ALSO SHOWING
SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY (12A)
SCRIPTED by Jonathan Kasdan and father Lawrence, co-writer of The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi, the second standalone anthology film after Rogue One sketches the formative years of the charismatic Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich).
Ron Howard directs after director duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were tossed into a sarlacc pit over “creative differences”. This gung-ho romp of double-crossing criminals is clinical, bookmarked by impressively staged set-pieces laden with pyrotechnics and special effects.
Solo’s name is in the title but he’s the least interesting element and Alden Ehrenreich’s performance falls short of the smouldering, rascally delights of Harrison Ford. Instead, London-born actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge shines brightest as a rebellious droid, who is hard-wired to demand equal rights for her mechanised kin.
THE BREADWINNER (12A)
HOPE takes root in the barren wilderness of present-day Afghanistan in Nora Twomey’s drama, which was deservedly nominated as Best Animated Feature at this year’s Academy Awards.
Based on the book by Deborah Ellis, The Breadwinner is a beautifully crafted and deeply moving celebration of the fragile human spirit as seen through the tear-filled eyes of a family struggling to make ends meet under a brutal regime that subjugates women.
Twomey’s film doesn’t shy away from depicting the intimidation and punishment of female characters including one scene of a mother being bludgeoned with a walking stick for daring to leave her house without a male guardian. Violence is meted out off-screen but we hear and feel every sickening blow and share the victims’ sense of injustice that silently rages behind their swollen and bruised lips. Expressive and vibrant hand-drawn visuals alternate between an earthy palette for battlescarred reality and an explosion of retina-searing colour for the fantastical fables that family members share to temporarily salve their pain.
SHOW DOGS (PG)
RAJA Gosnell, director of Beverly Hills Chihuahua, collars a buddy cop movie, which is essentially Miss Congeniality on four legs, with dysfunctional canines replacing the beauty queens.
Show Dogs is a shaggy dog tale of questionable pedigree that will probably delight very young audiences, who might gurgle with glee at the sight of a Rottweiler (voiced by Chris “Ludacris” Bridges) sneakily breaking wind while its unsuspecting owner (Will Arnett) is soaping its rear. Anyone with an age in double digits will be less enthralled, and grateful that this preposterous undercover sting at one of the world’s most prestigious animal shows only wags its tail for 92 minutes.