best winter lights

Houston's most spectacular winter light shows dazzle for the holidays

The cool temps, the pumpkin spice, the Christmas decorations — the holidays are here. That means it’s the perfect time to don a winter coat and stroll through some dazzling, sparkling holiday light displays around town.

From cosmic Christmas at Space Center Houston to a wild affair at the Houston Zoo to a wondrous spectacle at Houston Botanic Garden, these 12 events are sure to light up Yuletime.

Dasher's Lightshow
Formerly Rudolph's Lightshow (all the reindeer will get a turn helming this), this drive-thru light show includes light tunnels, snowmen and acres of land. These lights will also be merrily synced to your favorite holiday tunes. Runs through December 31. 6 pm.

Galaxy Lights at Space Center Houston
Space Center Houston’s holiday light extravaganza returns for its third year with exciting new wonders. Guests will experience two high-tech, kinetic light shows where dozens of suspended lights move in precise choreographed sequences to music above the Main Plaza. Runs through January 2. 6 pm.

The Galleria Christmas Tree
The 55-foot tree just had its ceremonial lighting, featuring 450,000 twinkling lights and 5,000 ornaments in a variety of colors and shapes. The installation took more than 24 hours of work by 45 men and women. And don't forget about the 1,000 branches that were hand-fluffed! 10 am.

Holiday in the Gardens at Moody Gardens
Moody Gardens is once again bringing out all the good stuff this holiday season. Look for the Festival of Lights, holiday 3-D films, an arctic slide, train rides, pictures with Santa, and nightly fireside s'mores. Runs through January 2. 4 pm.

Holiday Lights in Clay Family Eastern Glades
This spectacle will feature oversized ornaments, tinsel-wrapped light poles, and colorful tree lights. This year, the holiday light display will make its way around the Eastern Glades’ entire half-mile, Promenade natural surface pedestrian path, encircling nine acres of open space, native plantings, and habitat. Runs through January 3. 6 pm.

The Light Park
This park features a large, animated holiday light show along with the world’s largest 700-foot animated LED tunnels. The parks, with locations both in Spring and Katy, feature a unique light show synced and choreographed to holiday music on a dedicated music station, K-GLO, the North Pole’s No. 1 hit radio station. Runs through January 2. 5:30 pm.

Lightscape at Houston Botanic Garden
Get ready to enjoy magical light displays set along a beautifully illuminated path winding through the Garden this holiday season. The captivating illuminations — including installations unique to Texas created by local and international artists — will dazzle the senses. Runs through January 2. 5:45 pm.

Magical Winter Lights
Over at Baytown's Houston Raceway, this will feature such landmarks as the entrance castle, dinosaur exhibits, and Houston’s beloved displays. Family-friendly experiences include the Santa and Mrs. Claus meet and greet, Ice Sisters meet and greet, cultural performances, carnival rides, food and games, music, and dino rides. Runs through January 2. 5 pm.

Marriott Marquis Houston presents Texas Winter Lights
This interactive light experience will feature light displays, walk-through experiences, and selfie stations. There will be a nostalgic holiday-themed movie every Thursday, nightly snowfall, and a winter-themed dining menu filled with signature cocktails, dinner, and dessert. Runs through January 3. 5 pm.

Sugar Land Holiday Lights
Sugar Land promised to dazzle with more than three million lights, eight themed areas, holiday shopping, great food, holiday movie nights, a carnival, appearances from Santa and much more. Runs through January 9. 6 pm.

Winter Wanderland
This event kicks off on November 19 with a program at 6 pm at City Hall, facing Bagby. After the short program, where they will turn on the holiday lights (100,000 twinklng LED lights installed between Lamar & Franklin!), stroll down the newly renovated corridor and experience tons of activities along the way. Runs through January 2. 6:30 pm.

Zoo Lights at Houston Zoo
Head over to Houston Zoo as they celebrate 10 years as one of Houston’s best loved holiday traditions. Stroll through the beautiful zoo grounds as you take in the sights and sounds this holiday season. (The zoo animals will be enjoying a full night’s slumber.) Runs through January 9. 5:30 pm.

Lightscape at Houston Botanic Garden.

Photo courtesy of Houston Botanic Garden

Lightscape at Houston Botanic Garden.

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Movie Review

Toy Story 5 proves that Pixar's toy box still holds some surprises

Photo courtesy of Pixar

Bullseye, Jessie, Atlas, Smarty Pants, and Snappy in Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 5.

For fans of Pixar, the idea that it’s been over 30 years since the original Toy Story came out is a little mind-boggling. While the animation studio has had varying degrees of success with their other properties, they’ve always managed to make something special with each installment of their signature franchise. They’re now rolling the dice yet again with Toy Story 5.

The story is mainly focused on cowgirl toy Jessie (Joan Cusack), who — along with Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Hamm (John Ratzenberger), Forky (Tony Hale), and others — is concerned that new owner Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) is falling prey to the scourge of technology in the form of the tablet Lilypad (Greta Lee). They’re worried that the “friends” she makes through games online pale in comparison to those she could play with in person.

Woody (Tom Hanks) and Bo Peep (Annie Potts), living an on-the-go lifestyle but still in touch with the main group, come to help when Jessie goes missing while trying to help Bonnie. And — just because — a large group of new-and-improved Buzz Lightyears that have fallen out of a shipping container that has crashed on an island go on a mission that puts them on course to meet up with everyone else.

Written and directed by McKenna Harris and Andrew Stanton, the film is a mixed bag, mostly because of the disjointed nature of the story. When the group was separated in previous films, things rarely felt out of sync as everybody was still heading toward the same goal. But the different factions in this film seem to be after something different, especially the wholly superfluous addition of the fancy Buzz Lightyears, whose ultimate purpose doesn’t live up to the time dedicated to them.

There’s no way around it: While Jessie is a good character and has a lot of great moments in this film, the relationship aspect of the series is not as strong this time around. She mostly spends time with her mute horse Bullseye, but even when she interacts with new characters like Smarty Pants (Conan O’Brien), that ineffable magic is not there. Woody and Buzz have scenes together, but since they’re secondary to the main story, they don’t add as much to this film as they have in others.

However, even if the film can’t live up to the first four movies, it still makes for a fun time. The storyline about technology turning kids (and adults, for that matter) into zombies is a strong one, and the way they incorporate different devices is clever. The large number of characters is unwieldy, but when the filmmakers truly dig down to the personal lives of certain toys or humans, the film is as effective as Pixar has ever been.

Cusack, Hanks, Allen, and other returning voices are so attuned to their respective characters that you know they’ll deliver each line perfectly. People like Lee, O’Brien, and Craig Robinson are welcome additions to the group, but it’s tough to get used to new voices taking over for actors who’ve passed like Don Rickles, Estelle Harris, and Carl Weathers.

The pitch-perfect ending of Toy Story 3 made the idea of Pixar making Toy Story 4 seem strange, but then that film proved the studio knew what it was doing. While Toy Story 5 is not a disaster, it’s not to the standard set by the previous films. It should finally be time to put the franchise to bed, knowing that the toys have given all the joy they can give.

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Toy Story 5 opens in theaters on June 19.

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