Kids & Family Films

Two new movies are based on well-known children's stories. One is "Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical," adapted from the popular stage show. The other is "Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio," a stop-motion animation version of the classic fairy tale. Our film critic Justin Chang recommends them both.

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water is visually an eyesore — a kaleidoscope of bright, mismatched colors, and in 3-D to make your headache stronger. The movie makers hit the bull's-eye.

The animated feature, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, is based on the classic Dr. Seuss environmentally themed children's book and stars the voices of Ed Helms, Danny DeVito and Zac Efron. Critic David Edelstein says the movie is by far the best Seuss adaptation.

Critic Ken Tucker reviews the new animated film "The Iron Giant" from Warner Bros.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Toy Story."

The Fresh Air critic read early reviews of the film, which warned parents away from the theater. He says these admonitions only encouraged him to bring his daughters to the theater.

Film critic Steven Schiff reviews the latest media breakthrough of those heroes on a half-shell, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,"--the movie.

HBO will soon air the animated show Babar, about an elephant and his family. TV critic David Bianculli says the program joins the ranks of other recent, excellent children's programming like Shining Time Station and the Peter Pan musical. More importantly, his kids love it too.

Ken Tucker reviews the home video release of the highest grossing film of all time. He says the movie doesn't transfer well to the smaller dimensions of a TV screen, but its heart is still there. Conversely, Cinderella is perfect for home viewing, but it still suffers from Disney's sentimental revisions of the original tale. The Three Caballeros, another recent Disney release, is also worth watching.

Ken Tucker reviews the new home video release titled "A Young Children's Concert with Raffi." Raffi is a singer of children's songs that adults find catchy as well.