Rating: MMMM

Director: Drew Barrymore
Starring: Ellen Page, Kristen Wiig, Marcia Gay Harden, Eve, Drew Barrymore, Juliette Lewis
Running time: 111 mins
Cert: 12A

Don’t be put off by the fuschia pink UK poster, covered in the faces of smiling women – this is not The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants or any of that saccharine-soaked ‘girl power’ drivel (that in fact evokes the very opposite of female empowerment). Whip It is a kick-ass, feisty and intelligent sports movie that neatly combines multiple genre elements (pop culture comedy, family drama, teen romance) to create and warm and entertaining film that is full of what Americans call ‘attitude’.

Whip It centres around 17 year old Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page), a disillusioned misfit resident of dead-end town, Bodeen, Texas. Bliss lives her life as put-upon waitress of kitsch diner the Oinkery and dutiful daughter, reluctantly  entered into beauty pageants by her mother (Marcia Gay Harden), a straightlaced postwoman who runs the Cavendar household as a tight ship.

On a shopping trip with her mother and sister in nearby city Austin, Bliss sees a flyer advertising a roller derby match – tough, scantily clad girls on skates speeding around a track, tackling and shoving each other violently in order to score points. Accompanied by best friend Pash, Bliss goes to the match and is immediately struck by the sport and particularly the women playing it – players with tough-girl names such as ‘Smashley Simpson’ and ‘Eva Destruction’. After the match, Bliss approaches one of the ‘Hurl Scouts’, Maggie Mayhem (Kristen Wiig) who suggests that she should try out for the team as they are looking for new members. A tentative Bliss attends the trial, demonstrating a speed on skates that surprises even herself, consequently making the team and becoming a Hurl Scout by the name of ‘Babe Ruthless’.

Whip It combines sports movie, broad comedy, coming of age tale and teen flick to great effect – it is a highly engaging, entertaining and moving  film –  one of the final scenes involving Marcia Gay Harden’s mother character in particular will undoubtedly moisten a few eyes, as will a piercing moment of betrayal. Also, the early stages of Bliss’s relationship with love interest Oliver are equally charming, as are the tender swimming pool scenes, shot to great aplomb by debut director Drew Barrymore.

The script too is funny, witty, warm and clever. Barrymore’s directing is excellent, particularly the aforementioned underwater sequences, demonstrating she has considerable talent not just in the fields of acting and producing. She has a clear understanding of her characters and her scene: the rough and ready world of womens’ roller derby, the action of which is deftly handled in exciting, adrenaline fuelled scenes on the track, with Bliss and her team mates speeding around, giving and taking ‘hits’.

Whip It is great fun, despite the fact it not being exactly original. It is however, thoroughly enjoyable, with excellent little moments, and a great balance between sport and character relationships. In terms of acting, Barrymore’s cast does well. Ellen Page delivers a likeable, convincing performance as main character Bliss Cavendar, as does Kristen Wiig who is really impressive, proving she is capable not only of hilarious deadpan comedy (Knocked Up), but proving she is a credible dramatic actress. Juliette Lewis is deliciously malevolent in the villain role of ‘Iron Mavin’, and  Barrymore herself gives a hilarious cameo as knuckle-headed Hurl Scout, ‘Smashley Simpson’.  The film’s supporting characters are also played very well – feisty best friend Pash (Alia Shawkat) is great, as is Bliss’s father, Earl (Daniel Stern).

All in all, Whip It is a great slice of easy-going American fun. Barrymore has not only made a hugely enjoyable film, but she has made the world of women’s roller derby accessible and interesting to a whole new audience – the heady mix of intimidating toughness, strength and machismo balanced with a female sexiness and power is thoroughly mesmerizing. And perhaps more importantly, the film bucks the girly teen movie trend in its closing act (not to give away too much) and proves that women’s lives do not centre around the wants and desires of men – they can be their own hero and go after whatever it is they wish. And who’d have thought all this from the little girl from E.T.? Get your skates on and see Whip It (if you’ll forgive the excruciating pun). Expect sales of roller skates and eyeliner to skyrocket.

Rating: MMMM

Rating: MMMM

Review of Disney’s return to traditional 2-D hand-drawn animation and to familiar fairytales, this new adventure based on the tale of ‘The Princess and the Frog’.

Director: Ron Clements, John Musker
Starring: (voices) Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos, Keith David, Oprah Winfrey
Running time: 97 mins

Disney’s latest fairytale adventure sees the House of Mouse return to their roots with a hand-drawn animated fantasy based on the well known tale, the story of a princess kissing a frog to find her prince. This incarnation of the story is set in New Orleans in the late 1920s and our heroine (and princess) is Tiana, a hardworking and stoic waitress who dreams of one day owning her own restaurant. She works two restaurant jobs to save enough money to purchase a property which she plans to revamp into “Tiana’s Place”. However, her life takes a new and different course at the arrival of the handsome and exotic Prince Naveen – who, after dabbling in the dark arts of voodoo is turned into a frog by the evil villain Facilier.  Before she knows it, Tiana finds herself  also transformed into a frog and she and Naveen are forced to begin a journey to make themselves human again.

From the get-go, The Princess and the Frog is a fun, dynamic and entertaining film. It has all the ingredients of the famed ‘Disney magic’, but has something that lifts it above the rest of the studio’s fairytale canon. Firstly, the film’s heroine Tiana is not only the first African-American Disney princess, but she is one of their few heroines who is NOT a completely passive female character. Tiana works hard to achieve and realise what she wants – which incidentally is NOT simply to marry the handsome prince of her dreams. She doesn’t believe in wishing for things, she knows that you have to strive for what you want in life, not wait for it to fall into your lap without your lifting a finger. And she does NOT need a man to swoop in and save her, she is capable of saving herself.

Secondly, the film’s romantic plot that builds between Naveen and Tiana is not the hackneyed (and frankly unhelpful and unrealistic) depiction of ‘love at first sight’, it is a mutual affection based on friendship, respect and love. Naveen is not the perfect dreamy Adonis put high on a pedestal, he has flaws enough himself and in the face of the inevitable happy ending, supports Tiana’s ambitions instead of forcing her to change (unlike Ariel’ staying human in The Little Mermaid). This realtionship dynamic comes as direct result of the film’s ‘road movie’ style direction – Tiana and Naveen must journey through the swamps of Louisiana in search of a cure to their amphibiousness and on this journey they begin to trust and learn from each other.

The Princess and the Frog has everything – the characters are likeable, fun and sympathetic (the trumpet playing alligator Louis and Cajun firefly Ray are both wonderful creations, the latter playing an astonishing part in the emotional tone of the film), the musical numbers are dynamic and entertaining, the film is warm, bright and original and boasts a lot of laughs, for both adults and children (some lines have real wit and there is a lot of subtle humour throughout the film). And for this critic, where the film succeeds most is in its pleasingly positive portrayal of girls, relationships and outlook on life. A beautiful and entertaining film. Well done Disney.

Rating: MMMM

Rating: MMMM

Review of latest animated children’s adventure fantasy from the Japanese anime maestro, Hayao Miyazaki – the story of a little fish who wishes to be a little girl.

Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Starring: (voices) Noah Cyrus, Frankie Jonas, Tina Fey, Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett
Running time: 101 mins

Inspired by Disney’s animated classic A Little Mermaid, Hayao Miyazaki’s latest feature Ponyo is a fantasy adventure that like its muse, explores worlds both above and below the sea. Miyazaki’s tale is the story of Sosuke (voiced by Frankie Jonas, younger brother of squeaky-clean teen sensations The Jonas Brothers), a little boy who lives with his mother (Tina Fey) in a small cliff-top house by the sea. Sosuke’s father (Matt Damon) is a ship captain who is rarely at home, leaving Sosuke’s mother to run the household by herself.

One day, a lonely Sosuke is paddling in the shallows of a cove near his home when he comes upon what appears to be a little red goldfish. Playing with it happily, Sosuke names the fish Ponyo and makes her his pet. However, Ponyo’s father, marine wizard king Fujimoto (Liam Neeson) wishes to return his daughter to her underwater home – to ‘restore the balnce of nature’, which has been sent off kilter by Ponyo’s fraternisation with humans.

As with most of the Miyazaki canon, the enjoyment of Ponyo rests entirely in the audience’s suspense of disbelief – in this particular tale one must be willing to accept that a goldfish can turn into a girl and that said transformation is readily accepted by the protagonists. This kind of acceptance and engagement with the fantastic will be familiar to Miyazaki fans but may be something newcomers find hard to swallow. But swallow you undoubtedly will – the film is so beautiful, charming and unashamedly lovely that you really will believe a man can fly (or at least in this case, a fish can turn into a girl). As ever, Miyazaki presents a wonderful dramatic world, both convincingly natural and ethereal at times, using a bright and dazzling palette to create dreamy seascapes and fantastical creatures – the entity of Ponyo’s mother inparticular is nothing short of breathtaking, presenting a popular trope in Miyazaki’s work, the spirit world, seen previously in features such as Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro. Indeed, Ponyo draws on much in Totoro, both in theme, tone and age-range – Ponyo is clearly meant for a younger audience than Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke.

Much more satisfying than Miyazaki’s previous film, Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo is a gentle, beautiful story that is colourful, exciting, moving and entertaining. A sheer joy that proves that traditional hand-drawn 2D animation is still very much alive.

Rating: MMMM

New slick comedy-drama from the award-winning director of Juno, Jason Reitman.

Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick
Running time: 109 mins

In Jason Reitman’s new film Up In The Air, George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, self-confessed lover of the business and executive class lifestyle, spending more days ‘up in the air’ than days living life on the ground. His job is to fly to different cities across the USA to various company offices to fire employees because the people they work for haven’t the heart to do it themselves. The vacuous corporateness and emptiness that others find so repugnant is Ryan’s lifeblood. Until his life takes an unexpected and unwelcome turn in the form of bright new upstart Natalie (Anna Kendrick) whose ideas and plans would bring Ryan’s jet setting to a grinding halt.

In Up In The Air, Jason Reitman seems to have produced two very different films in one: the first two-thirds of the film explore the executive void of Ryan’s life and his contentedness with it, whilst it being under threat from a ’shift in company direction’ from Natalie’s cost-cutting and economising ideas. This is a slick corporate world, driven by money and a veneer of politeness with complimentary bath robes thrown in, a world which is well executed by Reitman. However, the problem comes when Ryan seemingly begins to question his values and moral behaviour and starts to view his life from a different perspective. From this point onwards the film changes tone entirely – almost like you left the cinema screen to get more popcorn and wandered into a different screen, except the characters are the same, just playing out a different story. And this is where the film inevitably falls down. Without giving too much away, the last third becomes more of a family centred tv movie than a glossy and hip George Clooney film. This tone change has a sadly negative impact on the film, as Reitman seems unable to follow through his initial ideas to the end with adequate conviction. On paper, the film works fine – on celluloid it fails somewhat.

However, all the ingredients of the film are essentially very good. George Clooney, while simply doing his charming, golden matinee idol smile that he seems to have patented, is very good and likeable as ever. Vera Farmiga as Clooney’s female opposite is also good, providing a convincing twist in the final act that comes as a genuine surprise. Anna Kendrick however delievers a standout turn as the young and naive Natalie, building on her solid work in Twilight as Jessica Stanley.

The script is well written and delivers some laughs, and there are some nice visual gags – most notably, the pilot’s ridiculous moustache which provided me with one of the biggest bellylaughs since The Hangover. In contrast too there are some genuine moments of shock, pathos and poignancy, with Natalie’s ill fated relationship and the fateful effects of some of the employees being let go from their jobs. The film is well directed, well acted and well scripted, just not really thought through, needing the courage to avoid the now hackneyed ‘man on a journey’ plot and stick to its guns of vapid corporateness and the emptiness so loved by the George Clooney character.

Engaging, witty, entertaining and funny, just not as good as expected.

Rating: MMM

Rating: MMMM

Review of ‘geezer’ director Guy Ritchie’s adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic character (and the world’s most famous detective) the inimitable Sherlock Holmes.

Director: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Robert Downey, Jr., Jude Law, Mark Strong, Kelly Reilly, Rachel McAdams
Running time: 128 mins

Infamous British gangster-thriller director Guy Ritchie’s take on the world’s most famous detective may not be the most faithful or accurate depiction of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Victorian detective, but his new Sherlock Holmes film is likely to be the most fun.
At the point in which the film begins, our heroes, the eponymous Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr.) and Doctor John Watson (Jude Law) are soon to be separated from being London’s brilliant and unrivaled ‘consulting detective’ partners by Watson’s impending engagement to his love Mary (Kelly Reilly). However, before the pair are to part ways, one more case must be solved – one that requires all of Holmes’ remarkable powers of deduction, observational skills and helping hands of Dr Watson. It is a case unlike any Holmes has ever confronted, apparently defying the laws of logic and science, one that terrorises London in a chain of strange and ritualistic murders and one that is seemingly orchestrated from beyond the grave by the recently deceased Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong).

The first point of praise for Ritchie’s film is that the plot of Sherlock Holmes is well conceived and structured, being complex and intriguing enough to be a believable case that Holmes and Watson have to solve, but straightforward enough for the audience not to be lost. Some parts are messy but never confusing, and the film as a whole is so damn entertaining that even the odd plot contrivance can be forgiven. There is a wonderful tension between the scientific and the gothic, capturing the tone and flavour of two Victorian phenomenons, coupled with a glimpse of the forward march of progress so omnipresnent in the late nineteenth century. The script is well written, clever and funny, is pleasingly lacking in the “me old china” -isms of Ritchie’s repertoir and perhaps more importantly, captures the brilliance and intelligence of Conan Doyle’s original character.

As is to be expected from a Guy Ritchie movie (in the face of his previous work, Lock, Stock, Snatch, Revolver), there is a certain amount of fisticuffs and bare-knuckle fighting in Sherlock Holmes which some might feel incongruous with the tone of the original source material. Surprisingly, however the inclusion of the violence is not to the detriment of the film – the scenes where Holmes takes on a prizefighter in a boxing match are coupled with a voice-over of him explaining his punches and techniques, presenting the violence as another facet of his detective skills.

In terms of performances, the central pair are without a doubt the stars of the show. Robert Downey, Jr. as Holmes is excellent, intensely likeable and very charming. Likewise, Jude Law as Watson is also very good. The two together are brilliant, exuding charisma and a fantastic physical comedy that elevates the film above being simply entertaining and makes in out-and-out fun – their bickering ‘old married couple’ act is very well done, to the point where the relationship becomes the heart of the film and the mystery plays second fiddle – this is not a criticism however as the friendship dynamic between the two men worked so well, being funny, poignant and enjoyable.
Mark Strong as the villanous Lord Blackwood is deliciously evil and suitably gothic but never descending into camp devilry, maintaining a malevolent sensibility that is genuinely creepy. The only piece of characterisation that perhaps doesn’t work as well as the rest is Rachel McAdams as Holmes’ female foil and ‘love interest’ despite her being a crucial part of the film’s climax.

Sherlock Holmes is a good, solid, enjoyable and hugely entertaining action blockbuster that packs as many laughs as it does punches – Downey, Jr. and Law’s comic timing is fabulous. Go see.

Rating: MMMM

Rating: MMMM

Review of Richard Linklater’s 1930s set period piece about the great Orson Welles’ theatrical triumph – his version of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.

Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Zac Efron, Claire Danes, Christian McKay
Running time: 114 mins

Richard Linklater’s latest film sees Orson Welles (having already taken the airwaves by storm on radio) perched on the brink of conquering the stage, starting with his production of Shakespeare’s classic history play Julius Caesar, set to be performed at the Mercury Theatre on Broadway. The ‘me’ of the title is teenager Richard (Zac Efron), the audience’s window onto the theatrical world of Welles and his company.

The casting of Efron in this particular role (a serious part and one lacking the squeaky, shiny happiness of the High School Musical franchise from which Efron made his name) may surprise a few, but Efron delivers a solid and utterly convincing performance as Richard, the young man who falls under Welles’ beguiling charms and finds himself part of the cast, playing Lucius, Brutus’ (played by Welles himself) servant boy and resident ukulele player. Efron, as previously mentioned, demonstrates that he is clearly a young actor blessed with multiple talents, being able to perform like an old Hollywood star with skill in singing, dancing and acting – the former and latter of which are on display here. Efron’s credible performance will with any luck silence harsher critics often out for his blood.

Claire Danes is as good as ever, in a role that pleasingly sees her in a bitchier role than usual with a character more reminiscent of Sookie in Igby Goes Down than the pure Juliet (William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet). However, as good as Efron and Danes’ performances are, the film belongs to relative newcomer Christian McKay in a role he was seemingly born to play. It is no wonder by playing someone as egocentric, selfish and charismatic as Welles that he steals the show – he has a bewitching way of drawing the audience to him – but his performance is of such tremendous excellence, vivacity and believability that any scene without him is left wanting and rendered almost flat, lacking the energy his performance brings to the piece – something which becomes almost detrimental to the film as a whole. However, come awards season, McKay presents himself as a dead cert for acting nominations.

The story is an interesting one, avoiding the now saturated genre of biopics and concentrating on the character of Orson Welles in one specific time period. Linklater’s 1930s setting is convincing and well produced, with exquisite art direction that passes the Isle of Man for New York city. Linklater has produced an entertaining and enjoyable film in Me & Orson Welles, however a problem is posed by a rather languorous third act, an almost plodding final section which could perhaps have been avoided by better editing. The last few minutes really do slow down proceedings, a great shame in a film that is otherwise funny, intelligent, entertaining and engaging.

Rating: MMMM

Rating: MM+

Review of black comedy-horror Jennifer’s Body, written by Oscar winning Diablo Cody, writer of 2007 indie hit Juno.

Director: Karyn Kusama
Starring: Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, J.K. Simmons, Adam Brody, Johnny Simmons, Kyle Gallner
Running time: 102 mins

Following her excellent, zippy script for Juno in 2007, great things are expected from writer Diablo Cody’s follow up effort, black comedy horror Jennifer’s Body. The result, instead of being a film balanced between edgy intelligent comedy and neat horror shocks is a mediocre film that is neither really scary nor really funny. The script lacks the energy and spark of Cody’s debut, and while there are lines that are genuinely witty these are few and far between.

The film centres on Needy (Amanda Seyfried), best friend of the Jennifer of the title (played by babe du jour Megan Fox) who comes to realise that her sometime promiscuous gal-pal is not all she seems and that she has in fact become a literal man-eater. However, the premise on which Jennifer’s demonic transformation is based is so ludicrous and laughable that it makes a mockery of the whole film – despite the film not taking itself too seriously the nature of the ‘satanic ritual’ is too far fetched to be in any way credible. There are moments of comedy in certain lines of dialogue, but there are more laughs to be had at the expense of the film itself. In terms of horror and scares, these are few and far between, with only a couple of scenes providing any atmosphere and tension. When the gore comes it is relatively tame, something of a surprise not only in light of the way the film has been marketed, but from Cody’s own love of horror films – this is certainly to the detriment of the film, as one feels there is there is potential for some great scares.

As Needy, Amanda Seyfried is a sympathetic and likeable character in a long-suffering role who is punished by Jennifer both socially and romantically. Megan Fox on the other hand is lacklustre, merely doing all that is required of her – looking sexy and attractive in skimpy outfits and baring flesh when swimming across a placid lake. She fulfils the teenage boy’s fantasy image of a sex-bomb body but adds nothing to the film in terms of acting talent. Likewise, Adam Brody (Seth Cohen from TV’s The O.C.) is neither sinister or menacing enough to be credible, but a bizarre character involved in an even more bizarre premise. However, the casting of J.K. Simmons as a class teacher is one of the film’s trump cards, adding a cool and charming element to the film’s characterisation. In interviews, Cody has explained that Jennifer is meant to be an alpha female riddled with insecurities, something the film fails to fully explore. She seems ditsy and vapid, and not nearly as scheming and manipulative as the film aims to suggest.

Jennifer’s Body tries to be an intelligent darkly comic horror but simply fails to deliver. Underwhelming stuff from a writer of Cody’s calibre.

Rating: MM+

Rating: MMMM

Review of the hilarious and frightfully entertaining black-comedy road movie adventure, Zombieland.

Director: Ruben Fleischer
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin
Running time: 88 mins

In the fictional America of Ruben Fleischer’s debut flick Zombieland, a terrible virus has infected the entire population, bringing about the zombie apocalypse. In the midst of the carnage remain only a handful of anonymous survivors, each adopting the moniker of the towns and cities they are aiming to reach in their attempt to cross the wastelands of America: geeky teen Jesse Eisenberg is Columbus, Woody Harrelson is the hard-as-nails Tallahassee while Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin are sisters Wichita and Little Rock. The film is essentially a road movie with a twist, that the road ahead is peppered with danger in the form of the walking undead (which don’t actually feature that heavily for a ‘zombie film’).

Eisenberg’s Columbus takes the lead role, as a nerdy loner who develops his own code of conduct for surviving – these rules flash up throughout the film as neat little intertitles, adding to the cool charm of the film – one of the rules is “limber up” and as Eisenberg stretches and prepares himself, so do the titles. His performance is very good, further cementing himself as a talent to watch, although he must take active precautions not to be typecast as the nervous good-hearted teen as has similarly befallen Michael Cera of Juno and Superbad fame. As the crazed weapon-happy Tallahassee, Woody Harrelson is fabulous, balancing excellent comic timing with kick-ass energy and carving a surprisingly developed role from a fairly two-dimensional character.  However, director Ruben Fleischer sells Abigail Breslin short of a great role, giving her not a lot to do except play the sassy and cute sidekick to Emma Stone’s big sister.

Zombieland excels at what it does – it is wildly entertaining, funny, charming, intelligent and pleasingly warm and hopeful. The black comedy moments are executed with panache, the dialogue is witty and clever and though purists may argue that the gore factor is relatively low (the film is rated 15), there is enough crawling flesh, violence and occasional shocks to satisfy those in want of high quality comic horror. Fellow zombie comedy-horror Shaun of the Dead may be more intelligent and have an enormous cult following, but Zombieland is arguably funnier, warmer and vastly more enjoyable. With a film this accomplished, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Ruben Fleischer had been making films for years – this is his debut feature but you’d never know. Even the soundtrack is suitably awesome, with the film’s punchy and stylish opening credits rolling along to the killer strains of Metallica’s ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’. Let us hope and pray that a filmmaker this promising indeed marches on.

With its hilarious antics, deliciously violent horror set-pieces, moments of genuine pathos and a cameo that is just too brilliant to be revealed, Zombieland is the perfect popcorn film. It may not be profound, but it is damn good.

Rating: MMMM

Review of the adaptation of  Roald Dahl’s children’s book Fantastic Mr. Fox which opened the 53rd London Film Festival on 14th October 2009.

Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson
Running time: 87 mins

Fantastic Mr. Fox marks the mainstream breakthrough for director Wes Anderson, more famed for low-key cult hits such as Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums. In this adaptation of Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s book of the same name,  Anderson brings his usual eccentric, quirky style to the source material, delivering a film that succeeds on almost every level.

George Clooney voices the clever and charming newspaper columnist Mr Fox, who dreams of him and his family moving up in the world, quite literally, from an underground foxhole to a home inside a tree. Here he enlists help from real estate solicitor Mr Badger (voiced by Bill Murray) and subsequently settles into a lovely new home with wife Felicity (Meryl Streep), son Ash (Jason Schwartzman of Rushmore) and prodigy nephew Kristofferson (Eric Chase Anderson). However, after relocating the family to new residence, Mr Fox nostalgically remembers his thieving days as a professional poacher and pines for the life of danger and excitement he once led. Consequently, our hero hatches a plan for “one last big job”, aided in part by Kylie the possum to steal from the “nastiest, meanest farmers in the valley”, Boggis, Bunce and Bean. However, one heist leads to another and pretty soon Mr Fox, his family and neighbours land themselves in one big heap of trouble.

From the get-go, Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox is a fast-paced, charming and entertaining feast for the eyes and the heart. Visually stunning, the stop-motion animation used to create the world of the film and its inhabitants is flawless, perfectly capturing every nuance of the story (and the small changes in plot that Anderson has neatly added). In particular, the scene in which Mr Fox fights with the evil Rat (Willem Dafoe) is amazing (with the characters’ silhouettes illuminated by intermittent flashes of lightning), as is a shared moment between Mr and Mrs Fox in front of a waterfall. It is a testament to the charm of the film that where the animation could seem contrived and somewhat dodgy, there are instead endearing eccentricities – smoke being created from what appears to be a billowing mass of grey cotton wool.

Packed full of great comedy hi-jinks, character moments (where Owen Wilson’s Coach Skip explains the rules of cricket/rounders/baseball hybrid sport ‘whack bat’ is just priceless) and genuinely witty one liners, Fantastic Mr. Fox has all the ingredients of a truly excellent and entertaining film. The only minor drawbacks for this critic are the intertitles which appear throughout the film, far too fast for young children to be able to read in time and which more importantly, announce moments of drama which would be better left to the surprise of the audience. Sadly the use of these titles sells some moments of conflict and suspense rather short, and key set-pieces lose both their impact and poignancy.

However, this is a small price to pay in an otherwise perfect film. The voice talent is exceptional, the animation and visual style is great, the dialogue is superb. Those put off by the film apparently being ‘for kids’, for shame. Fantastic Mr. Fox is film that is (unashamed use of the pun) truly fantastic, and fantastic for all.

Rating: MMMM+

On the sofa with the 2008 glossy adaptation of Noel Coward’s 1920s set comedy of errors, Easy Virtue.

Director: Stephan Elliot
Starring: Jessica Biel, Colin Firth, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Barnes
Running time: 92 mins

Based on Noel Coward’s original play, Easy Virtue is set in late 1920s England and sees young John Whittaker (Ben Barnes) bring his blonde bombshell new wife Larita (Jessica Biel) home to meet his family. The couple are greeted somewhat frostily however, as Mrs Whittaker senior (Kristin Scott Thomas) does not approve of her son’s choice of bride – what ensues is a tense battle between the two women with unexpected consequences.

The film’s narrative follows a neat three act structure, with some great sight gags, poignant scenes and as one might expect from a Coward-scripted drama, dialogue of the highest wit and calibre. The costumes are perfectly designed and created (Larita’s blouse and trouser combinations in particular), with the photography subtle and dramatic in turn. The production value is high throughout the film, with the exception however being the film’s music. Instead of a low-key score with traditional and realistic select tunes from the likes of Cole Porter (these are in attendance, although few in number), instead we are ‘treated’ to songs modern songs orchestrated in a 1920s style – Tom Jones’s ‘Sex Bomb’ for instance, which as soon as one recognises that familiar melody, becomes increasingly irritating. These numbers effectively ruin what would otherwise be a solid and credible musical score, with some tunes sung credibly well by members of the cast (Jessica Biel sings ‘Mad about the Boy’ to great aplomb).

In comparison with some dodgy choices with Easy Virtue’s music, Stephan Elliot must be praised for his casting, as both Kristin Scott Thomas and Jessica Biel are perfect in their respective roles as the stubborn battle-axe mother Mrs Whittaker and glamorous American Larita. Biel presents Larita as a complex and intriguing character with hidden depths and a spirited, passionate past, whereas Scott Thomas demonstrates again her fantastic range and ability to transform what might be two-dimensional roles into well developed characters. However, as Mr Whittaker, Colin Firth seems uncharacteristically lacking in presence, leaving Coward’s fabulously witty dialogue to fall flat at times – a real waste of such good excellent source material. Similarly Ben Barnes, while looking very much the part as the gorgeous young hero, lacks depth. His two younger sisters in comparison are played very well by Katherine Parkinson (Jen from the IT Crowd) and Kimberley Nixon, creating a wonderful chorus effect when coupled with Scott Thomas’s matriarch.

Easy Virtue is a beautifully shot and crafted film, with some good performances, a very well structured plot (undoubtedly due to Coward’s theatrical text) and enough laughs to keep audiences smiling after the credits roll – but is unlikely however to be as memorable as other period pieces of recent memory.

Rating: MMM