I had a great time watching Maleficent: Mistress of Evil come to such vibrant, colorfully intoxicating life, and as magic tricks go this is one moribund franchise I’m glad to say has risen from the ashes of its predecessor and found fiery new life as its own, captivatingly idiosyncratic animal.

Abominable is as entertaining an animated feature as I’ve seen this year, audiences of all ages almost certain to thrill to its avalanche of pleasures for many years to come.

Dora and the Lost City of Gold is superb, and here’s hoping this live-action teenage take on the material is a modest hit, if only because selfishly I want to watch this pint-sized adventurer head out into the wilds to continue her exploring immediately.

None of it mattered to me, and while I wanted to shrug my shoulders and whisper inaudibly, “Hakuna Matata,” as the end credits began their scrawl, the truth of the matter is that I felt no love for this The Lion King remake, it’s overall storytelling mediocrity a circle of never-ending disappointment I couldn’t wait to be finished with.

I thoroughly enjoyed director Michael Dougherty’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters. It made me smile.

While lacking in the same kind of ingenious magic that helped allow the original to stand the test of time, this new Aladdin still has a few winning tricks up its sleeve making it worthy of a look.

Avengers: Endgame is a solid adventure that fans will go nuts for. As for me, the last assembling of the original team of Avengers brought a smile to my face, this curtain call a satisfying final bow for a team of comic book heroes who all deserved this moment in the spotlight standing at the center of the stage.

Shazam! is a story where the children literally lead the way, teaching all of us to look inside our hearts for the potential hero within whether we think they reside there or not.

The only thing that Ralph Breaks the Internet wrecked was my assumption the first film didn’t require a sequel, this animated jaunt into the online universe a complete and total delight.