Opinion as a Movie-freak

Summary 
A feisty foster kid's outrageous scheme to be reunited with her birth mother has unintended consequences in The Great Gilly Hopkins, an entertaining film for the entire family. Gilly Hopkins has seen more than her share of foster homes and has outwitted every family she has lived with. In an effort to escape her new foster mother Maime Trotter's endless loving care, Gilly concocts a plan that she believes will bring her mother running to her rescue. But when the ploy blows up in Gilly's face it threatens to ruin the only chance she's ever had to be part of a real family.

Genre : Comedy/Family/Drama
Country : USA

Cast : 
Sophie Nélisse : Gilly Hopkins

Summary 
Ten-year-old Sophie is in for the adventure of a lifetime when she meets the Big Friendly Giant. Naturally scared at first, the young girl soon realizes that the 24-foot behemoth is actually quite gentle and charming. As their friendship grows, Sophie's presence attracts the unwanted attention of Bloodbottler, Fleshlumpeater and other giants.

Genre : Fantasy/Family
Country : UK/USA/Canada

Cast : 
Mark Rylance : BFG

Summary :
Upset about moving from a big city to a small town, teenager Zach Cooper finds a silver lining when he meets the beautiful girl, Hannah, living right next door. But every silver lining has a cloud, and Zach's comes when he learns that Hannah has a mysterious dad who is revealed to be R. L. Stine, the author of the bestselling Goosebumps series. It turns out that there is a reason why Stine is so strange... he is a prisoner of his own imagination - the monsters that his books made famous are real, and Stine protects his readers by keeping them locked up in their books.

Genre : Adventure/Family
Country : USA/Australia

Cast :
Dylan Minnette : Zach
Odeya Rush : Hannah
Jack Black : R.L. Stine

Director : Rob Letterman

Summary :
Bound by a shared destiny, a bright, optimistic teen bursting with scientific curiosity and a former boy-genius inventor jaded by disillusionment embark on a danger-filled mission to unearth the secrets of an enigmatic place somewhere in time and space that exists in their collective memory as "Tomorrowland."

Genre : Action/Adventure/Family
Country : USA/Spain

Cast :
George Clooney : Frank Walker
Britt Robertson : Casey Newton
Raffey Cassidy : Athena

Director : Brad Bird

Summary
A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. Maleficent rises to be the land's fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal - an act that begins to turn her pure heart to stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces a battle with the invading king's successor and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realizes that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom - and perhaps to Maleficent's true happiness as well.

Genre : Adventure/Family/Fantasy
Country : USA

Cast :
Angelina Jolie : Maleficent
Sharlto Copley : Stefan
Elle Fanning : Aurora

Director : Robert Stromberg

Genre : Fantasy/Family/Adventure
Country : USA

Cast :
James Franco : Oz
Mila Kunis : Theodora
Michelle Williams : Glinda

Director :
Sam Raimi

Summary
Oscar Diggs, a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz. At first he thinks he's hit the jackpot-fame and fortune are his for the taking. That all changes, however, when he meets three witches, Theodora, Evanora, and Glinda, who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone's been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity-and even a bit of wizardry-Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.
My opinion
Raimi making a fairy-like movie for children ... who could have thought that. The director of "The Evil Dead" directing a tender tale. Personally, I think the original film from 1939 is unrivaled. Allthough I like this one lot better than The Wiz from 1978 with Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.
The intro is quite original and stronger than the rest of the movie. It's clearly a movie in which the creators of the digital images have enjoy themselves a lot, so they were the true magicians of this film. For the rest it's a lovely children's story. China girl and the winged monkey could charm me the most. The wicked witches I found extremely annoying after a while.
I had hoped that Franco would return back to Kansas as in the original movie.

My rating 5/10
Links : IMDB