ESCAPE ROOM

of Bella, a rescued pit bull who makes her way home after a two-year walkabout. “A Dog’s Purpose” was about a beloved dog’s spirit reincarnated into various dogs over the lifetime, living and loving new owners along the way. Bella’s adventure is reminiscent of that tale. During her journey, she connects with different animals and people who care for Bella as she cares for them, from a homeless vet to a magnificent cougar known as Big Kitten. The story is sweet enough, though totally outlandish. Bella is rescued as a puppy by a kind young man named Lucas (Jonah Hauer-King), who hopes the pup will help his mother (Ashley Judd), a veteran suffering from PTSD. But a cruel neighbor sics animal control on Bella — pit bulls are illegal within the city limits of Denver. Bella’s sent to friends in New Mexico, but in a desperate attempt to play “go home” and reunite with her person, she makes a run for it and ends up on a wild romp through the Rockies on her way back. Dog lovers will likely warm to the tale of Bella’s quest to reunite with her person despite the odds and circumstances. One would have to be made of stone to not well up during the harrowing climax. But the resolutions are as outlandish as the journey itself. Did no one think to petition city council to simply change the pit bull law? When the story lags, these are the flaws that pester, and even the cute factor of “A Dog’s Way Home” can’t obscure its narrative weaknesses. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service PG 13, 100 minutes. Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. Six strangers travel to a mysterious building to play a “locked room” game in hopes of winning $1 million. But what seems like a fun idea turns into a brutal fight for survival. A review wasn’t available.

GREEN BOOK

1/2 PG-13, 130 minutes. Starts Friday at Niantic. Still playing Madison Art Cinemas. If there is a big studio movie that’s more generally crowd-pleasing than “Green Book “this season, I have yet to find it. In this landscape of challenging, provocative, edgy films, Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali and, of all people, director Peter Farrelly have come along with a movie about friendship that goes down so easy that it’s almost suspect, as though it were flung out of 1996 and gifted to our weary 2018 brains. Based on a true story, “Green Book” recounts a 1962 road trip when a Bronx bred Italian-American Frank Anthony Vallelonga, also known as Tony Lip (Mortensen), was hired to drive a renowned black pianist, Dr. Don Shirley (Ali), to all of his concert engagements across the Deep South. The two men are obviously mismatched — what would anyone have to learn if

Zero stars PG-13, 89 minutes. Through today only at Lisbon. What, at this late date, could be less fresh, less timely, less promising than a Sherlock Holmes comedy? Nevertheless, here comes “Holmes & Watson,” starring Will Ferrell as the brilliant detective and John C. Reilly as his chronicler, John Watson. It’s an unexpected low point from two great actors who were pure gold in “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” and at least silver in “Step Brothers.” In “Holmes & Watson,” however, the two seem to have no script or even a premise to work with, and the ideas they throw into the void are either desperately crass or simply incoherent. “Holmes & Watson” is one of those movies that goes beyond unfunny and into a comedy-cubist zone, where jokes are no longer recognizable and laughter is philosophically impossible. — Rafer Guzmán, Newsday

IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

1/2 R, 116 minutes. Through today only at Mystic Luxury Cinemas. The first thing we see in “If Beale Street Could Talk” emerges as text on a black screen, a quotation from author James Baldwin. “Beale Street,” he wrote, “is a street in New Orleans, where my father, where Louis Armstrong and the jazz were born. Every black person born in America was born on Beale Street, whether in Jackson, Mississippi, or in Harlem, New York. Beale Street is our legacy.” The street, the metaphor, is wide

1/2 PG-13, 131 minutes. Niantic, Mystic Luxury Cinemas, Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. Families could do a lot worse this holiday season than to take out a home equity loan for a bucket of multiplex popcorn and take in “Mary Poppins Returns,” director Rob Marshall’s hectic sequel to the 1964 Disney musical cherished by millions. Those who don’t want their memories of the original messed with unduly can take comfort in how the sequel’s storyline follows the narrative and musical beats of the original, right down to a radically square 2-D animation sequence. And it’s hard to imagine either slaves to the ‘64 musical or newcomers of any