‘Swapped’ Review: Michael B. Jordon and Juno Temple Voice a Minor but Ravishing Animated Body-Swap Comedy for Tykes

‘Swapped’ Review: Michael B. Jordan’s First Post-Oscar Performance? Voicing a Prejudiced Sea Otter in Animated Netflix Movie for Babies

A shooting star arching over the Disney castle. Luxo Jr. hopping into frame and jumping on the “i” in “Pixar.” Totoro standing in profile against a bright cerulean backdrop. These sights have come to inspire a Pavlovian response from generations of children, and — no less powerfully — a Proustian one from their parents. They are invitations to (and promises of) the special kind of joy, wonder, and magic that can only be found in the movies. For …

Swapped review: Netflix's animated film is lost in safe storytelling

Netflix's animated film Swapped follows Olly and Ivy after a magical plant forces them into each other's bodies. The film pairs handsome visuals and committed voice work with a body-swap story that stays resolutely safe.

‘Swapped’ Review: Michael B. Jordan and Juno Temple Voice Netflix’s Minor Animated Charmer

Michael B. Jordan, Juno Temple, and Tracy Morgan star in Netflix's animated film about two creatures who switch identities and are forced to team up.

‘Swapped’ Review: Michael B. Jordon and Juno Temple Voice a Minor but Ravishing Animated Body-Swap Comedy for Tykes

On the story level, "Swapped" is quite basic, but there’s a surprise enchantment to it — it’s like a woodland fairy tale for seven-year-olds, yet on that score it’s visually ravishing and quite touching.

There's nothing transformative about the simple message of Swapped

At this year’s Sundance, a documentary premiered about Jane Elliott, an Iowa schoolteacher whose “Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes” exercise in the 1970s helped teach white children what it was like to be discriminated against. Her lesson shares a moral with the glut of children’s media that revolves around magically breaking down the barriers that divide its characters—like those between hunter and bear or emperor and llama—so they can see how the other ha…

'Swapped' Movie Ending Explained & Summary: How Did The Ollie Protect The Valley?

Swapping identities has been a popular trope explored in several films, such as It’s a Boy Girl Thing or Freaky Friday. Netflix’s latest animated film, Swapped, as the name suggests, is pretty much based on the same idea. We have Ollie, a cute little fuzzy creature known as the Pookoo, as the central figure, who embarks on a crazy adventure with Ivy, who belongs to a magnificent species of bird known as the Javan. For as long as he can remember,…