Kids movies recently seen

Having children of primary and sub-primary age means that most of the movies I get to see are not exactly Citizen Kane. But, good movies for children can be enjoyable for adults, especially in the animated field, where the writers now spend much effort on adult oriented jokes. Some movies I have seen recently on DVD or the cinema:

Over the Hedge: not bad, not great. But (speaking of Citizen Kane) any movie which has an opossum (voiced by William Shatner) ending a prolonged fake death scene by saying "Rosebud" has got something going for it.

Madagascar: good. Some quite eccentric characters and good voice work made this quite enjoyable.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow: A slightly weird exercise in over-the-top art deco/pulp science fiction style. Very watchable for its remarkable computer generated looks, it could have been much better if everything in it was not on such a ridiculously gargantuan scale. Checking Rotten Tomatoes, I had forgotten that it got quite a good overall rating, although even the good reviews had to admit the plot and script were lacking. (As one reviewer there says, "The only thing keeping it from greatness is a good story.") However, it went on to be a box office failure (well, $37 million). I suspect one of the reasons is that audiences don't care much for movies which seem to be in an alternative history setting. Also, even though I can quite like her on screen, Gwyneth Paltrow's line delivery seemed somewhat "off" here.

Wallace & Grommit - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit: While never over-excited by the W& G shorts, this movie was (to my surprise) funnier and more charming than the previous incarnations, and did not suffer at all from being extended to movie length. The rabbits are cute for the kids, the lampooning of English society works well for the adults, and Grommit continues his stoic ways.