Cinema Scope
Sprockets film fest screens kid-friendly gems with edge By Adam Nayman
Image credit: Moongirl, Courtesy of Sprockets International Film Festival
So you want to take your kid to the movies, but the legions of Shrek clones on offer at the local multiplex are making you turn green. The Sprockets International Film Festival can help. Now in its ninth year, the festival’s 122 family-friendly features and shorts offer a blessed respite from the fart jokes, Matrix, spoofs and Counting Crows songs that define the current crop of G-rated pap. But will Junior agree? Herewith, four schlock-free flicks promising entertainment for parent and child.
Hollywood Offering
Steven Spielberg’s A.I., the impossibly stultifying saga of a robot boy tormented by his paralyzed brother
Sprockets Equivalent
Hinokio, a sweetly melancholic Japanese tale about a lonely paralyzed boy who learns to love his robot
Why See it
The blend of live-action and computer animation will appeal to the anime addict in your household
Hollywood Offering
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, in which a girl proves her love for a hideous being, dodging marriage to the boorish Gaston
Sprockets Equivalent
The Story of Xiao-yan, about an enterprising Chinese pre-teen who attempts to sell stolen eggs for tuition money to avoid arranged marriage
Why See it
Puts Madison’s demand for a new Barbie Take Along Tunes Jeep into perspective without being preachy
Hollywood Offering
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, about a precocious kid who travels the galaxy to rescue his parents from aliens
Sprockets Equivalent
Moongirl, a short in which a boy on an accidental space trip befriends the little girl who lives inside the moon
Why See it
The slick computer animation conjures Pixar, sans the ADD-inducing pace
Hollywood Offering
Any big-budget sob fest about faithful equine companions: National Velvet, Black Beauty, Spirit
Sprockets Equivalent
Winky’s Horse, about the Dutch child of Chinese immigrants who asks Sinterklaas (Santa Claus, natch) for a horse
Why See it
The compelling second-generation immigrant subtext makes the story sweet, not saccharine
The Sprockets International Film Festival screens features and shorts at various theatres around the GTA from April 21 to 30. $7.25–$11.25, 10-film pass $77. 416-968-3456, www.bell.ca/sprockets
Hollywood Offering
Steven Spielberg’s A.I., the impossibly stultifying saga of a robot boy tormented by his paralyzed brother
Sprockets Equivalent
Hinokio, a sweetly melancholic Japanese tale about a lonely paralyzed boy who learns to love his robot
Why See it
The blend of live-action and computer animation will appeal to the anime addict in your household
Hollywood Offering
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, in which a girl proves her love for a hideous being, dodging marriage to the boorish Gaston
Sprockets Equivalent
The Story of Xiao-yan, about an enterprising Chinese pre-teen who attempts to sell stolen eggs for tuition money to avoid arranged marriage
Why See it
Puts Madison’s demand for a new Barbie Take Along Tunes Jeep into perspective without being preachy
Hollywood Offering
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, about a precocious kid who travels the galaxy to rescue his parents from aliens
Sprockets Equivalent
Moongirl, a short in which a boy on an accidental space trip befriends the little girl who lives inside the moon
Why See it
The slick computer animation conjures Pixar, sans the ADD-inducing pace
Hollywood Offering
Any big-budget sob fest about faithful equine companions: National Velvet, Black Beauty, Spirit
Sprockets Equivalent
Winky’s Horse, about the Dutch child of Chinese immigrants who asks Sinterklaas (Santa Claus, natch) for a horse
Why See it
The compelling second-generation immigrant subtext makes the story sweet, not saccharine
The Sprockets International Film Festival screens features and shorts at various theatres around the GTA from April 21 to 30. $7.25–$11.25, 10-film pass $77. 416-968-3456, www.bell.ca/sprockets
TEST Originally published April 2006
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