In early-'oughts Toronto, life for 13-year-old Meilin Lee (voiced by Rosalie Chiang) was about her BFFs, boy bands, and most of all, hyper-achieving to keep the hover-'rents (Sandra Oh, Orion Lee) happy. That was until she got smacked by an old family curse-that turns her into an 8-foot red panda when stressed-and her comically calamitous coming to terms with it fuels this incisive and endearing Pixar effort. Also with the voices of Wai Ching Ho, James Hong, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan. 100 min. Widescreen; Soundtrack English.

Sorcerer Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) agreed to defend dimension-hopping teen America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) from an unknown entity looking to exploit her powers. Will he be challenged on his sundry time/space tampering by the mysterious council called the Illuminati... and will he regret turning to disgraced Avenger Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) for backup? Shock- and cameo-laden Marvel sequel co-stars Benedict Wong, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams; Sam Raimi directs. 126 min. Widescreen; Soundtrack English. Two-disc set.

It was the early '70s, and the Minions (voiced by Pierre Coffin) were in the market for a new master-so they glommed on to Gru (Steve Carell), then just a 12-year-old fanboy of the criminal crew called the Vicious 6. When the 6 jumped out ex-honcho Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin), Gru offered to replace him... and after getting laughed off, his vengeful attempts to show up the cabal got their attention in the worst way. Fun franchise entry co-stars the voices of Taraji P. Henson, Michelle Yeoh, Lucy Lawless, Julie Andrews.

Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Mr. Shark, Ms. Tarantula, and Mr. Piranha don't just have cool nicknames, they're actual animals who make up the criminal gang known as the Bad Guys. After he helps an old lady, can leader Mr. Wolf convince his crew to turn over a new leaf-or is it just a ruse to keep them all out of jail? Based on Aaron Blabey's book series, this computer-animated comedy features the voices of Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson. 100 min. Widescreen; Soundtracks English Dolby Atmos, DVS, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital Plus 7.1; Subtitles English (SDH), French, Spanish; audio commentary; deleted scenes; featurettes. Two -disc set.