Weekend Event Planner

These are the 9 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

There are a lot of big names making their way through the Dallas area this weekend — some are old, some are new, but all are highly entertaining. The weekend's lineup includes a great film festival, a world premiere play that couldn't be more topical, a throwback '90s concert for the ages, a movie actor moonlighting as a singer, and the most laid-back singer in the world.

Below are the best options for your precious free time Thursday through Sunday. Don't like what you see? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, June 8

6th Annual Oak Cliff Film Festival
After only six years, the Oak Cliff Film Festival has already established itself as a major destination for film lovers in Dallas. This year's edition, taking place through Sunday at Texas Theatre and other venues, includes screenings of A Ghost Story, directed by David Lowery and starring Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara; Lemon, starring Brett Gelman, Judy Greer, Michael Cera, Nia Long, and Gillian Jacobs; and The Little Hours, a rowdy comedy about some very unholy and unapologetic nuns (Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, and Kate Micucci) in the 14th century.

Theatre Three presents A Little Night Music
Stephen Sondheim is a renowned composer and lyricist who has five Tony Awards for Best Musical on his résumé, including A Little Night Music. In the musical, presented by Theatre Three through July 2, Anne is married to Fredrik. Fredrik loves Desiree. Desiree is sleeping with Carl-Magnus. Carl-Magnus is wed to Charlotte. And Charlotte cannot be bothered. Couples intertwine, intersect, and change partners in this sumptuous turn-of-the-century fairy tale for adults.

Travis Wall's Shaping Sound: After the Curtain
Under the artistic direction of Emmy Award-winner Travis Wall, Shaping Sound is a mash-up of dance styles and musical genres brought to life on stage by a dynamic company of contemporary dancers. In After the Curtain, being performed at Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts in Richardson, these visual musicians tell the story of a man fighting to find his creative voice after the death of his one true love.

Friday, June 9

Kitchen Dog Theater presents Br’er Cotton
The mainstage production for Kitchen Dog Theater's annual New Works Festival is Br'er Cotton, which tackles complicated issues of racism and racial identity through the lens of three generations' wildly different attitudes and responses. The production runs at Trinity River Arts Center through July 1. You can also see works by the next generation of playwrights at the Playwrights Under Progress Fest, playing twice on Saturday at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts.

Bell Biv Devoe in concert with Guy, SWV, and En Vogue
For anybody who came of age in the late '80s/early '90s, R&B/New Jack Swing groups like Bell Biv Devoe, Guy, SWV, and En Vogue still loom large. Each of their runs to the top of the music world was relatively short, but the impact they had remains to this day. You can expect a packed crowd for this concert featuring all four groups at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie.

The Bacon Brothers in concert
If you only know Kevin Bacon from his extensive and noteworthy movie career, you're only seeing half the man. He and his brother, Michael, have been playing music together professionally since the mid-1990s, releasing seven albums in total, including 2014's 36¢. You can jam out to their country-rock style at this concert at The Kessler.

Luck Dallas
The Luck Reunion, which takes place each March at Willie Nelson’s ranch in Luck, Texas, has become an annual pilgrimage for many fans of rock, roots, country, folk, and, of course, Willie Nelson. Luck Dallas at Granada Theater features a lineup of artists from the Luck family, including Amanda Shires, Paul Cauthen, Matthew Logan Vasquez, Son Little, Horse Thief, the Texas Gentlemen, and other secret performers.

Saturday, June 10

Jimmy Buffett & the Coral Reefer Band in concert with ZZ Top
For Parrotheads, attending a Jimmy Buffett concert isn't just an experience — it's a way of life. The parking lots around Toyota Stadium in Frisco will turn into Margaritaville well before the concert on Saturday night, as thousands of people gather to celebrate Buffett's easygoing lifestyle. The concert itself is no slouch, with Buffett & the Coral Reefer Band joined by Houston legends ZZ Top.

Sunday, June 11

Dallas Museum of Art Family Days
If you consider yourself an art fan, this is the day to go to the Dallas Museum of Art as, along with the permanent collection, the normally paid exhibits "México 1900–1950: Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, José Clemente Orozco, and the Avant-Garde," "Iris van Herpen: Transforming Fashion," and "Visions of America: Three Centuries of Prints from the National Gallery of Art" are all free. Make sure to show up early, as lines are sure to be big.

The Bacon Brothers play at The Kessler on June 9.

Photo courtesy of The Bacon Brothers

The Bacon Brothers play at The Kessler on June 9.

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Movie Review

Zootopia 2 Disney is an OK sequel that keeps the fun of the original

Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Animation Studios

Nick (Jason Bateman) and Judy (Ginnifer Goodwin) in Zootopia 2.

When Zootopia came out in 2016, Walt Disney Animation Studios was in the midst of a great run of original films, including Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero 6, and finally Moana. Their output since then has not been as good, including three mediocre sequels, three so-so originals, and only one truly great film, Encanto.

All of which is to say that the odds for Zootopia 2 breaking that trend were low even before they started working on it. The odd couple pair of rabbit Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) are now officially detectives in the Zootopia Police Department, but they still have a penchant for not following the orders of Chief Bogo (Idris Elba). Such mischievous behavior doesn’t sit well with the other detective teams, which include pairs of zebras, hippos, hogs, and goats.

Still, their slightly insubordinate ways put them on the path toward discovering the infiltration of Gary De’Snake (Ke Huy Quan), the first reptile to be seen in Zootopia in a long time. He’s trying to steal a book that would prove that his relative was the rightful inventor of a weather technology that gives all animals in Zootopia an ideal climate. But the high-powered Lynxley family, including father Milton (David Straithairn) and son Pawbert (Andy Samberg), lay claim to the idea and won’t give it up easily.

Written and directed by Jared Bush, and co-directed by Byron Howard, the film retains the fun of the first film if not the consistently interesting story. Though Judy and Nick get along much better than they did previously, they still don’t see eye-to-eye on everything. It’s Judy who takes more risks this time around, with Nick’s rule-breaking ways seeming to have rubbed off on her, a nice twist that leads to some ironic situations.

The filmmakers struggle to make the story as easily coherent this time around, with the new characters a decidedly mixed bunch. The Lynxleys are supposed to be the bad guys of the film, but they’re not featured enough to drum up any enmity for them. The detective duos are fun comic relief, especially the two who refer to themselves as the Ze-bros, but none of them factor very much in the actual story.

Instead, the filmmakers fall back on things like cameos from small characters from the first film and a flurry of groan-worthy animal puns. While it’s fun to see the sloth Flash (Raymond S. Persi), sheep Bellwether (Jenny Slate), and Gazelle (Shakira), their appearances are too brief to carry the movie overall. The visuals are as fantastic as expected of Disney films, especially the myriad fur/hides/scales of the different creatures, but the film is not designed to necessarily wow in that respect.

Both Goodwin and Bateman prove again that they were cast perfectly for their respective roles, as Goodwin fully embodies Judy’s relentless enthusiasm and Bateman brings the wry tone to his street smart character. If you know them, it’s fun to have people like Samberg, Straithairn, Quinta Brunson, and Patrick Warburton in supporting roles, but no one but Warburton and his distinctive voice elevates the film.

Like most of Disney’s recent sequels, Zootopia 2 is a pleasant enough movie that lets fans revisit some favorite characters. But when a bar is set high with the first film as it was with Zootopia, it takes more outside-of-the-box thinking to have the second one measure up in any significant way.

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Zootopia 2 opens in theaters on November 26.

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