With the cinematic debut of the Mandalorian and his sidekick Grogu and the return of the iconic Miranda Priestly, these are the films to watch at the cinema and stream at home this month.
1. Animal Farm
In George Orwell’s novella, a farm is taken over by its four-legged inhabitants, only for their newfound freedom to be crushed when a pig named Napoleon becomes a brutal dictator. Published in 1945, Animal Farm is a bleak allegory for the Russian revolution and the rise of Stalin.
But the new adaptation is a wacky cartoon, directed by Andy Serkis, and with Seth Rogen providing the voice of Napoleon (the voice cast also includes Glenn Close, Kieran Culkin, Woody Harrelson and Steve Buscemi).
The film has a lot more jokes than the book did – although some of Orwell’s political convictions are in there, too. “Alternately funny and frighteningly perceptive,” says Pete Hammond in Deadline, “this gorgeously animated version is a ‘toon with much to think about – and to fear. And, oh yeah, it is also wildly entertaining.”
Released on 1 May in the US and Canada.
2. The Devil Wears Prada 2
Twenty years after The Devil Wears Prada sashayed into cinemas, a suitably glitzy sequel is here. Directed by David Frankel and scripted by Aline Brosh McKenna, the same team as the original, The Devil Wears Prada 2 stars Anne Hathaway as Andy, a journalist who cares more about hard-hitting stories than cerulean jumpers.
Meryl Streep is the iconic Miranda Priestly, a magnificently waspish New York magazine editor inspired by Vogue’s former editor, Anna Wintour. Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt complete the quartet as Miranda’s loyal right-hand man and her former assistant.
But now that the franchise has been embraced by the fashion industry – Wintour included – can the new comedy have the same satirical edge as the first one? The BBC’s Caryn James says the marketing campaign has “left question marks around whether the sequel will turn out to be a shadow of the original, without its bite”.
Released internationally on 1 May.
3. Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu
Of all the characters in Disney+’s recent Star Wars television shows, the most popular are The Mandalorian, a bounty hunter played by Pedro Pascal, and his little green sidekick Grogu, aka Baby Yoda. Now they’ve got their own spin-off – the first new Star Wars film to reach multiplexes since The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. The trailer promises big battles, bigger monsters, X-Wing Fighters and AT-ATs.
But as the characters have been on television for three series, can they justify their place in cinemas? “We gotta up our game now for the movie theatre, and that means taller aspect ratios for Imax, building sets that take full advantage of that,” the director and co-writer, Jon Favreau, told Games Radar. “We want to take you on an adventure, and that adventure has to fill up the screen.”
Released internationally on 22 May.
4. The Sheep Detectives
One of two films this month to feature talking barnyard animals, The Sheep Detectives mixes live-action settings with cuddly CGI sheep to make the cosy crime genre cosier than ever.
Hugh Jackman plays a shepherd who reads whodunnits to his adoring flock every evening; so, when he is killed, they know how to investigate.
No, it doesn’t sound promising, but The Sheep Detectives has a surprisingly thoughtful and funny murder-mystery plot – and it’s as warm and well-crafted as a woolly jumper. The sheep’s human co-stars include Emma Thompson, Nicholas Braun and Nicholas Galitzine, and the animals themselves are voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Patrick Stewart, Bryan Cranston and Chris O’Dowd.
The Sheep Detectives is “a rare family entertainment happy not to follow the herd”, says Guy Lodge in Variety.
5. Two Pianos
The classical music throbs with emotion in the latest French melodrama from Arnaud Desplechin (A Christmas Tale) – and the same could be said of the characters.
François Civil stars as a Mathias, a once-promising piano virtuoso who has spent the last few years teaching in Japan. His former teacher (Charlotte Rampling) summons him back to his hometown to play alongside her in her final concerts before retirement.
But his feelings crescendo when he bumps into an old flame (Nadia Tereszkiewicz), and spots a young boy who looks just like him. Two Pianos is “a characteristically rhapsodic piece about love, death, music and memory, with just the occasional glimmer of the uncanny”, says Jonathan Romney in Screen Daily. It has “unmistakable flourishes of [Desplechin’s] signature bravura style, putting music as ever to the expressive fore”.
Released on 8 May in the US.
