TheRetroCritic

It's so hard to find good Christmas movies these days, let alone animated ones. Could it be that The Nightmare Before Christmas was the last word on that? Well, from the looks of this latest Dreamworks outing, it seems that there's still hope for holiday movies yet! Rise Of The Guardians , while far from perfect (I'll get to that), still boasts enough creativity and popcorn entertainment to make it a fair attempt at something good and festive. The plot sees Jack Frost (Chris Pine) being taken in by the likes of Santa (an unrecognisable Alec Baldwin), The Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), The Sandman and The Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher) to join them as a "Guardian" (basically a Moon-appointed superhero of sorts). Their goal usually being to keep kids safe and their imaginations intact, this time they're having to face off against Pitch Black (a fun Jude Law and a damn good sci-fi B movie) whose plan it is to fill everyone's heads with nightmares and make fear

Just like probably 99% of French and Belgian people out there, I'm looking forward to Steven Spielberg's take on the classic Tintin franchise. Yes a live action film would have been amazing since the only genuinely good live action Tintin film to date remains Tintin and The Mystery of the Golden Fleece which, as adorable and charming as it is, was made back in 1961. And in terms of animation we have the Tintin animated series (made in the early 90's) which, although they tended to rush through a lot of the books, were near perfect. Growing up with these cartoons, they always felt exciting, smart and grown-up (lets assume Tintin in Congo was a bad dream, yikes). Both the books and the animated series never talked down to its audience, which made it that much better to follow. Now after several unpleasant attempts at "realistic" looking CGI animations ( Polar Express anyone?) and some underrated efforts ( A Christmas Carol ) we're getting a Tintin anima