DreamWorks

Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – The Shrek franchise, which had been showing signs of creative exhaustion dating all the way back to “Shrek The Third,” gets an unexpected dose of new life with this belated – and better than it has any right to be – sequel “Puss In Boots: The Last Wish,” focusing on the swashbuckling feline (voice of Antonio Banderas).

Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO –All fiery things must come to an extinguishing point, and the “How to Train Your Dragon” animated film series concludes with its third entry, subtitled “Hidden World.” To finish things up the creators turn on the Dragon power, there are literally thousands of them flamed up and ready to go.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – I’m sure from the title you can glean the level of seriousness to expect, but how funny “Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie” turns out to be is no laughing matter. The film’s surprising irreverence and respect for the comic book genre makes this the animated hero we’ve needed, and the second best superhero film out this weekend (SEE: Wonder Woman).

Rating: 2.5/5.0

CHICAGO – What was once an “event” – even the the most medium level animated film was a rare movie occasion – has now become commonplace in the film market. Once that tipping point was reached, suddenly the event became just another weekend, with just another film like “Home.”

Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Being a super-villain is apparently going out of style as “Megamind” follows relatively quickly on the heels of “Despicable Me” and both tell the story of a bad guy realizing that it’s more fun to be good. The title character of “Megamind” (Will Ferrell) is a nefarious super-powered fellow who has just barely lost every fight he’s had with the beloved Metroman (Brad Pitt).

Rating: 2.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Hasn’t Pixar proven that animation can be more than just concept and celebrity voice work? The problem with “Monsters vs. Aliens” is that the team behind it clearly prioritized nearly every element of the film over actual storytelling.