Animated Features
Aladdin (1992) - Igniting flames of cartoon inspiration
American Pop (1981) - Soundtracking immigrant experience
American Tail, An (1986) - And the streets are paved with cheese
Babar: The Movie (1989) - Good intentions just not good enough
Beauty and the Beast (1991) - More advertising art from a silver age
Belladonna (1973) - Satanic history inspires early anime
British Animation Invasion, The (1991) - Acknowledging an absolute mastery
Bugs Bunny Film Festival, The (1993) - Tooning into the best of Blanc
Cool World (1992) - Holli is adult animator's goodbye girl
DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990) - Not the McDuck that inspired Lucas
Dumbo (1941) - A product of its time; a timeless classic
Fantasia (1940) - Cartoon concert serves up classics
Fantastic Planet, The (La planete savage; 1973) - Surreal style for a sidereal story
Ferngully: The Last Rainforest (1992) - Aussie-inspired eco-toon a treat
Festival of Claymation (1987) - Stop-motion animation’s big moment
Fire and Ice (1983) - Producing a one-of-a-kind cartoon
Fritz the Cat (1972) - Comix with a deranged Disney look
Great Mouse Detective, The (1986) - Mystery keeps critic on seat's edge
Heavy Metal (1981) - Heavy Metal falls short of promise
Heavy Traffic (1974) - Artist object of Establishment's ire
Land Before Time, The (1988) - Family values as old as the dinosaurs
Light Years (Gandahar; 1988) - Market tuning misses original's intent
Little Mermaid, The (1989) - Dane's pain lost under the sea
Lord of the Rings, The (1978) - Cartoon grab for the One Ring
National Film Board of Canada's Animation Festival, The (1991) - Our Canadian tax dollars at play
Nightmare Before Christmas, The (1993) - Pumpkin King sings of Sandy Claws
Once Upon a Forest (1993) - Serving up environmental junk food
Plague Dogs, The (1982) - Animation shows capacity for tragedy
Pocahontas (1995) - Ravenous wolves, raging hormones
Puppetoon Movie, The (1987) - Imagining how the future might look
Rock-A-Doodle (1991) - Blending brashness with blarney
Second Animation Celebration, The (1989) - Anthology offers craft's best
Secret of the Sword, The (1985) - Artless animated ad for TV cartoons
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) - Celebrating the first princess's 50th
Sword in the Stone, The (1963) - Mouse factory version of Arthur's tale
Three Caballeros, The (1945) - Animation's own victory celebration
Tom and Jerry - The Movie (1993) - Lacklustre return to the big screen
Too Outrageous Animation (1994) - With something to offend everyone
Vip, mio fratello superuomo (Vip, My Brother Superman; 1968) - Advertising a target-rich environment
Watership Down (1978) - Charming journey to a promised land
Wizards (1977) - Sword and sorcery fellowship forged
Based on Comics
Addams Family Values (1993) - Sappy sequel soaked in nostalgia
Addams Family, The (1991) - Addams Family adaptation underfunny
Adventures of Barry McKenzie, The (1972) - Making light of Antipodean aspiration
Avengers, The (2012) - A Major impression in A minor role
Batman (1989) - Burton probes comic's noir tomorrow
Batman Returns (1992) - Examining a madness born of anger
Comic Book Movies - Looking at movies inspired by comics
Darkman (1990) - Insulting the good name of comics
Dennis the Menace (1993) - Sadism, humiliation as entertainment
Dick Tracy (1990) - Success a tribute to mass marketing
Flash Gordon (1980) - Flash back to escapism's pure roots
Flesh Gordon (1974) - Spoofing the sex implied in the serials
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984) - Hard to take cartoon society seriously
Howard the Duck (1986) - Existential humour missing in action
Legend of the Lone Ranger, The (1981) - Stolid star dooms ranger's return
Mask, The (1994) - Comic triumph has comic-book roots
Masters of the Universe (1987) - Making movies to move inventory
Popeye (1980) - Sailor man a singing superhero
Red Sonja (1985) - Fending off epic unwholesomeness
Rocketeer, The (1991) - Celebrating yesteryear's pulp heroics
Sheena (1984) - Three-step plan guaranteed failure
Super Mario Bros. (1993) - Great game bombs on the big screen
Supergirl (1984) - Girl of Steel more Disney than DC
Superman II (1980) - Lester's sequel less than stellar
Superman III (1983) - First love lost in comic mess
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) - Superhero series end disappoints
Superman, The Movie (1978) - Superman falls for wonder newswoman
Tales from the Crypt (1972) - Screen shocks from banned books
Tarzan the Ape Man (1981) - Bo fleshes out role of Tarzan's mate
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) - Quick-quipping reptiles fight crime
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret Of The Ooze (1991) - Few treats here for the big kids
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Turtles Are Back . . . in Time (1993) - Delicious departure from the formula
Live Action Comedy
1941 (1979) - Chaos has to be seen to be believed
Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother, The (1975) - Monarch's loyallest subjects serve her memory
Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The (1988) - Ingenious use of hot air and fantasy
Airheads (1994) - Rebellion to take seriously or for fun
Airplane (1980) - You ever been in a cockpit before?
Amazon Women on the Moon (1987) - Anthology short on really big laughs
American Werewolf in London, An (1981) - Crossing the pond with fang in cheek
Amos & Andrew (1993) - Dated comedy with a timely message
Animal House (1978) - Canadian colours in humour's new hue
Annie Hall (1977) - Insight combined with comic invention
Any Which Way You Can (1980) - Bad career move for an ambitious ape
Arachnophobia (1990) - Web-spinners really nature’s heroes
Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988) - Second round is worse than the first
Avanti! (1972) - Billy Wilder's master course in comedy
Back to the Beach (1987) - Never too old for a seashore shindig
Back to the Future (1985) - Making it Stateside a Canadian tradition
Back To The Future Part II (1989) - History rewritten to add shocks to the awe
Back To The Future Part III (1990) - Reconnecting with our inner cowboy
Bad News Bears, The (1976) - Good news entertainment a laugh riot
Beetlejuice (1988) - Hellzapoppin' fun in the Hereafter
Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens (1979) - Human condition comically chronicled
Big (1988) - Comic charm in unintended consequences
Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor-Kings, The (1976) - Lots of heart along with authentic soul
Blazing Saddles (1974) - An exercise in the comedy of excess
Bob Roberts (1992) - “Vote first. Ask questions later.”
Brazil (1985) - Creating a mind-haunting social satire
Broadway Danny Rose (1984) - Comedy fulfills contractual obligation
Bull Durham (1988) - Celebrating summer's sacred rites
Burbs, The (1989) - Dealing with the neighbours from hell
Cabaret (1972) - Deciding to whom the future belongs
Caveman (1981) - Alunda is cave-speak for love in bloom
Coming to America (1988) - A tedious tribute to Eddie’s ego
Coneheads (1993) - Coneheads subpar suburban satire
Continental Divide (1981) - Not the oddness we were expecting
Crazy People (1990) - A concept we don’t know much about
Dad (1989) - Hugs abound in reconciliation comedy
Dark Star (1974) - Anticipating those galaxies far away
Death Becomes Her (1992) - Turning some great actors into ’toons
Distinguished Gentleman, The (1992) - Washington a city of broken dreams
Doc Hollywood (1991) - Affirming Capra's cracker barrel values
Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox, The (1976) - Less than the sum of its comic parts
Earth Girls Are Easy (1988) - Close encounters of the satiric kind
Eversmile, New Jersey (1989) - Preaching the gospel of happy teeth
Exit to Eden (1994) - Saskatchewan says no to S&M comedy
Family Plot (1976) - Couples sharing an heir of danger
Fatal Beauty (1987) - Dirty Harriet brings wit to drug wars
Fish Called Wanda, A (1988) - This Fish is a gut-busting mid-Atlantic catch
Flintstones, The (1994) - Flintstones among the turkey slices
For Pete’s Sake (1974) - Manful mugging overshadows males
Front Page, The (1974) - Classic comedy remake loud, dull, unfunny
Front, The (1976) - . . . but the guts are malfunctioning
Ghostbusters (1984) - Getting involved with possessed people
Goonies, The (1985) - An amusement park ride on celluloid
Gremlins (1984) - Setting out a seasonal cinema buffet
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) - Charting the chaos that is civilization
Groundhog Day (1993) - The day that everything didn't change
Gung Ho (1986) - Exploiting opportunities in hard times
Heart and Souls (1993) - Celebrating Twilight Zone mysticism
History of the World: Part I (1981) - Shlock with a side order of schtick
Hocus Pocus (1993) - Our film in focus is Hocus Pocus
Home Alone (1990) - Idiot's guide to injuring home intruders
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) - Big adventure crossing the backyard
Hot Shots! (1991) - His dream to “bomb stuff, kill people”
I.Q. (1994) - Cold War nostalgia a guilty pleasure
Ishtar (1987) - One cinematic synonym for disaster
Joe versus the Volcano (1990) - Heroically facing an eruption of reality
King Ralph (1991) - Finding fun in the rites of succession
L.A. Story (1991) - Five-day forecast includes wry wit
Linda Lovelace for President (1975) - Sophomoric take on celebrity politics
Love in Three Dimensions (1973) - Only the material lacks depth
Lucky Lady (1975) - Reality sacrificed for a happy ending
M.A.S.H. (1970) - Calculated insanity key to surviving war's madness
Mad Dog and Glory (1993) - Exploring stuff of downtown dreams
Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992) - Ethics are a matter of choosing sides
Mixed Company (1974) - Advocating for big-tent family values
Mixed Nuts (1994) - Holiday countdown begins with a bowlful
Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983) - Pythons squeezing out stale spew
Muppet Movie, The (1979) - Kermit’s show business success story
Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear, The (1991) - Too often it’s too true to be funny
Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult (1994) - Lots of spots for screen’s good sports
Naked Gun, The (1988) - Clearing a colleague, saving a queen
New Life, A (1988) - Recycling ideas a decade out of date
Nine to Five (1980) - What a way to make a living
Nude Bomb, The (1980) - Naked advertising in The Nude Bomb
Overboard (1987) - Romance a result of eternal optimism
Personal Services (1987) - The point of being old is being dirty
Pick-up Artist, The (1987) - Scoring a matter of playing the odds
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) - When getting there is no fun at all
Princess Bride, The (1987) - When television was called books
Private Lessons (1981) - Rich kid majors in sex education
Protocol (1984) - Getting involved and getting informed
Purple Rose of Cairo, The (1985) - Exploring the reel to real experience
Reuben, Reuben (1983) - Celebrating a rhymer’s wicked ways
Rhinestone (1984) - Shaped to performers’ personalities
Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) - Satirical shafts missing their marks
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990) - Hamlet as viewed from stage left
Same Time, Next Year (1978) - Life less tango, more like a fandango
Savages (1972) - Astonished by a perfect sphere’s arrival
Sirens (1994) - Shedding an era’s inhibitions
Straight Talk (1992) - Connecting in a pre-digital world
Tall Tale: The Unbelievable Adventures of Pecos Bill (1995) - Wacky fantasy promotes core values
Teen Wolf (1985) - Hirsute, hormonal high school horrors
To Be or Not to Be (1983) - Saving the world to save the theatre
Transylvania 6-5000 (1985) - Horror-comedy’s tricks no treat
Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990) - Ghost’s story takes a comic turn
Turner & Hooch (1989) - Cop's best buddy his deputy dog
Two of a Kind (1983) - Bedevilled dose of double boredom
Undercover Blues (1993) - Spy spoof has post-feminst sensibility
Villain, The (1979) - Western action bears the Acme brand
Volunteers (1985) - Bridge-building comedy breaks new wind
Weekend at Bernie's (1989) - Corpse comedy digs up little laughter
Weird Science (1985) - Hurried tale of techno-teen dreaming
When Harry Met Sally . . . (1989) - Finding wonderful truths wildly funny
Where the Heart Is (1990) - King Lear through the looking-glass
Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978) - Hilarious, hideous murder on the menu
Widows' Peak (1994) - Peeking into Irish widows' world
Wild at Heart (1990) - Mother's love complicates young lust
World According to Garp, The (1982) - Wrestling with problems of adaptation
Young Frankenstein (1974) - Finding fun in Frankenstein’s castle