Beloved book friends leap to life in charming series.
“Frog and Toad” is a sweet animated series for preschoolers based on Arnold Lobel’s beloved Caldecott and Newbery honor-winning 1970s book series. The pages of Lobel’s classic stories come to life in this understated show, which stars Nat Faxon and Kevin Michael Richardson as the title characters. Each 24-minute episode follows the loyal friends as they embark on two adventures in their neighborhood. Themes include friendship, embracing differences and communication. (Eight 24-minute episodes)
Available on Apple TV Plus.
Captivating, moody adaptation has peril, some scares.
“Peter Pan & Wendy” takes on some of the weightier themes of J.M. Barrie’s classic tale and imbues the adaptation with a dark look and feel. The film delves into the psychological roots of Hook’s anger, Peter Pan’s everlasting childhood and Wendy’s reluctance to face adulthood. The female characters — Wendy (Ever Anderson), Tinker Bell (Yara Shahidi, a Black actress of Iranian heritage) and Tiger Lily (Alyssa Wapanatahk, a Bigstone Cree First Nation woman) — wield the magic here. Some of the fight scenes between Hook (Jude Law) and the children of Neverland get serious, and characters die or appear to die. Hook and the kids engage in sword fights, and Hook orders an underling to “execute” a group of small children he’s locked up and sends Wendy to walk the plank. Hook also narrowly escapes a giant crocodile, but another pirate gets eaten alive. A ship is turned upside down in the air, sending pirates sliding into the ocean. (106 minutes)
Available on Disney Plus.
Adventure blends romance, high-octane action; language.
“Ghosted,” starring Chris Evans and Ana de Armas, is an action film dressed up as a romance or a romance steeped in action, depending on how you look at it. As such, there’s a lot of violence as well as sexual situations including innuendo, kissing and a bedroom scene with no private parts shown. There’s also language throughout, including “f—,” variations on “s—,” “damn,” “b—-,” “hell,” “b——” and more. Action sequences include kidnappings, car chases, crashes, explosions, gun and knife fights, acrobatic fistfights, torture scenes involving poisonous insects, a syringe to the neck, a missing hand, bleeding wounds and dozens of killings. There’s electrocution, a biochemical weapon at risk of falling into the wrong hands, mention of family members and friends dying, reference to Aztec human sacrifice, an asthma inhaler and emigrants fleeing their country by raft. Adults drink alcohol, and a woman gets high on an edible. (116 minutes)
Available on Apple TV Plus.
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