Freeze Frame: “White Bird” (PG-13), “The Wild Robot” (PG), “Wolfs” (R), “Will and Harper” (R)

The drama “White Bird” serves as a sequel and prequel to the movie, “Wonder,” based on the graphic novel by R. J. Palacio. Helen Mirren plays the French grandmother of a troubled boy. She tells him the harrowing story of her experiences as a Jewish child during WWII, hiding out in a barn for over a year during the Nazi occupation of France. Director Marc Forster’s handsome adaptation is a bit overlong and preachy but “White Bird” is nevertheless a touching and involving drama.

It’s nature vs. technology in the warmhearted and beautifully animated fantasy, “The Wild Robot.” A shipwrecked droid washes up on an island inhabited only by wild animals. Through trial and error, she forms a bond with the island’s creatures. While the script is sometimes clunky and the themes a bit fuzzy, “The Wild Robot” is a sweet sci-fi fairytale that should have a wild family appeal.

George Clooney and Brad Pitt star in the comic Apple TV+ thriller, “Wolfs.” They play lone wolf crime scene fixers who become unwilling partners when a job goes wrong. The stars are the main attraction of this goofy, tongue-in-cheek shaggy dog opus that one could describe as ‘Quentin Tarantino Lite.” “Wolfs” works fitfully, but the duo’s charisma carries the day.

The Netflix documentary “Will & Harper” is a road trip movie with a twist. Comedian Will Ferrell and his friend, longtime “Saturday Night Live” writer Harper Steele, take a drive across the country. How would people react to the fact that Steele has transitioned from male to female? Alternately funny and touching, “Will & Harper” is an empathetic testament to an enduring friendship.

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