Photo by Wilson Webb
Emma Watson, Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, and Eliza Scanlen in Little Women (2019)
This week in theaters: Little Women and Spies in Disguise.
Little Women (Rated PG)
In the latest Little Women, director Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) deconstructs the chronology, shuffling the narrative in an occasionally confusing back and forth between places as well as past and present. The strong cast is headed by Lady Bird’s Saoirse Ronan as Jo and includes Florence Pugh as Amy and Meryl Streep as Aunt March. Gerwig keeps the focus on Little Women’s go-girl message. Despite the Victorian skirts that envelop them, the sisters speak their parts in a contemporary key as Jo pursues the potential of women to rise beyond limited expectations. (David Luhrssen)
Spies in Disguise (Rated PG)
This family friendly animated feature relies on Will Smith’s likeability voicing suave secret agent Lance Sterling—until Lance drinks an experimental potion made by geeky Walter (Tom Holland) that transforms him into a cranky pigeon. To prevent villainous Killian (Ben Mendelsohn) from destroying the world, pigeon-Lance recruits Walter as help, but Walter’s inexperience is problematic. Along the way, the one-joke plot lacks both risk and surprise. Adults will suffer through frenetic action and sight gags geared toward 5-to-10-year-old children. (Lisa Miller)
