
When I was in third grade, I really wanted to see the movie
Blank Check. My parents, on the other hand, weren’t so thrilled. Eventually, I convinced them to rent it for me and I loved it. As expected, they didn’t. Honestly, in my childhood mind, I didn’t understand why. But then I re-watched it this year and it all made total sense.
Blank Check is geared entirely to kids in every way imaginable with no logical reasoning built into the story whatsoever. And who remembers
Blank Check? No one.
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie ultimately makes the same mistake...!--more-->

In 2016, we’ve had four animated family films about anthropomorphic animals going on wacky adventures (
Norm of the North,
Zootopia,
Angry Birds,
Finding Dory). Most of their plots touch on familiar ground. Granted, some did it better than others, and I wouldn’t blame you if you felt fatigued by now, wishing another studio could bring something fresh to the table. While I can’t say that
The Secret Life of Pets reinvents the wheel, radically veers off the trodden...