PICK OF THIS WEEK’S FILMS

SMALLFOOT (U) VENOM (15)

Curiosity killed the yak in director Karey Kirkpatrick’s effervescent computer-animated romp, which follows an inquisitive Yeti that comes in from the cold to prove the existence of a race of diminutive hairless creatures called humans. Smallfoot is festooned with far-from-abominable snowmen and snowwomen who live in a thriving mountain-top community hidden from prying eyes by a ring of high-altitude cloud. Ignorance is bliss until one member of the community publicly challenges the veracity of the runes and forces his fellow Yetis to ask probing questions of the people in power. Kirkpatrick’s film is a simplistic but breezily charming adventure, which encourages independent thought rather than slavishly following the herd. Ironically, Smallfoot trots in the hoofprints of other (superior) animated features and some of the physical pratfalls are strongly reminiscent of the heyday of Road Runner and Wile E Coyote.

Ruben Fleischer, director of Zombieland and Gangster Squad, masterminds this big budget spin-off from the Spider-Man universe, which introduces us to one of the webslinger’s most fearsome adversaries. Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), director of the mysterious Life Foundation, acquires amorphous extra-terrestrial matter called a symbiote, which has the ability to fuse with a host, creating a more powerful single entity. Using vulnerable people as test subjects, Drake secretly experiments with the symbiotes, which alter the human host’s personality. Tenacious investigative journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), whose girlfriend Anne Weying (Michelle Williams) works for a firm that represents Life Foundation, investigates Drake and he comes into uncomfortably close contact with one of the symbiotes. As a result, the entity fuses with Eddie. His body undergoes sudden transformations and he hears a chilling voice in his head. Slowly morphing into a hideous creature called Venom, Eddie attempts to keep control of his faculties but each spectacular battle brings him closer to surrendering to the dark side of his emotions.

NIGHT SCHOOL (12A)

Higher learning fails every test except base humour and lazy racial stereotypes in director Malcolm D Lee’s coming-of-middle-age comedy. Based on a script credited to six writers including leading man Kevin Hart, Night School revises the tropes of high school movies since The Breakfast Club but can’t muster an original thought in almost two hours. It’s depressing that comic whirlwind Tiffany Haddish, who single-handedly made Girls Trip one of last year’s guiltiest pleasures, isn’t given the material to achieve top grades. Hart’s flawed hero grates on the nerves and co-stars hang performances on single character traits.

THE WIFE (15)

The mercurial Glenn Close makes a

THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS (12A) THE LITTLE STRANGER (12A)

Spectres of the past lash out with horrifying consequences in an ambiguous thriller of simmering desires set inside a crumbling