ALSO STREAMING
Lady and the Tramp (U)
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Disney has made a mint in recent years with live-action reboots of its classic animation back catalogue, so it’s not really surprising that its first dedicated release for new streaming channel Disney+ should follow suit. Lady and the Tramp sees the fondly remembered doggie romcom modernised for younger kids weaned on new versions of the likes of Dumbo and The Jungle Book, albeit without the A-list casts and megabudget spectacle found in those films. Resembling instead the straight-tovideo sequels and TV movies that Disney used to make all the time, this film actually benefits from its lower-key approach, providing gentle afternoon family viewing that taps into the original’s enduring appeal (the spaghetti-slurping doggie date still features) without recycling the questionable ethnic caricatures that can make screening the 1955 animated version (which is also on Disney+) a more complicated proposition. Retaining the early1900s American period setting, the film sticks fairly rigidly to the original’s beloved story as well-to-do cocker spaniel Lady (voiced by Tessa Thompson) befriends a streetwise stray called Tramp (Justin Theroux). The combination of adorable reallife dogs with CG augmented facial expressions is a fairly winning one and the script, which was co-written by mumblecore pioneer Andrew Bujalski (Computer Chess, Respect the Girls), has a few gags that enliven director Charlie Bean’s straightforward handling of the material. Also starring Ashley Jensen as a pampered Scottie dog called Jock and Sam Elliott as a bloodhound called Trusty.
Disney+
Four Kids and It (PG)
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In this adaptation of Jacquelin Wilson’s best-selling children’s novel, a pair of British siblings (Teddie-rose Malleson-allen and Billy Jenkins) and a pair of American siblings (Ashley Aufderheide and Ellie-mae Siam) are forced into a lockdown-style situation as their respective guardians – mild-mannered British dad David (Matthew Goode) and high-flying US divorcee Alice (Paula Patton) – take them to a remote, wifi-free, coastal cottage in Cornwall to inform them they’re actually dating. Terrible parenting choice duly established, the kids fight and scream, until they happen upon a sand-dwelling magical creature known as a Psammead (Michael Caine), who has the power to grant them one wish per day. Wilson’s novel was inspired by E Nesbit’s out-of-copyright 1902 classic
Five Children and It (itself made into a family film starring Eddie Izzard back in 2004), the new film pays tribute to Nesbit’s original text with a cheeky reference in the opening scene and a time-travel twist midway through, but it’s fairly charmless stuff, not helped by a wooden cameo from former X-factor judge Cheryl, a phoning-it-in vocal turn from Caine and a tedious moustache-twirling performance from Russell Brand as a villainous toff with more innuendos than a Carry On… film.
Sky Cinema
System Crasher (15)
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A brilliant performance by the child at the centre of this German drama about the limits of the care system saves an otherwise frantic and spuriously plotted film. Elevenyear-old Helena Zengel (who was nine when she made it) is incredibly assured as the tomboyish Benni, a violently out-of-control child lashing out at everyone who gets in her way as she’s bounced around foster homes while her mother tries to get her act together. In synch with Benni, the film is edited together at a furious and discombobulating pace, but while writer/director Nora Fingscheidt should be commended for not stacking the decks in her protagonist’s favour, her decision to zero in on Benni’s burgeoning relationship with Micha (Albrecht Schuch), a young male social worker with a self-confessed saviour complex, stretches credulity. ■
Curzon Home Cinema and MUBI
Alistair Harkness