MOVIE MAGIC FOR ALL THE FAMILY
WITH CINEMAS CLOSED AGAIN, DAMON SMITH LOOKS AT SOME OF THE BEST FAMILY FILMS TO WATCH AT HOME
1 THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN (PG)
On Film4 on Wednesday November 11 at 6.50pm and streaming on Netflix
BELGIAN writer Hergé’s plucky reporter with the distinctive ginger quiff screeches into the 21st century courtesy of state-of-the-art motion capture, which translates actor Jamie Bell’s movements into the performance of an incredibly detailed digital character.
The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn is a breathlessly entertaining romp, littered with eye-popping action set pieces that would simply be unthinkable, not to mention astronomically ally expensive, as live action. n.
A dizzying motorcycle chase through the winding alleys of a Moroccan marketplace is accomplished in a single take and booze-sodden Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis) takes charge of an explosive bi-plane flight.
The script, co-written by Peter Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, delivers some big laughs like when Haddock reveals that one of his crew has no eyelids.
“Aye, it was a card game to remember!” growls the salty sea dog.
The unspoken perils of gin rummy.
2 EARLY MAN (PG)
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Netflix
IN THE three decades since Wallace and Gromit blasted off to a moon made entirely of cheese, Aardman Animations has charmed us with a menagerie of unforgettable stop-motion creations.
In Early Man, the Bristol-based studio turns back the clock thousands of years for an engaging comedy of errors that traces the history of football to our clubwielding prehistoric ancestors.
The beautiful game turns ugly in a knockabout script co-written by Mark Burton and James Higginson, which scores a couple of own-goals with groansome puns.
Thankfully, cute visual gags compensate, including a caveman hanging up washing using baby crocodiles as pegs and a butcher trading as Jurassic Pork.
Eddie Redmayne’s vocal performance brings sweetness and vulnerability to his hirsute hero, a cavema caveman called Dug. Me Meanwhile Tom Hi Hiddleston mangles v vowels with villainous glee as Bronze Age tyrant Lord Nooth, perfecting the most exaggerated French accent since Monty P Python And The Holy G Grail.
3
MINIONS (U)
Screening on ITV2 on Sunday at 5.05pm and streaming on Netflix
DESPICABLE ME’S goggle-eyed hench-creatures become unwittingly heroes of their own big screen adventure, co-directed by Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin.
The pint-sized “knights in shining denim” venture to 1968 New York City in search of a worthy archvillain. They pledge allegiance to criminal mastermind Scarlet Overkill (voiced by Sandra Bullock) and her inventor husband Herb (Jon Hamm), who are plotting to steal the Crown Jewels from Queen Elizabeth II (Jennifer Saunders).
Minions milks every drop of our enduring affection for the clumsy, yellow antiheroes with a deranged computeranimated caper that swings its flares to a soundtrack of The Kinks and The Who.
Animation is colourful and pristine, opting for shiny surfaces and sharp angles that reduce the need for meticulous detail and realism.
Very young children, who gurgle with glee at the Minions’ bonkers vernacular combining Esperanto and gobbledygook, will adore the slapstick, pratfalls and the tiniest member of the clan, Bob, who clutches a well-loved teddy bear called Tim.
4 THE SIMPSONS MOVIE (PG)
Screening on E4 on Saturday at 7.15pm and streaming on Disney+ SPRINGFIELD’S most dysfunctional family makes a seamless transition from TV to widescreen, complete
with little Ralph Wiggum (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) emerging from within the 20th Century Fox logo to sing shrilly along with the iconic opening fanfare.
A bigger budget allows director David Silverman to realise a couple of impressive set pieces: Bart skateboarding naked through town, and the march of a torch-wielding lynch mob.
A script credited to 11 writers and four consultants assumes a haphazard approach to disintegrating American family values including one plot thread devoted to eco-friendly Lisa (Yeardley Smith) and her crush, an Irish boy named Colin (Tress Macneille) whose father is “definitely not Bono”.
Danny Elfman’s theme tune is given a rockier edge by Green Day while the end credits unveils Springfield Anthem, a shameless rip-off of La Marseillaise.
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Screening on ITV2 on Saturday at 2.50pm and streaming on Netflix COMIC whirlwind Jack Black ramps up his manic energy to gale force 10 in a fast-paced fantasy adventure based on the series of children’s books by RL Stine.
Directed with brio by Rob Letterman, Goosebumps is a wicked delight, packed full of spooks and scares that should have adults jumping out of their seats almost as often as little ones. Explosions of comic book violence, including a slip-sliding tussle between the Abominable Snowman and high school students on an ice rink, are orchestrated with black humour and vim.
Darren Lemke’s script barely pauses for breath between the eye-popping set pieces but still finds time to flesh out a compelling teenage love story that remains the right side of sickly sweet.
Digital effects are impressive, seamlessly integrated with live action to conjure scenes of large-scale destruction including a runaway Ferris wheel and a town under attack from a giant praying mantis.
A tricksy post-halloween treat.
6 THE GRINCH (U)
Streaming on Netflix
A GOOD heart – even one that is two sizes too small – isn’t hard to find in a charming computer-animated retelling of Dr Seuss’s seasonal fable from the makers of Despicable Me and The Secret Life Of Pets.
Co-directed by Yarrow Cheney and Scott Mosier, The Grinch is an early Christmas present crammed to bursting with cute critters, slapstick and bountiful community spirit.
Casting Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role, then asking him to adopt an American accent, is nonsensical but the London-born actor teases the dual aspects of his character’s gnarled personality.
Michael Lesieur and Tommy Swerdlow’s script retains some of Dr Seuss’s rhyming couplets word for word but deviates noticeably in a slickly executed mid-section, which boasts a screaming goat oat and an excitable reindeer with a penchant for aerosol whipped cream.
A trim running time and crisp visuals decked in retina-searing colours of the season should jingle the bells of families looking to s sweeten the bitter pill of lockdown.
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THE SISTERHOOD OF THE
TRAVELING PANTS (PG) Streaming St on Netflix
NE NEVER judge a book by its c cover or a film by its unw unwieldy title. The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants sounds alarmingly like a chick flick about mobile lingerie saleswomen.
Although Ken Kwapis’s hugely enjoyable feature is indeed a chick flick (albeit targeted at teenage girls), the pants in question are a pair of supposedly magic jeans.
America Ferrera, Blake Lively, Alexis Bledel and Amber Tamblyn play best friends, who trade reports of their summer holiday escapades while wearing the same pair of denim trousers.
In a break with teen tradition espoused by Dawson’s Creek, The O.C. and their ilk, the four girls speak to one another in language that rings true: sometimes stilted, sometimes clumsy, often clouded with uncertainty – but true. Aside from a surplus of music video interludes, director Kwapis ensures the trials and tribulations fit snugly into just under two hours.
8 READY PLAYER ONE (12)
Streaming on Netflix
SET in the mid-21st century, Ready Player One is a dystopian fantasy which imagines a resource-depleted world that relies on virtual reality as an escape from the gloom of the everyday. On more than one occasion, Steven Spielberg’s film issues dire warnings about the zombification of entire generations, who believe “meaningful” relationships can be forged online. “Reality is the only thing that’s real,” proclaims one pivotal character. Anchored by a strong performance from Tye Sheridan as a teenage gamer with the skills to incite a virtual uprising, Spielberg’s picture is a tour-de-force of technical wizardry. Action sequences are orchestrated with pulse-quickening aplomb including a destruction derby that incorpor incorporates a rampaging Tyra Tyrannosaurus Rex and Ki King Kong.
Keep your eyes peeled for myriad pop culture references including Knight Rider, A Nightmare On Elm St Street and a killer joke w with the Chucky doll fro from Child’s Play.