Review: Night at the Museum

UK release date: 26th December

Ben Stiller heads a cast of A-list comedy actors that ranges from the likes of Mickey Rooney and Dick Van Dyke to Robin Williams in this raucous romp through history. Stiller plays the patsy once again as night watchman Larry Daley, who has to run for his life when an ancient curse causes the exhibits in a museum of natural history to come to life at sundown.

Stiller does a sterling job here and there’s a witty use of visual effects such as when Larry is terrorised by a T rex skeleton or when he tries to negotiate peace between a miniature Old West gunslinger (an uncredited Owen Wilson) and an equally tiny Roman general (Steve Coogan). Meanwhile, Ricky Gervais pops up as an officious museum director who’s not a million miles away from David Brent.

Director Shawn Levy is not always in control of his storyline as he desperately tries to string various subplots together through Larry’s faltering relationship with his son (Jake Cherry). Fortunately, there are enough exciting stunts and larger-than-life performances to provide entertainment for kids and old relics alike.

Radio Times rating:

***

UK cinema certificate PG
Running time 108mins

Review by Stella Papamichael

Review: Eragon

UK release date: 15th December

It’s set in a world of dragons and sorcery, but Eragon fails to conjure the magic of Christopher Paolini’s bestselling book.

Newcomer Ed Speleers stars (with some initial uncertainty) as the titular farm boy who becomes a “dragon rider”, threatening the tyrannical rule of King Galbatorix (a gnashing John Malkovich). Jeremy Irons employs a dry sense of humour as Eragon’s mentor Brom, which helps to alleviate some of the tedium as the kid struggles to decide what his true mission is. Rachel Weisz voices Saphira, the winged beast that carries Eragon into battle, although getting there proves to be a dizzying ride.

First-time director Stefen Fangmeier provides occasional distraction from the dithering script with adrenaline-fuelled flying scenes. But sadly the CGI effects aren’t good enough to make Saphira an emotionally engaging character, so the relationship between her and Eragon fails to spark.

Radio Times rating:

**

UK cinema certificate PG
Running time 103mins

Review by Stella Papamichael

Review: Happy Feet

UK release date: 8th December

George Miller, the co-writer of Babe, does for penguins what he did for pigs in this fabulous family adventure. Playing like March of the Penguins: the Musical, it combines jaw-dropping computer animation with contemporary and classic tunes to bring to life a simple but eloquent story of an outcast emperor penguin’s struggle for acceptance.

Moral and ecological messages abound as avian cutie Mumble (voiced by Elijah Wood) hatches without the ability to sing — a terrible misfortune in an Antarctic community where penguin couples find their mate through song. What he can do however is tap dance brilliantly, leading to social rejection that prompts him to embark on an exciting quest to prove his worth.

Every element of this heart-warming tale is delightful, from the astonishing visuals and imaginative song and dance numbers to the relentlessly paced (and occasionally scary) action sequences. The voice talent is also seriously classy, with Robin Williams in dual roles a highlight in a cast that also includes Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman as Mumble’s parents.

Radio Times rating:

****

UK cinema certificate U
Running time 108mins

Review by Sloan Freer

Review: Flushed Away

UK release date: 1st December

The first computer-animated feature from the Aardman brigade successfully replicates their Wallace & Gromit claymation aesthetic with convincing and entertaining (if less charming) results.

Hugh Jackman provides the voice of Roddy St James, a posh Kensington pet mouse who is flushed down the toilet into a vast rodent metropolis — a detailed mini-London constructed from rubbish. There he teams up with a streetwise rat (Kate Winslet) to foil the plans of a villainous toad (Ian McKellen) to flood the sewer city during half-time of the World Cup final. And along the way, Roddy finds genuine companionship for the first time.

Visually inventive and with a rich dose of British humour, directors David Bowers and Sam Fell’s film has thrilling adventure for the kids and droll wit for grown-ups. Jean Reno scores big laughs as stereotypical French mercenary Le Frog, but best of all are the singing slugs crooning pop hits as hilarious comment on the action.

Radio Times rating:

***

UK cinema certificate U
Running time 84mins

Review by Alan Jones

Review: Barnyard

UK Release: 20th October 2006

This CGI cartoon crosses the thematic conceits of The Lion King with the skewed world presented in Gary Larson’s Far Side cartoons, where animals stand up and talk whenever humans aren’t looking.

Kevin James voices fun-loving cow Otis, who must face up to his manly responsibility when his father (Sam Elliott, who does a mean Johnny Cash impression at one point) is killed by coyotes. Writer/director Steve Oedekerk, better known for his live-action films Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and Kung Pow: Enter the Fist, brings a strong cinematic sensibility to the proceedings, and Barnyard brims with often laugh-out-loud sight gags and one-liners.

Younger children may be a little disturbed by the violence and the movie’s dark undertones, while the more literal-minded will just feel confused by the film’s muddled biology: all the cows, male and female alike, have udders.

Radio Times rating:

***

UK cinema certificate PG
Running time 89mins

Review by Leslie Felperin

Review: Open Season

UK Release: 13th October 2006

This boisterous inaugural feature from Sony Pictures Animation won’t give Pixar any sleepless nights, but it does have a simplistic appeal.

Co-directed by The Lion King film-maker Roger Allers, it’s a familiar, computer-generated eco fable in which domesticated grizzly bear Boog (voiced by Martin Lawrence) sees his pampered existence as a mountain-town tourist attraction cut short when he befriends a mischief-making deer (a fantastic Ashton Kutcher). In a hilarious set piece, the duo cause so much mess in a convenience store that Boog eventually ends up released back into the wilderness — three days before hunting season begins.

What follows is a predictable lesson about man’s destructive effects on nature, boosted by quick-fire banter, brightly coloured visuals and plenty of kiddie-pleasing scatological humour. The pace slackens in the second third, hampered by narrative clichés and some weakly stereotypical supporting characters, though it picks up with gusto for a final imaginative animal/hunter showdown.

Radio Times rating:

***

UK cinema certificate PG
Running time 86mins

Review by Sloan Freer

Review: Hoodwinked

UK release: 29th September 2006

Little Red Riding Hood gets a low-grade Shrek makeover in this cheap-looking slice of computer-generated animation. Fitfully clever rather than funny, sluggish when it should be sassy, this uses a Rashomon approach to retell the classic tale from four perspectives.

Kung fu fighting Red (voiced by a strident Anne Hathaway) remains closest to the original characters, while extreme-sports enthusiast Granny (Glenn Close), undercover reporter Big Bad Wolf (Patrick Warburton) and down-on-his-luck Woodsman (James Belushi) wander off the page. A moustached frog named Nicky Flippers (David Ogden Stiers) is the Poirot of the piece, trying to unravel the anachronistic puzzle.

Despite the occasional amusing line and non-stop references to other fairy tales, the sameness of each character’s version of events soon becomes tedious, while the bland songs, ranging between hard rock and show tunes, don’t help.

Radio Times rating:

**

UK cinema certificate U
Running time 81mins

Review by Alan Jones