Transformers

The film opens with Optimus Prime, heroic leader of the benevolent Autobots, describing in a voice-over the destruction of the Transformers' home world, Cybertron. It was destroyed by the evil Decepticon leader Megatron in his quest to obtain the All Spark. The Autobots want to find the All Spark so they can use it to rebuild Cybertron and end the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons, while the Decepticons want to use it to defeat the Autobots and conquer the universe. Megatron found the All Spark on Earth, but crash-landed in the Arctic Circle and was frozen in the ice. Captain Archibald Witwicky and his crew of explorers stumbled upon Megatron's body in 1897. Captain Witwicky accidentally activated Megatron's navigational system and his eye glasses were imprinted with the coordinates of the All Spark's location. Sector 7, a secret United States government organization founded by Herbert Hoover, discovered the All Spark in the Colorado River and built the Hoover Dam around it to mask its energy emissions. The still-frozen Megatron was moved into this facility and was used to advance human technology through reverse engineering.

In the present day, the group of Decepticons — Blackout, Scorponok, Frenzy, Barricade, Starscream, Devastator and Bonecrusher — have landed on Earth and assumed the disguise of Earth vehicles (except Scorponok, who hides within Blackout). Blackout and Scorponok attack the U.S. SOCCENT FWD military base in Qatar and try to hack into the U.S. military network to find the location of Megatron and the All Spark. Their mission is thwarted when the base staff severs the network cable connections. While Blackout destroys the rest of the base, Scorponok chases a small group of survivors who have photographic evidence of the robots, but he is eventually repelled. During this battle, the military discovers the only effective weapons against the Transformers' armor are high-heat sabot rounds.

After Blackout's failure, Frenzy infiltrates Air Force One to again hack into the military network, planting a virus. He finds the map imprinted on the Captain Witwicky's glasses. Witwicky's descendant Sam Witwicky intends to sell the glasses on eBay. Frenzy and Barricade begin tracking Sam's location. Autobot scout Bumblebee is also on Earth, disguised as a 1976 Chevrolet Camaro, and is bought by Sam while shopping for his first car. Bumblebee helps him woo his crush, Mikaela Banes. Bumblebee leaves at night to transmit a homing signal to the rest of the Autobots and Sam sees him in robot mode. Barricade confronts Sam and demands Archibald's spectacles, but Bumblebee rescues him and Mikaela. They leave to rendezvous with the rest of the Autobots — Optimus Prime, Jazz, Ironhide, and Ratchet — who have landed on Earth and taken the forms of Earth vehicles as well. Sam, Mikaela, and the Autobots return to Sam's home and obtain the glasses; however, agents from Sector 7 arrive and take Sam, Mikaela and Bumblebee into custody. Frenzy, now disguised as Mikaela's cellphone, secretly accompanies the group to Hoover Dam and releases Megatron from his frozen state. Locating the All Spark, Frenzy sends an alert to the other Decepticons. Sam convinces the Sector 7 agents to release Bumblebee so that he can deliver the All Spark to Optimus Prime. Frenzy's virus has shut down government communications, but a group of humans manage to establish a signal to the Air Force in order to support the Autobot-human convoy, who have gone to nearby Mission City to hide the All Spark. The Decepticons attack and Bonecrusher, Frenzy, Jazz, Devastator and Blackout are all killed during the ensuing battle. Sam, who was instructed to put the All Spark into Optimus Prime's chest (subsequently destroying it and Optimus Prime) if the battle went in Megatron's favor, instead chooses to ram the All Spark cube into Megatron's chest, destroying it and killing Megatron. Optimus takes a fragment of the All Spark from Megatron's corpse, but realizes that with its destruction, their home world Cybertron cannot be restored. Consequently, Optimus sends a signal to other surviving Autobots in the universe, directing them to their new home, Earth. The government orders the closure of Sector 7 and has the dead Decepticons dumped into the Laurentian Abyss. Starscream, who fled the battle, escapes into space.

Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa

As a cub, Alex the lion was called Alekey and was the son of Zuba (Bernie Mac), the alpha lion. Though Zuba tries to teach Alekey to be a hunter, the cub is more interested in dancing. When another lion named Makunga (Alec Baldwin) challenges Zuba to a fight for the position of alpha lion, Alekey is captured by poachers. Though Zuba tries to rescue his son, Alekey is forced into a crate. The crate falls into the ocean where it drifts to New York. There, Alekey is renamed Alex and sent to the Central Park Zoo where he grew up, meeting Gloria, Marty, and Melman there.

In the present time, Alex (Ben Stiller), Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith), Melman (David Schwimmer), Marty (Chris Rock), the chimpanzees, King Julien, Maurice, and the penguins have fixed a crashed plane in the hopes of using it to fly back to New York (Mort manages to tag along as well, by clinging to the airplane wing). Though the plane does fly, it ends up crash-landing in Africa because of lack of fuel.

In Africa, the animals are amazed to find more of their kind. Alex is reunited with Zuba and his mother Florrie (Sherri Shephard). Marty quickly fits into a herd of zebra who all look, sound, and talk exactly like him. Melman takes on the position of Witch Doctor amongst the animals after discovering that sick giraffes have no other option but to die otherwise. Gloria, interested in finding a boyfriend, attracts the attention of a hippo named Moto Moto (Will.i.am).

Meanwhile, the penguins set about repairing the plane. They carjack several jeeps from New Yorkers on vacation (under "Operation Tourist Trap"), leaving the tourists stranded and lost in the jungle. A tough old woman called "Nana" (who had previously attacked Alex in a subway station in Madagascar) takes charge, reminding them that they are New Yorkers and always survive.

Unfortunately, life in Africa is not as wonderful as it first seems. Makunga, still determined to take the position of alpha lion, reminds Zuba that Alex must complete a traditional lion coming-of-age challenge. Alex, thinking that the challenge is a dance contest (it is actually a fight) competes against the strongest lion and loses quickly. To avoid being forced to banish Alex for failing, Zuba abdicates and Makunga immediately takes the position and banishes Alex and his family. Marty meanwhile begins to feel upset that all of the zebra are exactly the same as him, leaving him with nothing unique. Even Alex is unable to tell the difference between Marty and a different zebra, leaving Marty hurt. Melman is happy in his position as Witch Doctor until another giraffe tells him that he has a brown spot on his shoulder. Melman is initially not bothered (as he has brown spots all over his body), until he learns that the previous Witch Doctor apparently died two days after the "spot" appeared. Melman is also upset about Gloria dating Moto Moto, as Melman has secretly loved her for a long time. Gloria goes on a date with Moto Moto and quickly realizes that he only loves her for her body.

The next day, the animals are in a panic when they discover that the watering hole has dried up. Determined to make up for his earlier failure, Alex decides to risk being shot by hunters and leave the Reserve to discover what happened. Along the way, he makes amends with Marty by being able to pick his friend out of the herd of zebras. The pair discover that the stranded New Yorkers, under the instruction of Nana, have dammed the river and built a primitive civilization. Alex is captured and Marty runs for help. Meanwhile, Zuba hears what Alex did and goes to rescue him.

King Julien suggests that the animals sacrifice one of themselves into the volcano to appease the water gods and regain their water supply. Believing that he will die soon, Melman volunteers to be the sacrifice. Gloria stops him just in time and Marty arrives to tell them of Alex's fate. The trio, the penguins, and a cartload of chimpanzees use the newly-fixed plane to come to the rescue. Alex meanwhile manages to rescue both himself and his father by dancing for the New Yorkers, who quickly recognize him from the zoo. Zuba joins in as well. The other animals rescue the lions with the plane and destroy the dam, freeing the water. At the volcano, Mort arrives (he had fallen from the plane into the ocean). He was pursued the entire way from the beach by a shark, which falls into the lava just before the water returns.

Alex manages to remove Makunga from power by tricking Nana into attacking him. Skipper (a penguin) marries a bobble-head hula doll from the plane and leaves on a honeymoon, leaving the other animals to remain in Africa.

High School Musical 3: Senior Year

It's the end of the Wildcats' championship basketball game against the West High Knights, where team captain Troy (Zac Efron) immediately rallies their spirits (Now or Never). With the teams' spirit raised, they win, thanks to the winning shot from their newest team member Jimmie "The Rocket" Zara (Matt Prokop). Later, at Troy's after-match party at his house, Troy and Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) are seen thinking about their future and wishing that their last few months at East High would not end (Right Here, Right Now). Meanwhile, Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) meets Tiara Gold (Jemma McKenzie-Brown), a British exchange student whom she hires to be her personal assistant.

When drama teacher Ms. Darbus (Alyson Reed) notices that there were so few sign-ups for the spring musical, Sharpay suggests she could do a one-woman show. This alarms Kelsi (Olesya Rulin), who is writing the show, so she signs up almost everyone in the class for it instead. This results in Ms. Darbus announcing they will create a play about their final days at East High. In addition, she reveals that Sharpay, Ryan (Lucas Grabeel), Kelsi, and Troy have all been considered for a scholarship at Juilliard, but only one of them is to be chosen. Sharpay becomes desperate to win the scholarship, and knowing that Kelsi will give the best songs to Troy and Gabriella in the musical, she gets Ryan to try to persuade Kelsi to give them a song, by predicting her (and Ryan's) future (I Want It All).

The next day, Gabriella and Troy meet on the rooftop and she teaches him how to waltz (Can I Have This Dance). Chad (Corbin Bleu) then asks Taylor (Monique Coleman) to go to prom with him. She initially refuses due to his lack of enthusiasm, but later agrees when Chad proves he can put in some effort and asks again in front of half the school. The group rehearse for the musical, a scene about their prom night (A Night to Remember). Meanwhile, Ryan walks in on Kelsi composing (Just Wanna Be with You) in the music room, and performs it with her, and then he asks her to prom halfway through. While Troy and Chad reminisce about their past (The Boys Are Back), Sharpay and Tiara discover that Gabriella has a chance to go to college early. Sharpay later convinces Troy that he is the only thing keeping Gabriella from her dream. Troy talks to Gabriella about this over pizza, and after sharing an awkward goodnight, Gabriella (Walk Away) leaves for college the next day.

Troy's dad, Jack (Bart Johnson), talks to him about his academic future. Troy becomes angry, confused, and runs away, storming around East High confused (Scream) until he finally screams at the top of his lungs in the theatre. Ms. Darbus is in the theatre and reveals that she sent in his application for Juilliard, as she knew how comfortable he was on stage and how much he liked it. Troy takes no offense and thinks about the advice given to him. Troy later gets a call from Gabriella saying she won't return to Albuquerque, as she is too used to being away. However, on the night of prom, Troy visits Gabriella at Stanford and convinces her to return, as everyone isn't the same without her.

Back at East High, Jimmie receives a text from Troy to tell him to cover for him onstage because he is going to be late. The Juilliard representatives are there, and watch as the show seems to go well, (Senior Year Spring Musical). During the opening number, Kelsi and Ryan debut. While during the second number, Chad, Jason (Ryne Sanborn), Zeke (Chris Warren Jr.) and Martha (Kaycee Stroh) debut, Ryan does his number with the many chorus girls, Jimmie then performs with Sharpay, receiving his own standing ovation. Troy and Gabriella appear during the second half of the show and sing their duet together. Tiara then betrays Sharpay and tells her how she is going to take over next year in the drama department. Sharpay finally learns how it feels to be humiliated, but does not wish to go down. While Tiara performs, Sharpay immediately crashes her performance and shows her up.

Ms. Darbus reveals that both Kelsi and Ryan have won the Juilliard scholarship (We're All in This Together (Graduation Mix)). Taylor will go to Yale University; Sharpay will go to University of Albuquerque and will assist Ms. Darbus in running the drama department in the fall. Troy decides to go to the University of California, Berkeley, where he can play basketball, study drama, and be close to Gabriella. After learning about Troy's decision, Chad runs offstage and into the school gym. There he and Troy work things out and learn that their college's basketball teams will play each other the upcoming fall.

At the graduation ceremony, Troy gives the class speech. Throwing their caps in the air, the graduates form a giant wildcat before breaking out into song and dance (High School Musical). The six friends walk down the field where a curtain closes off the graduation ceremony and turns into a stage. The six stars do their signature jump and then the camera does a close up of each actor. They take their final bow as the curtain closes.

Quantum of Solace

The film continues immediately after the events of Casino Royale with Bond driving from Lake Garda to Siena, Italy. With the captured Mr. White in the luggage compartment of his car, Bond is attacked by chasing henchmen. After evading his pursuers, Bond and M interrogate White regarding his organisation, Quantum. M's bodyguard, Mitchell, is revealed as a traitor, attacking M and allowing White to escape; Bond chases Mitchell across Siena and kills him. Following a forensic investigation into Mitchell's apartment, Bond heads to Haiti to track down and kill Mitchell's contact. Bond learns that henchman Slate was sent to kill Camille Montes at the behest of her lover, Dominic Greene, the chairman of an ecological organization called Greene Planet. While observing her meeting with Greene, Bond learns that Greene is helping the Bolivian general Medrano – who murdered Camille's family – overthrow his government in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of desert.

Greene has Camille escorted away on Medrano's boat to "sweeten" their deal, but Bond rescues her. Bond then follows Greene to a private jet, which flies him to a performance of Tosca at Lake Constance, Austria. Bond infiltrates Quantum's meeting at the opera, and a gunfight ensues in a restaurant. A bodyguard of Guy Haines, an advisor to the British Prime Minister, is accidentally killed, and M has Bond's passports and credit cards revoked because she believes Bond has killed too many potential sources of information. Bond travels to Italy to reunite with his old ally René Mathis, whom he convinces to accompany him to La Paz. They are greeted by Strawberry Fields, an MI6 field operative from the British Consulate, who demands that Bond return to the UK on the next available flight. Bond disobeys and seduces her in their hotel suite.

Bond meets Camille again at a fund-raiser being held by Greene, and they leave hastily together, but are pulled over by the Bolivian police. The police order Bond to open the luggage compartment of his vehicle, revealing a bloodied Mathis. As Bond lifts Mathis out of the vehicle, the policemen open fire and fatally wound Mathis. After Bond subdues the police and deposits Mathis' body in a waste container, Bond and Camille drive to Greene's intended land acquisition and survey the area in a Douglas DC-3 plane. They are intercepted and shot down by an Aermacchi SF.260 fighter and a Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter. They escape from the crippled plane by parachuting into a sinkhole. While escaping the cave, Bond and Camille discover Quantum is blockading Bolivia's supply of fresh water, normally flowing in subterranean rivers, by damming it. The duo return to La Paz, where Bond meets M and learns Quantum murdered Fields by drowning her in petroleum. Believing that Bond has become a threat to both friend and foe, M orders him to disarm and end his activities in Bolivia, but he defies her and escapes.

Bond meets CIA agent Felix Leiter at a local bar, who discloses Greene and Medrano will meet at an eco-hotel in the Bolivian desert. After the meeting, Bond attacks and kills the departing Colonel of Police for betraying Mathis, and sets off a chain of explosions in the hotel when a hydrogen fuel tank is hit by an out of control vehicle. Camille kills Medrano, and Bond captures Greene. After interrogating him, he leaves Greene stranded in the middle of the desert with only a can of motor oil. Bond drives Camille to a train station, where they kiss before she departs.

Bond goes to Kazan, Russia, where he confronts Vesper Lynd's former lover, Yusef Kabira. Yusef is a member of Quantum who seduces high-ranking women with valuable connections, getting them to give up government assets as ransom for himself in fake kidnappings where he is supposedly held hostage. He is attempting to do the same with Canadian agent Corinne Veneau, even giving her the same kind of necklace he gave Vesper. Surprising them at Yusef's apartment, Bond tells Corinne about Vesper and advises her to alert the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. As Bond is leaving Yusef's apartment he is confronted by M, who is surprised that Bond did not kill Yusef, but rather left him alive for questioning. M reveals that Leiter has been promoted at the CIA to replace Beam, and that Greene was found in the desert, shot dead and with motor oil in his stomach. Bond doesn't volunteer any information on Greene, but tells M that she was right about Vesper. M then tells Bond that MI6 needs him and fully reinstates him as an agent. Bond walks off into the night telling M that he never left. As he leaves, he drops Vesper's necklace in the snow.

Bolt

A girl named Penny and her dog Bolt star on a hit television series Bolt in which the titular character has various superpowers and must constantly thwart the evil plans of the nefarious Dr. Calico. Because Bolt has lived his entire life on a soundstage, and believes he really is his fictional counterpart, he doesn't know how to live like a normal dog. After filming completes for one episode, Bolt escapes from his on-set trailer mistakenly believing Penny has been kidnapped by the television villain. He attempts to break through a window, knocking himself unconscious as he falls into a box of Styrofoam. With no one aware Bolt is in the box, it is shipped from Hollywood to New York. In New York, he meets Mittens, a female alleycat who bullies pigeons out of their food. Because Mittens is a cat similar to one owned by the Green-Eyed Man, Bolt forces her to help him get back to Hollywood, and the two start their journey westward. Meanwhile, in Hollywood, Penny is deeply saddened over Bolt's disappearance but is forced by the studio to continue filming with a Bolt lookalike. Along the way, Bolt starts to notice that his regular superpowers aren't working, but he believes this simply the temporary effect that Styrofoam has on his body, much like Kryptonite affects Superman.

Surprised at his first feelings of both pain and hunger, Bolt manages to get food on the road thanks to the training of Mittens, who shows him how to look like a cute, needy dog. At a campsite, they meet Rhino, a fearless, TV-obsessed hamster and huge Bolt fan who joins their team. Mittens tries to convince Bolt that his superpowers aren't real, but their discussion is cut short by the arrival of Animal Control, who captures them both. Bolt vows to rescue Mittens, and does so with the help of Rhino and an exploding oxygen tank. The cross-country journey continues and Bolt learns to enjoy typical dog activities, (such as hanging his head out the window), but Mittens refuses to go farther than Las Vegas. She tells Bolt that his Hollywood life is fake and there is no real love for him there. Her emotional rant reveals that she was once a housecat, but was abandoned by her previous owner and left to brave the harsh streets alone and declawed. Bolt refuses to believe that Penny doesn't love him, and continues on alone, wishing Mittens the best. Rhino convinces Mittens that they must help him, and the two set off to find Bolt once again.

Bolt returns to the studio and is heartbroken to find Penny embracing his lookalike, unaware that Penny still misses him and that her affection for the lookalike was part of a rehearsal for the show. Witnessing this, and realizing that Penny truly does love Bolt, Mittens confronts Bolt and manages to clear up the misunderstanding. Back on the set, the Bolt-lookalike panics during filming and accidentally knocks over some torches, setting the soundstage on fire and trapping Penny. Bolt arrives and reunites with Penny, and manages to get themselves rescued. Penny's mom has her quit the show because she's has had enough of her agent caring about nothing but business and money. The show continues on with a replacement "Bolt" and "Penny", but seems to have jumped the shark with an alien abduction storyline that even Rhino considers silly. Penny herself adopts Mittens and Rhino, and moves to a rural home to enjoy a simpler, happy lifestyle with Bolt and her new pets.

Night At The Museum

Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is a divorced father who is unable to keep a stable job, the bulk of them being failed business ventures. He is desperate to win the support of his son Nick (Jake Cherry), whom he fears is beginning to look up to his more successful future stepfather, Don (Paul Rudd), a bond trader on Wall Street. Larry therefore applies for a job at the Museum of Natural History, where he is assigned as a night guard.

The three elder (soon to be unemployed) night guards, Cecil (Dick Van Dyke), Gus (Mickey Rooney), and Reginald (Bill Cobbs), give him a quick tour, advise him to leave some of the lights on, and warn him not to let anything "in...or out", which Larry meets with humorous skepticism. They also leave some odd instructions for him.

Once night comes, Larry discovers that the museum exhibits come to life. Larry barely manages to survive through the night. First, he discovers a Tyrannosaurus rex drinking from a water fountain; Larry distracts it by throwing a bone it has ripped from its own skeleton. Then, despite a narrow escape in the wildlife exhibits, Larry manages to lock up the lions. Finally, he double-checks his belt, only to discover that a capuchin monkey named Dexter has in fact stolen his keys. When Dexter destroys the old guards' instruction manual, Larry is forced into humiliating himself.

Eventually Larry is rescued from an odd feud between miniatures, pitting a Wild West buckaroo named Jedediah (Owen Wilson) against a Roman General named Octavius (Steve Coogan), by a wax model of Theodore Roosevelt (Robin Williams), who later explains that ever since an Egyptian artifact— the Tablet of Akmenrah — was brought to the museum in 1952, everything comes to life each night. However, if the exhibits are outside of the museum by sunrise, they turn to dust. Roosevelt proceeds to help Larry by restoring order, but insists that it will be the last time he shall ever do so.

While initially unnerved, Larry decides to remain as a guard. On Cecil's advice, Larry begins to study the history of the events and people in the exhibits to prepare himself better for their animation. He meets Rebecca Hutman (Carla Gugino), who is writing a dissertation on the life and times of Sacagawea (Mizuo Peck), and learns much of the history of the various exhibits from her.

The next night, Larry uses what he has learned to better control the exhibits, but fails when a Neanderthal sets fire to his compatriots' display, which Larry extinguishes with a nearby fire extinguisher, while another escapes out a window and turns to dust when the sun rises. Larry barely manages to keep his job after the Museum's director, Dr. McPhee (Ricky Gervais), discovers the mess. Larry tries to tell Rebecca about what happens every night, even offering to let her meet Sacagawea to help with her dissertation, but Rebecca does not believe him.

Two nights later, Larry brings Nick to the Museum, but fails to impress him when nothing comes to life. Just as Larry convinces Nick to wait for the promised event, they find Cecil, Gus, and Reginald stealing the Tablet of Akmenrah. Cecil then reveals the truth to Larry that like the museum exhibits, the guards receive vital emanation from the Tablet. Now accustomed to this vigor, they are unwilling to forsake it and intend stealing the Tablet, along with various other Museum artifacts to fund their retirement, and to frame Larry for the theft. Nick, after prompting from Larry, reactivates the Tablet's power and brings the exhibits to life once more. Cecil then grabs the Tablet back and locks Nick and Larry in the Egyptian room.

Larry calls for Theodore Roosevelt for help, but Roosevelt insists that Larry solve this problem on his own. The only thing left for Larry to do is release the mummy of Pharaoh Akmenrah (Rami Malek) himself, the owner of the tablet. Surprisingly Akmenrah speaks English; when asked for to explain this, he informs Nick and Larry that he spent many years as an exhibit in the Egyptology Department at Cambridge University. After Larry introduces himself and Nick, Akmenrah then asks them to bestow his Tablet upon him, so he can "claim his kingdom". Larry informs Ahkmenrah that the Tablet has been stolen, convincing the Pharaoh to free them. The three new friends then set out to reclaim the Tablet.

Larry discovers that the other exhibits are fighting with each other; having attracted their attention with the intervention of an animated Moa, he rallies them around the common cause of saving their own ability to be animated and thus acquires their help in retrieving the Tablet. Though the exhibits manage to capture Gus and Reginald, Cecil escapes with the Tablet, whereupon Larry, Nick, Akmenrah, Jed, Octavius, and Attila the Hun pursue and capture him.

Because the exhibits who have come outside may be destroyed by sunrise, Larry gives the Tablet to Akmenrah, who immediately uses its power to return all the exhibits to the museum. Rebecca, in a taxicab, sees the exhibits crossing the road in front of her and realizes that Larry was telling the truth. Entering the museum, she is introduced by Larry to Sacagawea.

The next day, Dr. McPhee fires Larry despite his effort to clean up the museum; but when the reports issued by the news media begin increasing the Museum's popularity, he readmits Larry. Some time later, Larry appears in Nick's classroom during Career Day. Later that night, Larry returns with Nick and all the exhibits celebrate. Cecil, Gus, and Reginald eventually become janitors at the Museum; a stereotypical punishment in comedy films for defeated antagonists.

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

Eccentric, 243-year-old Mr. Edward Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) owns and manages a magical toyshop. The shop has many quirks, including animated toys, a ledger that can bring to the purchase counter any toy on command, and a doorknob that, when rotated, changes the interior of a magic room. This room variously contains Mr. Magorium's apartment, a room full of constantly bouncing balls of various sizes, and other divisions of the toyshop. All of the toys are magical in one way or another; their magic and behavior, however, appear to depend on those of the store, which is itself intelligent and changes its appearance and actions according to its emotions. Magorium's assistant is the young woman Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman). She is an aspiring pianist, has plans to quit the store and start a career in music composition (the story begins with her practicing her song and going to work), and is, unexplainedly, always addressed by her surname. Mahoney is Eric's only human friend, as shown by their first on-screen conversation, and is cherished in a paternal fashion by Mr. Magorium himself. Mr. Magorium's biographer and tenant is a strongman-like figure called Bellini, who lives in the shop's basement, runs errands for his employer, and sleeps with a doll. This doll, in addition to Bellini's task as Mr. Magorium's biographer, suggest the "soft" aspects of his personality that underlie his forbidding demeanor.

Unexpectedly, Mr. Magorium announces that although he is not ill, he intends to "leave" — that is, to die — and gives the shop to Mahoney in his will. Prior to this, he has given her an undecorated cube made of wood and the task of finding a use for it. This cube becomes instrumental in Mahoney's coming of age.

As a preparation for his "departure", Magorium hires accountant Henry Weston (Jason Bateman), giving him an interview wherein the latter demonstrates knowledge of Fibonacci numbers. Henry, nicknamed the "Mutant" as a play on his job's title of "accountant" (playfully misinterpreted as a portmanteau of "a counter" and "mutant"), wins Mr. Magorium's approval when he demonstrates this knowledge on command and states as a reply to a question "anything can happen". His task is to organize the shop's long-neglected paperwork, which contains numerous financial difficulties whose effects have evidently never harmed Mr. Magorium or his business in addition to records of transactions with historical figures such as Thomas Alva Edison. Weston is not popular with the children who continuously visit and play in the shop; later, when Eric tries to become friends with him, Henry declines to play checkers on grounds that he "never [stops] working". Mahoney already has a low opinion of Weston, because he is skeptical of the shop's magic.

In response to its founder's decision to die, the shop sulks and on the following day throws a tantrum wherein its walls turn grey, the toys and books sold in it begin behaving erratically, and the ledger produces a Ring-Tailed Lemur when Mahoney requests from it a lollipop. The erratic behavior of the toys and books frightens the customers out of the shop. Mr. Magorium then calls a meeting of himself, Mahoney, Henry, Eric, and some of the toys to explain the situation at hand. Worried by Mr. Magorium's plan to "leave", Mahoney rushes him to the hospital, where doctors decide that Mr. Magorium should be kept when he has explained his age and occupation. Here, Mahoney uses the doctors' skepticism of magic to convince them that Mr. Magorium is suffering from delusions as a result of imminent death. He remains in the hospital overnight, surrounded by a backdrop of stars organized by Eric, and is released on the next day on grounds that nothing is physically wrong with him.

Meanwhile, Eric befriends the Mutant and introduces him to an extensive collection of diverse hats kept by Eric himself. The two play with these hats until interrupted by Eric's discomforted mother, who had not expected Eric to befriend anyone of Henry's age.

Mahoney attempts to prevent Mr. Magorium's departure by showing him life's joys, but he does not decide against "leaving". After a heartfelt, affectionate conversation, Mahoney leaves in tears, whereinafter Mr. Magorium throws his will in the form of a paper airplane, peacefully dying as the airplane flies around the room, temporarily changing the surroundings to match the image of a star field. Many children and adults crowd the cemetery to witness his funeral, which is held on the next day. Strangely, his first name, Edward, does not appear on the headstone of his grave. The store reacts to Mr. Magorium's death by darkening itself and refusing to show any magic.

Mahoney, believing herself to be unworthy of the store, offers it for sale. Eric, desiring to see the Emporium continue as it has, approaches Weston with a "business proposal" wherein Eric is willing to invest his savings and pocket-money in the shop. Though he refuses, Weston agrees to persuade Mahoney against selling the store when a woman looked at the property and rejected it. Her son saw a toy and played with it (Mahoney thinks it's not magic, she says it's a magnet). The toy's magic is revived because of that. Henry is caused to believe in the store's magic when Mahoney, by talking passionately of her faith in it, causes the wooden cube she was given to move as if alive. Influenced by further urging, the cube moves with increasing speed and confidence, eventually flying around the shop and halting in front of Henry, who faints from sheer astonishment.

When he wakes, the cube has vanished, and Mahoney appears unaware that it or any of the events caused by it exist. Henry, who is now a firm believer in the store's magic, leads Mahoney to realize that she is able to revive the store's magic by magic of her own. She notices this when she touches the piano. The shop is delighted and colorfully revived as Mahoney finally takes her position as owner and unlocks her creative potential, unleashing a celebration of the shop's wonders. It is implied that Mahoney has completed her first musical composition. (The background music is "Everything's Magic" by Angels and Airwaves.)

The Day The Earth Stood Still

In 1928, a mountaineer (Keanu Reeves) encounters a glowing sphere while on an expedition in the snowy mountains of India. He then finds himself awakening after a sudden loss of consciousness, with the sphere now gone and a scar on his hand. In the present day, Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly), a Princeton professor, and other scientists are hastily assembled by the government in order to formulate a survival plan when it is feared that a large unknown object with a speed of 3x10⁷m/s is on a crash course to the Earth, due to impact Manhattan in just over an hour. Nothing can be done about it because a vital military satellite has been disabled. However, the object is a large spherical biological spaceship, which slows down and lands gently in Central Park. A being (taking on the appearance of the man from the opening scene of the film) named Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) emerges from the sphere while accompanied by a large robot. Klaatu, a representative of a group of alien races, has come to assess whether humanity can reverse the environmental damage it has inflicted on planet Earth. In the ensuing confusion, Klaatu is shot, but survives. The large robot activates and proceeds to disrupt all electrical systems in the city of New York, including many of the defense systems that the military has mustered in a perimeter around the spaceship. However, before it can do any further damage, Klaatu orders it to shut down. While recovering from the wound, Klaatu is detained by Regina Jackson (Kathy Bates), the United States Secretary of Defense, and is barred from speaking to the United Nations. Klaatu manages to escape, and he soon finds himself eluding the authorities throughout Northern New Jersey, specifically Newark and the forested Highlands with Helen and her stepson Jacob (Jaden Smith).

Meanwhile, the presence of the sphere has caused a worldwide panic, and the military manages to capture the robot after it thwarts their attempts to destroy the sphere using unmanned aerial vehicles and Sidewinder missiles. Klaatu decides that humans shall be exterminated so the planet – with its rare ability to sustain complex life – can survive. He orders smaller spheres previously hidden on Earth to begin taking animal species off the planet, and Jackson, reminded of Noah's Ark, fears that a cataclysm is imminent. The robot, dubbed "GORT" (Genetically Organized Robotic Technology) by the government, is being experimented on deep within an underground facility in Virginia when it transforms into a swarm of self-replicating insect-like nanites that begin destroying everything in their path back to Manhattan, including a large contingent of the U.S. Army.

After speaking with Nobel Prize-winning Professor Barnhardt (John Cleese) about how his own species went through drastic evolution to survive its sun dying out, Klaatu is convinced by Helen and Jacob that humans can change their ways and are worth saving. The three begin heading to the sphere in Central Park, but Klaatu warns that even if he manages to stop GORT there will be a price to the human way of life. The nanobot cloud arrives before they can reach the sphere and they have to hide under a bridge. There, it is revealed that Jacob and Helen have been infected by the nanites. She pleads with Klaatu to save Jacob. Klaatu saves both of them by transferring the infection to his own body, then sacrifices his physical form to stop GORT by walking through the nanites to the sphere and touching it. His actions cause the sphere to emit a massive pulse which stops GORT, saving humanity, but at the price of much of Earth's technology becoming apparently useless and immobile. Klaatu disappears, and the giant sphere leaves Earth.

Speed Racer

Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is an 18-year-old whose life and love has always been racing. Racing is "in his blood": his parents, Pops (John Goodman) and Mom (Susan Sarandon), run an independent business building race cars; and his older brother, record-setting racer Rex Racer (Scott Porter), was killed in Speed's childhood in the running of the Casa Cristo, an incredibly intense cross-country racing rally notorious for rough and foul play. Before his death, Rex was rejected by his father for his choice to run the Casa Cristo, and publicly defamed for appearing to cheat underhandedly in a race. Now, Speed Racer is quickly sweeping the racing world with his artistic skill, driving the Mach 5 (and later the Mach 6) of his father's design, but remains interested only in the art of the race and the well-being of his family.

When Mr. Royalton (Roger Allam), owner of conglomerate Royalton Industries, offers Speed an astoundingly luxurious lifestyle in exchange for signing to race with him, Speed is tempted but declines, knowing that his father would never wish Speed to sign with the very power-hungry corporations he so mistrusts. When Speed refuses Mr. Royalton's offer, Royalton reveals that top corporate interests, including Royalton himself, are fixing the races to gain profit, and then threatens Speed's career success and very life when he still does not agree to sign on. When Royalton later proves ready to make good on his threats, Speed teams up with his girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci), his one-time rival, Racer X (Matthew Fox), and shifty racer Taejo Togokhan (Rain) to enter the Casa Cristo 5000 – known as "The Crucible" – in part of a plot to uncover the treacheries of Royalton and save the Racer business.

Speed begins to suspect that Racer X is actually his brother Rex in disguise, after they drive together and work naturally as a team. Despite his father's initial anger at his racing in the Crucible, Speed's family eventually joins up as well, as Speed overcomes Royalton's brutal team and many seemingly insurmountable obstacles to win the Casa Cristo 5000.^[4] It is, unfortunately, a sham victory, as it's revealed that Taejo's purpose was simply to make himself - and, by association, his father's racing company - look better, so the stock price would rise, and a proposed Royalton-arranged company buyout would be more expensive.

An angry Speed hits the old track his brother Rex used to take him as a boy, and the arrival of Racer X leads Speed to confront X, demanding to know the truth as to whether or not he is Rex. Racer X removes his mask, revealing an unfamiliar face, and tells Speed that his brother Rex truly is dead. Speed returns home, and Taejo's sister Horuko (Yu Nan) arrives, giving Speed Taejo's automatic invitation to the Grand Prix, as she felt bad for what her brother had done, noting that Taejo had declined to accept anyway. After 32 hours of family effort, the Mach 6 is rebuilt (having been destroyed in the race following Speed's refusal to sign with Royalton), and Speed hits the Grand Prix for the greatest race of his life, with a bounty on his head from the other drivers, and pitted against legendary Hall of Fame driver Cannonball Taylor.

Speed's battle in the race succeeds in exposing Royalton, and returning racing to its true purpose. Furthermore, it is revealed to the audience at the movie's end that Rex did not die (and also did not cheat), but instead underwent plastic surgery to re-emerge as Racer X, helping his younger brother finally save his family and his sport. He chose not to reveal his identity to his family, presumably for their protection. In the end of the movie, Rex is heard saying that even if he made a mistake hiding from his family it would be a mistake he had to live with, as he felt that it would do more damage to return to them rather than continue to live in hiding. As the cameras flash, Speed scoops Trixie up and kisses her, as he had promised to do at inspiration point, and Spritle starts getting overly excited; swinging the trophy from side to side while shouting. The "Magazine Montage" at the end confirms that Royalton's perversities were finally disclosed to the public and that he is sentenced to jail for life, and it also states that "Cheaters Never Prosper".

Zathura : A Space Adventure

Two boys, Walter (Josh Hutcherson) and Danny (Jonah Bobo), discover a space themed board game, where everything inside it becomes real. The boys are eventually drawn into an adventure when their house is magically hurtled through space. The story is similar to Jumanji, another illustrated book by Van Allsburg (in the book, the Zathura game is contained inside the Jumanji one, although paradoxically the astronaut is revealed to be the creator of Jumanji. Likewise in the movie versions Zathura takes place in the 1970's and Jumanji takes place in the 1960's).

During the course of the story, the boys must overcome their personal ill-feeling held toward one another in order to survive. They are aided in this by an astronaut (Dax Shepard) who appears as a result of the game. This astronaut is eventually revealed to be an older version of Walter, who had been trapped as a character in the game's world as a result of causing the disappearance of Danny, without whom he was no longer a player. Thus, the game could not advance without Danny taking his turn. This backstory becomes the basis, although the viewer only sees its role as such in retrospect, of parallels drawn between the two versions of Walter, including a revelation of the backstory without mention of his name or that of his brother. He is finally released when Walter summons his brother back to him. Both he and his brother seem to merge with Danny and Walter (after the astronaut turns back into another version of Walter) now that the future caused by Walter wishing Danny away has been erased.

Accompanying Danny, Walter, and the astronaut is their cantankerous elder sister, Lisa (Kristen Stewart), who while not a player is as vulnerable to the dangers present in the game. She is placed in cryogenic freeze for five turns. She develops a crush on the astronaut, and is thus horrified when she finds out that she fell for an older version of her brother Walter.

The main villains in the movie are the Zorgons; reptilian, biped tool-users who are fond of heat and are attracted to a heat source much like bees are attracted to nectar, because they are cold-blooded. The Zorgons, having burned their own planet to obtain more heat, are nomads who travel through space seeking more to burn and who keep a flock of four-eyed goats on their ship.

Another character, a robot (Frank Oz), first appears as a wind-up tin toy that quickly becomes life-size. It is supposed to defend the players, but as it is malfunctioning it mis-identifies Walter as an alien life form and begins rampaging through the house. Walter uses a "Reprogram" card on the robot, and it instead sets its sights on the Zorgons. A single Zorgon survives the robot's kamikaze attack and sneaks up behind Walter and Danny as they are wondering where Lisa is. Just as it's about to kill them, it is crushed and killed by Lisa with Danny's piano. Unfortunately, a massive Zorgon fleet arrives and attacks after Walter frees the astronaut and his brother.

Danny eventually completes the object of the game, whereupon the house is drawn into a roaring black hole, which Danny realizes is Zathura. The Zorgon fleet is pulled into the black hole, as are Lisa and Walter. Moments later, they have returned to Earth. All the "pieces" of the game (the house, its furnishing, and the players) have been replaced as they were before the game began. The brothers are thereafter much more cooperative with one another. The boys, and Lisa, retain their memories of the game's events in which they all agree never to speak of Zathura again.

As the kids get in the car with their mother and drive away, one of their bicycles which drifted off into space falls back to the lawn.

The SpongeBob SquarePants The Movie

Eugene H. Krabs is about to open his new restaurant, the Krusty Krab 2, to boost his business venture's popularity. At the opening ceremony, SpongeBob does not receive the title of general manager, which is instead given to Squidward, severely depressing the sponge. Plankton, distraught that his archrival is getting all the attention, uses the dreaded Plan Z to steal the Krabby Patty formula. He arrives at King Neptune's castle to steal Neptune's crown as part of Plan Z and is successful. Plankton feeds false information to Neptune, stating Eugene H. Krabs stole the crown. Infuriated, Neptune heads for the Krusty Krab 2. Later that evening, SpongeBob has an ice-cream eating contest with Patrick to brood over his loss, and, after obtaining a hang-over, heads to Krabs to talk things out. When he arrives, he sees Neptune attacking Krabs and demanding him to return his crown. SpongeBob promises Neptune he will travel to Shell City (where the crown was seen last) and retrieve the crown in six days; in the meantime Neptune freezes Krabs as he is the only suspect. Should the crown not return in six days's time, Krabs will fry. SpongeBob and Patrick take the Patty-Wagon, and with a resounding KER-PATTY!, smash through the wall of the restaurant and head off on their adventure.

Carrying out his Plan Z, Plankton steals the secret formula of the Krabby Patty while Mr. Krabs remains frozen. Plankton's restaurant finally gets customers when the Patty is distributed, though this is only a portion of Plan Z. Meanwhile, SpongeBob and Patrick lose their car at a gas station, and they go to great lengths to retrieve it upon finding it at a bar for tough fish. They continue their journey, unaware of the trouble that is brewing at Bikini Bottom: Plankton has sent a hitman named Dennis to go after the two.

Squidward uncovers the truth about Plankton and Neptune's crown theft and attempts to alert the authorities. However, Plankton uses mind-controlling buckets, disguised as souvenirs, to control the residents of Bikini Bottom, including Squidward, and renames the city Planktopolis. Back on the road, SpongeBob and Patrick drive into a place littered with skulls and bones, but, due to their ignorance, buy ice cream. The whole setting turns out to be a frogfish's lure, but SpongeBob and Patrick escape when the frog fish is eaten by a giant eel from a trench. SpongeBob and Patrick are about to admit defeat from the danger of the trench when Neptune's daughter, Mindy, shows up and tells them what Plankton has done. Neptune, however, is more concerned about his baldness (the prime reason why he wants his crown back) than the safety of the underwater world, and it is entirely up to SpongeBob and Patrick to save the day. When the two still refuse to cooperate, Mindy falsifies things by attaching strands of seaweeds to their lips, lying to them that they have grown mustaches and have become men. The gullible SpongeBob and Patrick are motivated and dances their way across the monster-infested trench, while Mindy leaves. The two then come across Dennis, who, after ripping off their false mustaches and spitting the truth at them, tries to kill them. Unexpectedly, a giant boot belonging to a human squashes Dennis, and the human, known to marine life as "the Cyclops", (due to the old wet suit he wears) grabs SpongeBob and Patrick and takes them away to his gift store, which is in fact Shell City. The Cyclops owns the shop and is selling Neptune's crown for seven dollars.

When they arrive, SpongeBob and Patrick encounter a lethal drying-out process which nearly kills them. However, their tears short circuit the heat lamp, which releases smoke and activates the emergency sprinkler system, which revives them as well as the other hundreds of dried-out sea creatures (their bodies were being sold as souvenirs). While the sea creatures attack the Cyclops, SpongeBob and Patrick take the crown outside to the beach. David Hasselhoff offers the two a ride to Bikini Bottom, which they gladly accept. Dennis makes one final attempt to eliminate the two, but is struck by a catamaran. Back at the Krusty Krab 2, Neptune arrives to execute Krabs, while Plankton eagerly watches. In the nick of time SpongeBob and Patrick return with the crown, saves Krabs, and then confronts Plankton. In turn Plankton activates the mind buckets, even brainwashing Neptune. But before Plankton thinks he is triumphant, SpongeBob, cherishing the fact he is just a kid and that he accomplished a lot in the past six days, uses his imagination by playing a rock song, using his guitar to free Plankton's slaves. Realizing defeat once again, Plankton tries to escape, but is trampled by Bikini Bottom's citizens.

Plankton is arrested and incarcerated, being sent to the "Institution of the Criminally Tiny." King Neptune thanks Mindy for her braveness and unfreezes Mr. Krabs, who graciously gives the title of general manager of the Krusty Krab 2 to SpongeBob. SpongeBob declares this to be the greatest day of his life.

Superman Returns

As the film begins, we learn that Superman has been missing for five years. He has traveled to where astronomers believed they had discovered the remains of Krypton. Superman returns to Earth, crashing back into his adoptive mother's corn field in a craft like the one that delivered him to Earth when he was a baby. He returns to the The Daily Planet and his life as Clark Kent in Metropolis. He learns that Lois Lane has won the Pulitzer Prize for her article "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." During Superman's absence, Lex Luthor has been released from prison. While away, Superman missed the appeals trial to testify against Lex. Upon his release, Lex marries a rich widow and obtains her fortune, immediately upon her death. Lex travels to the Fortress of Solitude, steals Kryptonian crystals, and returns to Metropolis to experiment with a tiny fragment. The growing crystal causes a blackout due to an electromagnetic pulse, interfering with the test flight of a new space shuttle tethered to a Boeing 777—a plane which Lois Lane is aboard while covering the story. Clark flies into action as Superman and stops the plane from crashing onto a baseball field.

The world rejoices in Superman's return, but Lois is more concerned with the blackout. Clark meets her fiancé Richard White, nephew of Daily Planet editor-in-chief Perry White, and their son, Jason. Clark is emotionally hurt when he overhears a conversation between Lois and Richard in which she says she never loved Superman. He buries himself in his work, including halting a bank heist and saving Kitty, Luthor's co-conspirator. While Kitty distracts Superman, Luthor steals Kryptonite from the Metropolis Museum of Natural History. Perry assigns Lois to interview Superman while Clark investigates the blackout. That night, Superman arrives at The Daily Planet and takes Lois for a flight, during which he apologizes for leaving her. After her latest Superman interview, Lois focuses her attention on the blackout again and ascertains its origin. She and Jason steal onto Luthor's ship, not realizing who owns it, and are captured. Luthor reveals his grand scheme: using one of the stolen Kryptonian crystals to grow a new continental landmass in the Northern Atlantic Ocean that will destroy much of Earth's existing continents, and in the process killing billions of people and leaving him as the new landmass' owner. After seeing Jason's adverse reaction to Kryptonite, Luthor inquires as to who Jason's father really is, but after Lois asserts that the father is Richard, he leaves to launch the crystal (now encased in green Kryptonite) into the sea. Under water, the crystal begins to create Luthor's new landmass. Lois faxes their co-ordinates to The Daily Planet and is attacked by a henchman. The henchman is hit by a piano, appearing as though Jason pushed it at him; afterward, Lois and Jason are imprisoned in a galley. Luthor hears of the incident and flees in a helicopter. The landmass's growth causes destruction in Metropolis, to which Superman attends, and Richard arrives in a sea plane to rescue Lois and Jason. Superman arrives to help, and then he flies off to find Luthor, who has returned to the still-forming continent. Meeting Luthor, Superman discovers the landmass is filled with Kryptonite, which weakens him to the point that Luthor and his henchmen are able to beat him. Superman falls into the ocean, after being stabbed with a shard of Kryptonite by Luthor. Lois makes Richard turn back to rescue Superman, and she removes the Kryptonite from his back. Superman, after regaining his strength from the sun, lifts the landmass by putting layers of earth between him and the Kryptonite. Luthor and Kitty escape in their helicopter, but not before Kitty, unwilling to let billions of people die, tosses away the crystals; she and Luthor are stranded on a desert island some time later. Superman throws the landmass into space, but is weakened by the Kryptonite and crashes back to Earth. Doctors remove more Kryptonite from Superman's wound, but after it is removed they cannot penetrate his skin with their surgical tools. While Superman remains in a coma, Lois and Jason visit him at the hospital, where, careful not to let Jason overhear, Lois whispers a secret into Superman's ear. Superman later awakens and flies to see Jason, reciting Jor-El's last speech to Jason as he slumbers. Lois starts writing another article, titled “Why the World Needs Superman". She goes outside, only to be greeted by the Man of Steel after he has just finished visiting Jason. Superman reassures her that he is now back to stay, and flies off.

The Legend of Zorro

In 1850, the people of California were voting to decide whether or not to join the United States. During one of the votes, a wild gunsman named Jacob McGivens attacks to steal the box of votes. Before he makes off with the votes however, Zorro, who has been protecting the people of California for the past ten years, appears and chases after him and his men. Zorro succeeds in recapturing the votes and fights off all of McGivens men. When McGivens attacks, he succeeds in pulling off Zorro's mask, but Zorro manages to knock him out before he sees his face. Just then a pair of spies, the Pinkertons, see the face of Zorro, recognizing him as Don Alejandro de la Vega. Zorro then makes a make-shift mask out of his costume and rides off on his black stallion, Toronado, to deliver the votes to the governor. Upon returning to his mansion, Alejandro is greeted by his loving wife, Eléna. Eléna believes that Alejandro can now give up being Zorro, but Alejandro is not so sure that the people will no longer need him. Angered, Eléna kicks Alejandro out of the house. The next day, after sending her now 10-year-old son, Joaquin to school, Eléna is confronted by the Pinkertons, who reveal that they know who Zorro really is. Soon after, Alejandro is served with divorce papers from Eléna. Three months later, Alejandro is living in a hotel, having not been summoned as Zorro in all this time. His friend and childhood guardian, Father Felipe, convinces him to attend a party at a French count's new vineyard, and there Alejandro finds out that Eléna has been spending time with the count, Armand, revealed to be a schoolmate of Eléna's. Later, after drinking himself crazy, Alejandro watches an explosion go off close to Armand's mansion and becomes suspicious of his ex-wife's long-time friend. Afterwards, McGivens and his men attack a peasant family, the Cortezes, with whom Alejandro is friends. McGivens, siding with Armand, wants to buy their land to build a railroad, but the husband, Guillermo, refuses and Zorro arrives to stop McGivens. He succeeds in rescuing Guillermo's wife, Blanca, and infant son, José, but McGivens shoots Guillermo just before disappearing with his gang, the deed to the Cortez home in hand. Zorro then stakes McGivens out at Armand's mansion to confirm his suspicions and finds out that he is working for Armand and that the mansion is awash with Confederate soldiers. He then chases after McGivens to a shore where the count's cargo is being delivered. Thanks to Joaquin, who nearly gets himself killed when he goes after McGivens and his gang, Alejandro, hidden beneath Zorro's mask, rescues his son from danger. Luckily, Joaquin saved a bar of soap from one of Armand's cargo boxes and unknowingly shows it to his father. Together with this evidence, Felipe and Alejandro learn that Armand is part of a secret society, the Knights of Aragon, headed by a corrupt Confederate Army officer, Colonel Beauregard, who plans to conquer the Union States. Sometime later, Alejandro is captured by the two Pinkertons and is told that they blackmailed Eléna into divorcing him and getting close to Armand to find out his plans. Joaquin stumbles onto his father's whereabouts and frees him from prison after a run-in with several guards. Zorro then heads over to Armand's mansion, while Eléna also arrives there and follows Armand to his secret lair. She then attacks the guards, but is outnumbered. Luckily Zorro arrives and they fight off all the guards. They then eavesdrop on Armand and Beauregard's meeting and learn that the soap bars are actually used to create nitroglycerin, which they plan to distribute throughout the Confederate army to destroy the Union. After confessing her involvement with the Pinkertons and that the divorce was fake, Eléna then heads back to the mansion before Armand gets back and Zorro prepares to destroy the train carrying all of the explosive. McGivens meanwhile arrives at Felipe's church and shoots the priest as he tries to fight back. He also kidnaps Joaquin. At the mansion, Armand reveals to Eléna that he knows of her deceit when he presents to her the pigeon that she used to inform the Pinkletons as their dinner and she later discovers the two Pinkletons dead in a closet. Armand then captures Eléna, as McGivens arrives with Joaquin, informing the Count of Felipe's death and that Zorro's son is a witness. Zorro then lights a fuse that will destroy the train and seemingly disappears into the night with his horse, Toronado. But after seeing Armand, Eléna, and Joaquin approaching the train, he runs back and stops the fuse at the last second. McGivens then captures Zorro and unmasks him in front of everyone, including Joaquin. Armand then leaves on the train with Eléna and Joaquin, giving McGivens the order to kill Alejandro. Before he can however, Felipe arrives and helps Alejandro fight McGivens. He eventually is killed when a drop of nitro lands on his head and explodes. Felipe then reveals that his crucifix around his neck shielded him from McGivens' bullet and Alejandro goes to save Eléna and Joaquin. The next morning, Zorro catches up to the train on Toronado. After a long chase, Toronado lands on top of the train and into the cargo car just as it approaches a tunnel. Zorro then makes his way to the passenger car and engages Armand in a sword fight. Meanwhile, Eléna has Joaquin escape on Toronado to stop the train and then fights Armand's butler in the Nitro storage car, eventually stuffing a bottle of Nitro into him and pushes him off the train just as it approaches its rendezvous point with Colonel Beauregard. The butler lands in front of Beauregard and explodes, killing them both. Further along the tracks, the governor is signing the bill that will make California a state and a crowd are witnessing it. As the train gets closer, Joaquin has Toronado hit a track switch, causing the train pass around the governor's car. Zorro and Armand's duel takes them from the passenger car, to the locomotive, and to the very front. Zorro is incapacitated for a short time, which Armand uses to attempt to stab him, but Eléna blocks him and the two have a short fight. Zorro wakes up and sees a large pile of rails blocking the end of the track. Zorro attacks Armand and hooks him to the front of the train. Zorro then uses his whip and swings to safety with Eléna. Armand notices the railblock too late and is killed when the train plows him into the block. The crash causes the train to stop quickly, in turn, causing the nitro to explode, destroying the entire train. The governor later finishes the bill and California becomes the 31st state of America. Later, Felipe remarries Alejandro and Eléna with Joaquin as the only witness. Eléna then allows Alejandro to continue being Zorro, accepting that it is who he is, and Zorro rides off on Toronado into the sunset.

Hancock

John Hancock (Will Smith) is an alcoholic with superhuman powers, including supersonic flight, invulnerability, immortality, and super-strength. Though he uses his powers to stop criminals in his current residence of Los Angeles, his activity inadvertently causes millions of dollars in property damage due to his constant intoxication. As a result, he is routinely jeered at the crime scenes. Hancock also ignores court subpoenas from the city of Los Angeles to address the property damage he has caused. When public relations spokesperson Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) departs from an unsuccessful meeting pitching his All-Heart logo for corporations who are extraordinarily charitable—or wish to be perceived as such—he becomes trapped on railroad tracks with an incoming freight train. Hancock saves Ray's life, but he causes the train to derail and nearly injures another driver. Hancock is jeered by other drivers for causing more damage, but Ray steps in and thanks Hancock for saving his life. Ray offers to improve Hancock's public image, and Hancock grudgingly accepts. The spokesperson convinces the alcoholic superhero to permit himself to be jailed for outstanding subpoenas so they can show Los Angeles how much the city really needs Hancock. When the crime rate rises after Hancock's incarceration, the superhero is contacted by the Chief of Police. With a new costume from Ray, Hancock intervenes with a bank robbery, rescuing a cop and stopping the leader of the robbers, Red Parker (Eddie Marsan). After the rescue, Hancock is applauded for handling the bank robbery. The superhero becomes popular once more, as Ray had predicted. He goes out to dinner with Ray and his wife Mary (Charlize Theron), with whom he reveals his apparent immortality and his amnesia from 80 years ago. After Hancock tucks a drunken Ray in bed, he discovers that Mary also has superhuman powers. He threatens to expose her unless she explains their origins, and she tells him that they have lived for 3,000 years with their powers, having been called gods and angels in their time. She explains that they are the last of their kind and that their kind are paired. Mary does not tell Hancock the entire truth, and Hancock departs to tell Ray about the conversation. The exchange results in a battle between Hancock and Mary that takes them to downtown Los Angeles, causing significant damage to the area. Ray, downtown in a business meeting, sees and recognizes Mary using abilities like Hancock's. Hancock is later shot twice in the torso when he intervenes in a liquor store robbery. After being hospitalized, Mary enters and explains that as the pair of immortals gets close, they begin to lose their powers. She also explains that Hancock was attacked in an alley 80 years prior, his skull was fractured, causing amnesia. Mary deserted him then in order for him to recover from his injuries. After her explanation, the hospital is raided by the bank robber Red Parker and two other criminals that Hancock had encountered during his incarceration. Mary is shot in the process. Hancock is able to stop two men but is further wounded by them. When Red attempts to finish Hancock off, Ray comes to the rescue and stops the bank robber with a fire ax. With Mary nearly dying, Hancock uses the last of his strength to flee from the hospital so that their parting would allow her to heal with her powers. He later winds up in New York City, working as a superhero. As gratitude to Ray, Hancock paints Ray's All-Heart logo on the moon and calls the spokesperson to look up to the worldwide advertisement.

The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl

A boy simply called Max (Cayden Boyd), living in central Texas, is regularly bullied at his school, while his parents (David Arquette and Kristin Davis) are constantly arguing. Dissatisfied and lonely, he creates a dreamworld called Planet Drool where endless fun and brilliant dreaming are the norm. Many of the inhabitants of this world resemble people from Max's own life, including the two main villains. To inhabit this world, imagines two young superheroes, Sharkboy and Lavagirl, and records his dreams in his Dream Journal. One day, Max reveals the origin of Sharkboy, who is the son of a biologist whose houseboat laboratory was destroyed in a violent storm and who eventually became a warrior under the tuition of great white sharks, and describes his own meeting with both fighters. No one is at all kind to him, except Marissa (Sasha Pieterse), the daughter of the teacher, Mr. Electricidad (George Lopez). An overprotective father, Mr Electricidad does not want Max to befriend her, although he suggests that Max attempt to make friends in his real world, so as to distract himself from dreaming. Later, a bully called Linus (Jacob Davich) steals Max's Dream Journal. The next day, Max confronts Linus, who returns the now heavily scribbled Dream Journal to Max. As a storm gathers outside, the characters emotions become increasingly exaggerated. Max accuses Linus of spoiling the journal, who in turn demands that Max be expelled. Angered at having his authority challenged, Mr. Electricidad spitefully proclaims that they shall both report to the principal's office. Suddenly, the wall of the schoolroom is broken down by a cyclonic wind, revealing Sharkboy (Taylor Lautner) and Lavagirl (Taylor Dooley), who have come to enlist Max's aid in saving Planet Drool from a "Darkness" which encroaches upon it. Neither of them denies that they are Max's creations: Lavagirl, when describing Planet Drool, remarks "You should know, Max; you made it up". The three travel to Planet Drool, where it is revealed that Max's dreamworld has become a garish nightmare. After rescuing some children from a never-ending roller coaster, they confront the sadistic Mr. Electric, a now corrupt operator of the planet's electrical support, who overpowers them and sends them down the "Passage of Time" to the Dream Graveyard. There, Sharkboy and Lavagirl urge Max to dream, believing his imagination to be of great power; but Max is uncertain of how to proceed. Among the useless or forsaken dreams lying derelict in the Graveyard, Max discovers Tobor, a sapient, android robot Max once tried to build. Tobor advises them to catch the Train of Thought to a place of safety, allowing them to ride on his disembodied eyes and mouth, the only parts of his body he can still move. After they crash the Train of Thought in the Land of Milk and Cookies, Max is able to dream without the corrupting influence of the Darkness, abetted by some off-key singing by Lavagirl and a much better performance by Sharkboy. When they are attacked by Mr. Electric's seekers, the "plughounds", Max is able to dream up a banana split boat so that they are able to escape down the Stream of Consciousness. Here, Max reveals that they may try to obtain a thing called the Crystal Heart from its owner, the Ice Princess. In the Land of Ice, they must cross a long, narrow ice bridge. Lavagirl, whose heat threatens to melt the bridge if she is awake, attempts to sleepwalk across it. Mr. Electric ambushes them on the Ice Palace's side of the bridge. They are taken to the Dream Lair, the source of the planet's life, where they discover that Linus, who now styles himself Minus, has been empowered by Max's corrupted Dream Journal and now stands poised to destroy the world recorded within it. They manage to escape when Lavagirl encourages some tiny, bubble-like, soothing dream-creatures called Lalas to sing at a frequency which provokes Sharkboy into tearing apart the cage holding them captive. They reclaim the Dream Journal, but it burns to ashes in Lavagirl's overeager hands. Shattered, she fervently laments her tendency towards destruction, and fears that she is inherently evil. She angrily questions Max as to why he made her of lava and paired her with Sharkboy, claiming that, like Max's parents, they are incompatible. They return to the Ice Castle, where the Ice Princess, who more than slightly resembles his fellow-student Marissa, agrees to lend him the Heart, on conditions imposed by her father the Ice Guardian. Under the imposed conditions, Max must hold the Crystal Heart until death parts them. As they journey back, Mr. Electric challenges Sharkboy, who is then rendered insentient by electric eels. Spurning Max's warnings, Lavagirl sacrifices herself to rescue him. Max, grief-stricken, wonders what to do, whereupon Tobor's face appears like a helpful djinn and offers counsel. The two converse; concluding that Max should "dream a better dream", having hitherto only dreamed for himself, on purpose to escape from rather than improve on his real world. When Tobor has gone, Sharkboy wakes and is aghast to see Lavagirl in her state of near-death. Wishing to save her, Sharkboy carries her to an active volcano and throws her into its crater, while Max imagines that her nature is that of light, the most "positive" thing to emerge from sources of heat. She is immediately revived, whereupon her power manifests itself as a light that burns away the Darkness. Max, now in full possession of his power to dream, thaws the ocean for Sharkboy, who, aided by several mako sharks, pins Mr. Electric down. Max and Linus then duel, using escalating manifestations of thought to defeat each other, until Max realizes that at some time in the past, someone broke Linus' own dreams, with the result that Linus seeks to destroy everything that reminds him of what he has lost. Max offers him his friendship, and Linus accepts. Lavagirl and Sharkboy join the reconciled Max and Linus at the Dream Lair, each one elated at having achieved their respective ambitions; Lavagirl at having her nature as a light revealed and Sharkboy at his new status as King of the Ocean. Mr. Electric, who has becomes addicted to evil, sets off to kill Max, who is actually dreaming on Earth. Max reluctantly returns to his waking life, where Mr. Electric has stirred the local weather into a tornado, which sweeps up Max's parents as they attempt to rescue their son. During the struggle to avoid losing contact with each other, Max's parents realize that their affection for each other exists in spite of their recent quarrels. They are rescued by Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Mr. Electric, meanwhile, menaces Max and his classmates, on which occasion Mr. Electricidad urges the students to think of a plan by which to defeat Mr. Electric. Linus, having tried and failed to do so in single combat, suggests that Mr. Electric be frozen. Max, remembering that he has the Crystal Heart, gives it to Marissa, who being the Earthly version of the Ice Princess has the ability to use it. She confidently strides out into the windstorm (overriding her father's objections) and uses the Crystal Heart to change Mr. Electric into unseasonal snow. Mr. Electricidad, having learned "as much from his students as the students learn from him", thanks Max for having "awakened" him. Subsequently, Max reveals to the class that Sharkboy, now king of the ocean, travels in search of his father and cares for the ocean's creatures while above him Lavagirl tends to the volcanoes that originate on the ocean floor. They no longer visit Max, though he may visit them in his dreams. In the world of reality, Max finally builds Tobor.

The Incredible Hulk

The film's back-story is detailed during flashbacks, which are mostly in the opening credits, and further exposition. General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (William Hurt) hired scientist and radiation expert Dr. Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) to revive a World War II era military bio-force enhancement research project in hopes of creating a new weapon for the military. Banner exposed himself to gamma radiation, which results in him becoming a giant, green-skinned monster called the Hulk (voiced by Lou Ferrigno), and hospitalizing Ross' daughter Betty (Liv Tyler), a cellular biologist who was Banner's colleague and lover. Now a fugitive from the United States Army, Banner went on the run for five years. When the film begins, Banner works at a bottling factory in Brazil while searching for a cure for his condition with the help of an Internet friend, "Mr. Blue". He is also taught martial arts and meditative breathing techniques by an expert (Rickson Gracie) to help control his emotions, and has not transformed for 158 days. After Banner suffers a cut, his blood drips into a soda bottle eventually drunk by an ill-fated consumer (Stan Lee) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This accident points Ross to Banner's location and he sends a team, led by the Russian-born British special operations expert Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), to capture him. Banner escapes Blonsky by transforming into the Hulk and battling his team in the factory. After Ross explains to Blonsky how Banner first became the Hulk, an astonished and vengeful Blonsky declares he wants Banner's power. Ross arranges for Blonsky to be injected with the Vita-ray serum, which has been kept in cold storage, giving him enhanced speed, agility, reflexes and healing ability. Banner returns to Culver University in the United States, where the Hulk was born. He reunites with Betty, who is dating psychiatrist Leonard Samson (Ty Burrell). On the day he decides to leave, Ross and Blonsky's forces attack Banner at Culver University, forcing him to transform. Blonsky proves to be athletic and agile enough to compete with the Hulk thanks to the serum, and Ross attempts to contain the Hulk with two sonic cannons. This ploy fails, when the Hulk shields himself with two sheets of metal. Additionally, every bone in Blonsky's body is broken when the Hulk kicks him, smashing him into a tree. The Hulk flees with Betty, who became unconscious after a helicopter he struck crashed nearby. After he calms down and becomes human again, Banner and Betty travel to New York City to meet "Mr. Blue". The two maintain a low profile as the Hulk's existence becomes public knowledge and a matter of national security following the university battle. Banner and Betty meet "Mr. Blue", who is cellular biologist Dr. Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson), at a university. Accompanying him to his lab, Banner and Betty learn that Sterns has developed a possible antidote that may cure Banner's condition, or merely reverse each individual transformation. Despite the risk, Banner agrees to test Sterns' antidote, which requires triggering a transformation and reversing it. Successful, and utterly fascinated by Banner's transformation, Sterns reveals that he has synthesized Banner's blood sample into a large supply with the intention of using it to enhance the human condition to the next evolutionary level. Appalled by what Sterns had done and fearful of the Hulk's power falling into the wrong hands, Banner attempts to convince Sterns to destroy the blood supply, but he is attacked by Ross' forces and taken into custody. A recovered Blonsky forces Sterns to inject him with the Hulk's blood. Sterns warns that the combination of the supersoldier formula (which Blonsky has overdosed on, mutating his skeleton) and a gamma treatment would be an unpredictable combination that could turn him into an "abomination". Unconcerned, Blonsky makes Sterns administer the gamma charge, and he mutates into a powerful monster. He knocks Sterns aside and escapes, rampaging through Harlem to draw the Hulk out. At the lab, an irradiated sample of Banner's blood-derivative drips into an open wound on Sterns' temple, causing his cranium to mutate and expand. Banner, realizing that he is the only one who can stop the monster, convinces General Ross to release him. He falls from Ross' helicopter as it hovers over the city, hoping the fall will trigger a transformation. Banner's plan succeeds, and after a brutal battle, the Hulk defeats Blonsky by nearly strangling him to death with a huge chain, relenting his grip only after Betty's plea. After letting out a cry of victory, the Hulk kicks the beaten Blonsky towards the army, giving them the weapon they orignally intended to create. The Hulk then flees the scene with the army in pursuit. Thirty-one days later, Banner is in Bella Coola, British Columbia. Instead of trying to suppress his transformations, he is attempting to initiate them in a controlled manner. As his eyes turn green, a grin appears on his face. Meanwhile, General Ross is drinking in a bar when he is approached by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) who reveals that a "team" is being put together.

Hulk

David Banner is a genetics researcher who experiments on himself, trying to improve human DNA. Once his wife gives birth to their son Bruce, David realizes his mutant DNA has been passed on and attempts to find a cure for his son's condition. The government, represented by Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, shuts down his research after learning of his dangerous experiments. David, in a fit of rage, causes a massive explosion of the facilities' gamma reactor, and accidentally kills his wife. He is then put into a mental hospital, while 4-year-old Bruce is sent into foster care and adopted, taking on the last name of Krenzler, believing his biological parents are deceased. The events leave Bruce unable to conjure the memories into reality. Years later, Bruce is a brilliant researcher freshly graduated at the University of California, Berkeley. The military-industrial complex, represented by the unscrupulous Major Talbot, becomes interested in the research to build regenerating soldiers. David reappears and begins infiltrating Bruce's life, working as a janitor in the lab building. Ross, now an Army general, also begins to investigate. Ross, the estranged father of Bruce's ex-girlfriend and co-researcher Betty Ross, becomes concerned both for his daughter's safety around Bruce, but also because Bruce is working in the same field as the father he does not remember. Bruce succumbs to a scientific experiment accident. Afterwards, we see Bruce sitting in a hospital bed telling Betty that he's never felt better, which she can't fathom due to the fact that the nanomeds have killed everything else they've touched. The radiation has intertwined with Bruce's already-altered DNA. That night, his father confronts him, revealing their relationship and hinting at the mutation inside Bruce. Using Bruce's DNA, he begins experimentation on animals. Soon after, the building rage within him stemming from all of the stresses building up around him activates his gamma-radiated DNA, transforming Bruce into the Hulk. After the destruction at the lab, Bruce is found unconscious and at home by Betty. Bruce barely remembers his transformation, a sensation similar to birth. Ross arrives, suspicious, and places him under house arrest as well as taking over Bruce and Betty's lab. That night, David phones Bruce and tells him he has unleashed three mutant dogs to Betty's house. Enraged and attacked by Talbot, Bruce transforms again and, after seriously injuring Talbot and his henchmen, fights and kills all three dogs and saves Betty. The next morning, Bruce is tranquilized and taken to an enormous underground base in the desert. Betty tries to convince her father to allow her to attempt to help Bruce control his transformations, but Ross remains extremely skeptical, believing Bruce is "damned" to follow in his father's footsteps. In the meantime, David breaks into the lab and subjects himself to the nanomeds and the gammasphere, gaining the ability to meld with and absorb the properties of anything he can touch. Talbot, seeing an opportunity to profit from the Hulk's strength and regenerative capability, attacks and taunts Bruce, but fails. Talbot puts him in a sensory deprivation tank and induces a nightmare that triggers his repressed memories and transforms him into the Hulk, eventually leading to the death of Talbot. David confronts Betty and offers to turn himself in. In exchange, he asks to speak to Bruce "one last time." The Hulk escapes the base in the process. He battles the army in the desert, defeating four tanks and two Comanche Helicopters, and leaps all the way to San Francisco to find Betty again. Betty contacts her father and convinces him to take her to meet the Hulk, believing that he needs "a chance to calm down." Bruce's love for her comes through the Hulk, and he transforms back into his human form. David is allowed to visit the base and talk to Bruce. David, having descended into megalomania, fails to convince Bruce to give him his power. David transforms into a powerful electrical being after biting into a wire and absorbing the energy. Bruce then transforms into the Hulk and battles his father. Both are presumed dead after Ross orders a Gamma Charge Bomb to end the fight, leaving no trace of either men. A year later there have still been numerous sightings of the Hulk. Bruce finds exile in the Amazon Rainforest as a doctor in a medical camp.