it didn’t film didn’t act as a proper adaption for Sonic, it works very well as a story about a young kid that’s trying to find his place in a new world. Ben Schwartz is great as Sonic and plays off of James Marsden very well but it’s Jim Carrey that steals the show as Robotnik as everyone expected, getting a chance to go full Jim Carrey like never before. It certainly does hit plenty of the notes that these “family movies but for kids” flicks do but for what it’s worth, Sonic the Hedgehog got something for everyone to enjoy.
11.) Rampage
It’s a monster movie with The Rock! What else could you possibly want?! (Or at least back in 2018 anyway!) Rampage acts as an adaptation of a very popular arcade game that was also released on the original Nintendo Entertainment System back in the ’90s. The results is basically a feature film that plays like a straight up monster movie where monsters attack the city and the main character has to attempt to save the city. Does it follow every trope for these kind of movies to a t? Sure, but it’s still a lot of fun for those that have a fondness for these kind of movies and of course, have a fondness for the Rock kicking serious butt. And it might just be even better than every single one of the current Monsterverse films thus far.
10.) Mortal Kombat II
After the muted/lukewarm reception of 2021’s Mortal Kombat, 2026’s Mortal Kombat II is able to deliver the goods that it’s predecessor didn’t for a solid crowd pleaser that works for both fans of Mortal Kombat and mainstream audiences. It’s able to dial up on the ridiculously bloody spirit of it’s source material while making sure to put it’s focus on action, gore, and fan favorite characters over convoluted mythology and confusing lore. The plot itself is about as dumb and over-the-top as you would expect for a MK movie and there are certainly some questionable casting choices (I love Karl Urban but he is NOT Johnny Cage!) but for what it’s worth, Mortal Kombat II does work as a big improvement over it’s predecessors, proving that the filmmakers did their homework and take fan feedback seriously. It’s not quite the best Mortal Kombat movie ever made but it does it’s job just fine.
9.) The Super Mario Bros. Movie
To be honest, if we are going by video games in terms of straight up faithfulness to the games themselves, this would likely be #1 easily. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the one video game movie that feels like it was 100% ripped straight from the games in terms of it’s animation, style, world building, and amount of fan service throughout. It even works quite well as a simple story of a complete zero turning into a complete hero along with the importance of brotherhood. It’s just so much fun seeing characters such as Mario, Princess Peach, Donkey Kong, and Toad kicking butt together on the big screen for the first time ever. Not even the tropes from Illumination Animation that brought down their prior movies such as an obvious celebrity heavy voice cast and awkwardly inserted song tracks are able to bring this one down. If only Luigi didn’t get done so dirty and Yoshi played any role whatsoever that this could have been ranked higher. And yes, Chris Pratt was just fine as Mario and Jack Black was as perfect as Bowser as you would expected. I’m gonna go listen to Peaches again.
8.) Professor Layton & The Eternal Diva
If you want a video game flick that can provided an intriguing mystery and a puzzle that you won’t be able to solve in a heartbeat, look no further than Professor Layton and the Enteral Diva. For a gaming franchise where puzzles are it’s main point, this adaption is one that has more than enough brain teasers to satisfy longtime fans and even get more newcomers interest in it. You also have some well-done animation, an art style that fits very well with the games it’s based on, a talented voice cast, and a story about memory and mortality that stands well on it’s own. To say any more will be spoiling but there’s plenty to like here from both fans of the series and those that enjoy a good mystery thriller.
7.) Gran Turismo
The newest video game movie directed by Neil Blomkamp is much better than it had any right to be. Gran Turismo follows the (shockingly) true story of an expert gamer turning into a full-time racer. Despite the actual story being something you can see coming a mile away with the inclusions of many of the typical cliches for sport movies, it’s able to overcome all of that thanks to superb directing, incredibly tense and well-done racing sequences, sound design that’s off the charts, and having a surprising amount of heart throughout. At it’s core, it’s basically a story of someone being able to make their dreams come true once they are able to get their one shot at it. And of course, David Harbour is always welcome in anything! Keep your expectations in check and you might be find yourself surprised at how much of a fun and moving ride this is!
6.) Silent Hill
Back then, the best kind of video game movies weren’t so much the ones that felt the most faithful to the games but more of the ones that’s able to fully embrace the subgenre that the games were a part off and build a stand alone story out of that. 2006’s Silent Hill was able to deliver exactly that by going into full horror and thriller mode with the exact kind of mood and atmosphere that the games themselves embraced. The monsters themselves are great, the tension and suspense is felt completely throughout, and it’s somehow able to bring the sleepy town of “Silent Hill” to life. Despite initially getting panned by critics at the time of it’s release, fans of Silent Hill have come to love and appreciate this film adaption. Just skip the sequel entirely (oh, and you can take or leave the OTHER sequel as well)!
5.) Sonic The Hedgehog 2
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is able to find that perfect balance of being faithful to the source material while also staying strong as it’s own film. It’s able to expand on the themes of the first film very well with Sonic wanting to come into his own as a hero along with learning to accept Tom as a father figure. You also have more elements from the source material thrown in here that work wonderfully here. Tails is cuter than a bag of kittens and a complete fanboy for Sonic, Jim Carrey is back and better than ever as Robotnik, and Knuckles whose played perfectly by Idris Elba, has never been cooler and more badass than he has been here. Not to mention, the final 30 minutes is everything that any Sonic fan could possibly dream off seeing in a Sonic movie. Even if you don’t care for the wedding subplot (which I actually liked and found it pretty funny), there is plenty for anyone to enjoy here. If you are a fan of Sonic, someone who enjoyed the first movie, or just want to have a good and fun time overall, then Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a video game movie for you!
4.) Resident Evil (2026)
After several attempts at adapting Resident Evil on the big screen, with results ranging from guilty pleasures at best to absolute trainwrecks at worst, Zach Cregger puts his bold and unique stamp on this popular gaming series with very satisfying results. While it doesn’t play out as a straight-up adaption of the games like prior installments, Resident Evil (2026) certainly captures the atmosphere, campiness, and 1st person perspective better than any of the films thus far, with Austin Abrams leading the way as a medical courier trying to survive the ins and outs of Raccoon City, while slowly losing himself and his sanity in the process. It does end quite abruptly (What would you expect from Resident Evil?!) and those that aren’t fond of being exposed to the “cheeseball” nature of the series will certainly be disappointed but of all the ill-fated tries at adapting Resident Evil, Zach Cregger’s 2026 entry is by far the best one thus far. Now if the fanbase would just give off his ass, we MIGHT just get an even better sequel next time!
3.) Mortal Kombat
Despite this being the Mortal Kombat movie with the PG-13 rating with practically no gore to speak off, the 1995 version is still the best Mortal Kombat movie release to date. It’s able to capture all the fun, camp, action, and over-the-top-ness that the game series provided while also having the entire cast of fan favorite characters with their own arcs and personal moments to shine, with a plot that’s surprisingly very functional with no useless filler to speak of and is quite easy to follow, regardless of whether you played the games or not. Even if it does strip itself from the gore and certain elements from the games, it’s still able to work incredibly well as an adaption by fully capturing the spirit of the 90s and the central essence that the franchise has embraced since the beginning. While this has been (slightly) surpassed in recent years as being the best video game movie ever made, it’s still stands comfortably as one of the better ones ever made.
2.) Werewolves Within
Here’s one that very few people know is actually a video game movie or even are aware of it’s existence. That needs to change ASAP because Werewolves Within is an absolute slam dunk of a motion picture and is one of the very best video games films ever made. Despite making significant changes to the source material, it’s able to remaining very true to the entire point of the game, which of course is guessing who is suppose to be the werewolf among a certain group. At the end of the day, all that matters is getting the core appeal of the series you are adapting along with crafting a film that can stand well on it’s own two feet. It’s very well made, the characters are very entertaining, everyone from the cast and crew is clearly having a blast, and the mystery of the werewolf will keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat until the very end. Just like with Professor Layton and the Enteral Diva, it works greatly as a mystery thriller for fans of the source material and for newcomers as well.
1.) Sonic The Hedgehog 3
Just when you thought it couldn’t get better than Sonic 2, Sonic The Hedgehog 3 is able to sweep in and take the crown as not just the best Sonic movie to date but also the very best video game movie to date! This is just about every Sonic’s fans dream come true! The Sonic characters themselves are at the absolute forefront with more focus than ever, the action and set pieces are all exhilarating and fun to watch, the CGI and special effects are a treat for the eyes, there is more fan service and easter eggs than before, it’s able to adapt the storylines from Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow the Hedgehog near perfectly, and Keanu Reeves predictably kills it as Shadow, as the character gives more depth and development than he arguably has in any other Sonic medium! It’s also nice to see how Sonic himself has grown through out the trilogy and seeing Jim Carrey bounce off well…..himself is an absolute laugh riot! This is just a series of films that keeps getting better with each installment and if the post credit scenes for this one is anything to go by, the next one could be even better! Is it high art? Probably not! But does it understand the assignment? Hell yeah, it does! Whether you are a longtime fan or a newcomer that has recently got into the series or someone that enjoys a good time, Sonic The Hedgehog 3 is an absolute triumph and is my personal favorite video game movie to date!
