5 new movies to see, stream or skip in December 2025 – 828reviewsNOW

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — The end of the year is almost here, but there are still movies coming out left and right. From animated sequels to Christmas comedies to Netflix dramas, here are five new movies to see, stream or skip this December.

“ZOOTOPIA 2” (2025, 107 min., directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard)

I know, I know, I love “KPop Demon Hunters” too, but “Zootopia 2” is far and away the best animated movie of the year. Good thing, since it had big paw prints to fill: its 2016 predecessor won Best Animated Feature at the Oscars and went on to gross over a billion dollars at the worldwide box office. Financially, this one is already matching up – “Zootopia 2” is nearing a billion itself after just two weekends – and time will tell if awards follow suit.

The film picks up right where the last one left off. Judy Hopps, a bunny voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin, and Nick Wilde, a fox voiced by Jason Bateman, are detectives in the city of Zootopia, which is a world filled with anthromorphic animals and even more animal puns. It feels as though there are 15 funny gags in virtually every frame. This time around, the duo is investigating the reemergence of reptiles in Zootopia.

Specifically, they team up with a snake, played with trademark charm by Ke Huy Quan.

Like the first movie, a clever, kid-friendly analogy for racism, “Zootopia 2” tackles big ideas and heavy themes in an age-appropriate package. What makes these films so impressive is not their animation, beautiful as it may be, or their silly sense of humor, but their ability to transpose issues like gentrification, institutional corruption and racial prejudice into a movie appropriate for all ages. There is a satisfying sense of justice at the core of “Zootopia,” and the clever detective noir overtones are the cherry on top.

Rating: 4.5/5

“Zootopia 2” is now playing in theaters nationwide.

“RENTAL FAMILY” (2025, 110 min., directed by Hikari)

“Rental Family” is Brendan Fraser’s first starring role since winning an Oscar for his work in “The Whale.” It was worth the wait. Fraser is great in this tear-jerking dramedy from mononymic writer-director Hikari.

“Rental Family” is about unsuccessful American actor Phillip, played by Fraser, who has been searching for a steady acting gig in Japan after moving there to star in a toothpaste commercial seven years prior. At the start of the film, Phillip lands a role as “Sad American” at a mock funeral, where he discovers the Japanese concept of rental family services. The funeral was organized by Rental Family Inc., a company which lends out their employees as actors for whatever role their clients require: parent, partner, pal, whatever.

After some initial trepidation over the moral and ethical boundaries of what Phillip sees as “lying,” he discovers he has a knack for the job, forging quick bonds with his clientele and befriending his coworkers, played by the stupendous Takehiro Hira, Mari Yamamoto and Kimura Bun.

Phillip is believably written and conceived by Hikari and co-writer Stephen Blahut, but it is hard to imagine an actor other than Fraser bringing him to life. Fraser is an empathy machine in “Rental Family,” doling out teddy bear compassion with a shrug of his shoulders or quirk of his mouth. His earnest likability makes him perfectly suited for Phillip’s most challenging role as a rental family provider: Phillip is tasked with playing an absentee father returning to care for his daughter, a young girl named Mia, played by the feisty, fantastic Shannon Mahina Gorman.

“Rental Family” explores what it means to blur lines, whether as an actor, an employee or a family member. Every single one of its character is coping with a lie they are telling themselves or to others. By the end of the movie, the messiness of it all resolves a little too neatly and the sentiment might be a little too sweet, but one thing is left totally clear: “Rental Family” is a triumph for Fraser.

Rating: 3.5/5

“Rental Family” is now playing in theaters nationwide.

“JAY KELLY” (2025, 132 min., directed by Noah Baumbach)

In some ways, “Jay Kelly” could have been called “George Clooney.” Noah Baumbach’s drama is a meta look at the legacy of a movie star and the conflict between stardom and sacrifice, or the tension between professional obligation and familial connection. The film is not a Clooney biography, but the actor lends his own reputation and screen presence to Kelly, bringing a genuineness to the movie that makes it feel like an artifact of an alternate reality.

In typical Baumbach fashion, the film is at its best on the basis of its script. Baumbach’s dialogue, written in collaboration with Emily Mortimer, is melancholic, caustic and sharp, especially when it comes to its central character. “Jay Kelly” is devoted to the power of the movie star while chastising those who would destroy their lives to become one.

There is some wonderful directorial flair, too. Baumbach worked with cinematographer Linus Sandgren to craft gorgeous compositions befitting of its stars: Clooney, Laura Dern and Adam Sandler, to name just a few. However, while “Jay Kelly” looks and sounds great, its story is soft around the middle. The clunkiest parts are told in a series of flashbacks and memories, which felt hokey as hell, despite the brilliance of Billy Crudup’s performance as a young Kelly.

Appropriately for a movie obsessed with the end of a movie star’s career, its ending is the most interesting part. Baumbach and Clooney take one of the biggest meta swings of the year in the final ten minutes. Even if not everything prior works, the finale is the star of the show.

Rating: 3.5/5

“Jay Kelly” is now streaming on Netflix.

“OH. WHAT. FUN.” (2025, 108 min., directed by Michael Showalter)

Not to be a Grinch, but this movie is oh. So. Dumb. While bad Christmas movies are an expected symptom of the holiday season, the pedigree of “Oh. What. Fun.” had me hopeful for something better.

The Christmas comedy comes from writer-director Michael Showalter, who has previously written enduring hits like “Wet Hot American Summer” and directed modern comedy classic “The Big Sick.” Even his schlockier fare, like last year’s pop star romance “The Idea of You,” is usually well made, crafted with the precision of an elf in Santa’s workshop.

If Showalter had a hitherto solid track record, the cast is even more unbelievable, particularly when you factor in their previous Christmas movie experience. Dominic Sessa debuted in “The Holdovers,” Alexander Payne’s Oscar-winning Christmas dramedy. Michelle Pfeiffer, who employs an awful Texas accent in “Oh. What. Fun.,” is Christmas queen of “Batman Returns.” They star alongside Felicity Jones, Chloë Grace Moretz, Jason Schwartzman, Danielle Brooks, Havana Rose Liu, Maude Apatow and Joan Chen. I mean, come on. There are so many talented, funny, accomplished actors in this flick.

Unfortunately, not a single one of them was dialed into whatever Showalter was going for here.

“Oh. What. Fun.” is ostensibly about a dysfunctional family brought together for their annual Christmas holiday, but you wouldn’t know these characters were related. Not a single actor felt like they’d ever been in the same room before the cameras rolled. There is a stunning lack of chemistry among the cast, exacerbated by the limp jokes and boring dialogue.

“Oh. What. Fun.” is a major disappointment. However, it isn’t all coal in the stocking: its sole redeeming factor is a great soundtrack, including a new song from Fleet Foxes. Save yourself an hour and a half and just listen to that instead.

Rating: 1/5

“Oh. What. Fun.” is now streaming on Prime Video.

“ETERNITY” (2025, 114 min., directed by David Freyne)

There are a lot of brochures in “Eternity.” Maybe that’s why the film feels like one: glossy images, minimal descriptions and the promise of an incredible experience just out of reach.

I applaud director David Freyne for attempting to bring the romantic comedy back to the big screen. “Eternity” is about Joan, a recently-deceased woman played by Elizabeth Olsen, who must decide who to spend eternity with in the afterlife. Will she choose her first husband, Luke, a handsome, KIA soldier played by Callum Turner? Or will she pick her life partner, Larry, a pretzel-munching, fussy fellow played by Miles Teller? Choosing between two guys is a classic romcom scenario, and it plays out in “Eternity” in lovingly trope-y fashion, complete with hijinks, miscommunication and funny sidekicks, played by the scene-stealing Da’Vine Joy Randolph and John Early.

If its premise is cliché, “Eternity” is unique in its setting. In Freyne’s film, purgatory is a gigantic way station styled like a massive, mid-century hotel convention. Paradise, meanwhile, is presented in the products the convention booths are hawking. New souls who arrive at the hotel are given a week to decide on an afterlife they will spend eternity in, after which they may never leave. Examples include settings like “Mountain Eternity” and “Beach Eternity,” special interests like “Museum Eternity” and more traditional conceptions of the afterlife, like “The Pearly Gates.” The best parts of the movie were when Freyne diverted to a gag about different eternities, whether via mock commercials, pushy salesmen or a stack of pamphlets. You can tell the production team had a blast coming up with ads for the different afterlife concepts.

Unfortunately, the story of “Eternity” is about as hollow and shallow as an ad, too. Joan is forced to choose between Luke and Larry, but she is given the opportunity to sample one eternity each with them. Conflict ensues when the complexity of her feelings does not match the simple bliss promised by the boys’ respective paradises.

Despite the weighty implications of the subject matter – literal life and death – there is no deep exploration of what it would mean to choose forever with someone here. Beyond the frothiness of romcom wit and drama, the setting of “Eternity” is drastically, distractingly more interesting than its characters, all of whom are frustratingly one-note.

The film wants to say something about the complexity of humanity by pitting its leads in opposition to the single-characteristic paradises, but the characters are too flatly written for the point to land. There is a sweet love story in here, somewhere. It just needed better characters to match it – the performers are not the issue.

Even if I spent my afterlife in Movie Watching Eternity, it would take several eons for me to want to watch “Eternity” again.

Rating: 2/5

“Eternity” is now playing in theaters nationwide.