ALSO SHOWING
FIREWORKS (PG) Many of the key production creatives behind last year’s breakout anime hit Your Name reconvene for Fireworks, which intriguingly fuses a gentle teen romance with plotting that would not be out of place in Groundhog Day. Norimuchi (voiced by Misaki Suda) is a typical enough Japanese high school boy. You wouldn’t quite call him emotionally astute, but he is making steady progress by the time he develops a crush on pretty classmate Nazuna (Suzu Hirose). The film takes a sharp turn away from a predictable opening act when Nazuna learns she will have to change schools to accommodate the whims of her muchmarried mum. Nazuna invites Norimuchi to run away with her. Their plan goes awry. Then time magically rewinds itself, and the would-be Romeo and Juliet try again. And again. While this low-key heart-squeezer isn’t quite in the same league as the beguiling Your Name, it is hard to resist its daydreamy, willthey-or-won’t-they? vibe for long. Screening daily at Event Casuarina.
THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE (PG) No prizes for rightly assuming a third Lego movie (and the second this year) has some very tough acts to follow. After all, everything was awesome about the original The Lego Movie. And the recent The Lego Batman Movie was genuinely Bat-tastic. Nevertheless, this martial arts-driven affair marks a steady drop in quality for the franchise that is hard to overlook. The story takes place in Ninjago City, where young Master Builder Lloyd (voiced by Dave Franco) and his school friends are living secret lives as heroic ninja warriors. Average.
THE EMOJI MOVIE (G) Come back, The Angry Birds Movie, you 2016 cartoon calamity. Not only is all forgiven. You are a paragon of taste, restraint and higher learning when compared to this year’s apptrocity leaping from phone screen to big screen. Yes, The Emoji Movie is here, and yes, it is a feature film dramatising the wacky exploits of those playful pictograms through which much of the world communicates. The most convenient way to review this soulless, cynical and strikingly unfunny animated comedy would be to simply print one big poop emoji.