BE REEL

(Source: IMDb )  Back in 2023, Warner Bros. made controversial headlines when they announced that three of their current and complete (or nearly completed) films would be shelved as tax write-offs. Two of them were a live-action take on Batgirl and an animated Scooby-Doo , respectively. The third was a live-action/animated Looney Tunes comedy based on a New York Times article, centered on the ever-popular Wile E. Coyote suing the Acme Corporation for the numerous faulty products he’s bought in his endless pursuit of the equally famous Road Runner. Ironically, Coyote vs. Acme tested really well with audiences. So imagine everyone’s shock—including the cast and crew—when the studio that was partly built on these iconic characters decided at the last minute to not release it.  Enter Ketchup Entertainment, who bought the film rights to another feature-length Looney Tunes comedy—the Daffy Duck-/Porky Pig-starring The Day the Earth Blew Up —which released in early 2025. The hand-d...

[The following was originally posted on May 1, 2025 and May 16, 2025 . This is a collection of reviews looking back at the theatrical filmography of one of the most prolific animation studios in history.]  (Source: YouTube )  Antz (1998)  For their first computer animated feature film, DreamWorks began a partnership with visual effects company Pacific Data Images (or, PDI) to create a comedy about community and independence, told from the perspective of tiny insects. Antz centers on a neurotic worker ant named Z (voiced by Woody Allen), who lives in a monotonous colony where everyone is either a dirt-digger, a soldier, or a royal palace member. Tired of his assigned routine, Z has an existential crisis and wants to find a better world than the one he’s currently living in. Meanwhile, the sassy Princess Bala (voiced by Sharon Stone) tires of her royal status, while the ant army General Mandible (voiced by Gene Hackman), whom she’s engaged to, has secret plans of his o...