Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai)

When Yetis discover humans

- RASHID IRANI

SMALLFOOT Direction:

Voices:

Rating: A ragtag group of fellow rebels is also on hand to help yetizens accept the truth and question hidebound beliefs etched on sacred stones since antiquity.

The wintry environmen­t is gorgeously rendered and the narrative is interspers­ed with musical interludes by celebrity entertaine­rs such as Common (the overbearin­g keeper of the stones), Zendaya (his daughter) and James Corden (the hapless human).unlike the hostile traits attributed to the deemed outsiders in Peppermint (also released this week) the cartoon espouses the need for communicat­ion and harmonious co-existence with the ‘other’.

he law of diminishin­g returns has finally caught up with the 15-year-old spy-spoof franchise. Even die-hard devotees of Johnny English will find little to cheer in this third installmen­t of the eponymous series.

Summoned out of retire- ment after a cyber-attack has exposed the identities of all active British undercover agents, the buffoonish secret service superhero (Rowan Atkinson) is tasked with tracking down the dastardly hacker.

The ungainly plot dispatches the old-school spy to the south of France where he manfully tries to cope with the challenges of modern technology.

The past-his-prime Atkinson runs through the gamut of slapstick shenanigan­s and physical shtick but rarely elicits a laugh-out–loud response. The comedian clearly seems to have exhausted his once-so-welcome flair for family-friendly fluff.

It should come as no surprise then that the latest English… escapade is tiresome, unfunny and instantly forgettabl­e.

 ??  ?? A still from the film.
A still from the film.
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