Fungus the Bogeyman

If your tween finds farting and burping endlessly funny, look no further for your next family night film. Fungus the Bogeyman has both in spades, as well as plenty of gross-out humor involving underworld, Shrek-like monsters (called bogeys) who slather themselves in filth, vomit on each other, and enjoy smelling each other's most odorous body parts and functions. Word play ("my drear," "I stink therefore I am") and solid animation also offer some hooks. Fortunately for the adults in the room, who will tire of bogey humor faster than you can say "jockstrap," the hideous monsters must at least temporarily try to improve their health and hygiene standards when they enter the human world.

And, not to be species-centric, but the film gains in nuance and depth in the human world, set in England. The neighbors (played by Marc Warren, Keeley Hawes, and Fern Deacon) are a middle-class family struggling to make ends meet with the kind-hearted husband unemployed. Their teen daughter has a crush on the local cool kid and is perpetually embarrassed by her parents, not unlike the bogey teen Mould, who feels he doesn't fit in underground. He's "dry-curious," a term latent with double meaning, who is interested in exploring the human ("drycleaners") world. Ultimately, the underlying sweetness of the main characters and the affable resolution of teen angst make Fungus watchable for tweens and adults alike.