The 1902 Bar & Grill, Dunmuir Hotel

23/07/23

Newhouse Terrace, Dunbar

We’re meeting up with a couple friends in Dunbar and they’ve booked the four of us in for lunch at The 1902 Bar and Grill, a pleasant dining space in the Dunmuir Hotel, a short walk from where they live. It’s Sunday afternoon and the place is pleasantly busy. The 1902 offers traditional food with a contemporary twist and we’re warned that, since everything is cooked to order, there might be a bit of a wait, so we settle happily down to chat.

We eschew the idea of starters – though they do look pretty enticing – and, as one of the offerings on the menu is a Sunday roast, both Susan and one of our companions decide to go for that. It arrives looking pretty glorious, a generous helping of rare beef accompanied by all the trimmings: roast potatoes, creamed leeks, carrots, broccoli, horseradish sauce and a huge crispy Yorkshire pudding. I have opted for rump of lamb and this too is pretty unctuous, succulent chunks of rare meat accompanied by broccoli, heritage carrots, creamed leeks (again), a nicely-done fondant potato and a delicious haggis bon bon. There’s also a jug of red wine jus, which is quite simply delicious. Meanwhile, our other companion is tucking into a splendid slice of seared halibut, which comes with a dollop of caviar and half a dozen mussels on a bed of mixed vegetables. He pronounces it ‘delightful’ and makes very short work of it.

One of the advantages of skipping the starter is, of course, the fact that we’ve got plenty of room for pudding and The 1902 offers a tempting selection. Susan chooses the strawberry custard tart, which is as pretty as a picture and happily tastes every bit as good as it looks. I’ve been unable to resist an old favourite, sticky toffee pudding, though this version is made with banana, an inspired addition, which adds an extra kick of sweetness to the dish. (As if it needs extra sweetness – but I’m not complaining!) Both puddings come with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and both are consumed to the last crumb.

I can’t fault anything we have; everything is perfectly cooked and beautifully presented. Should you find yourself in Dunbar in the near future, this charming bar and grill is well worth seeking out.

4.5 stars

Philip Caveney

Oppenheimer

22/07/23

Cineworld, Edinburgh

What do you do the day after you’ve seen Barbie? You watch Oppenheimer, of course, because some bright spark has decided that, as these two completely disparate films share the same release date, they shall henceforth be known as Barbenheimer. Well, fair enough. I’m just pleased to see the cinemas bustling again, which at least gives me some hope for their future. And I have the sense to see the films over two days, rather than as a bizarre double-bill.

Where Barbie was lighthearted and vivacious, Oppenheimer is deadly serious stuff, a biopic of the man who gave humanity the atomic bomb, along with the distinct possibility of destroying the planet we inhabit. Furthermore, with a running time of three hours, it’s clear that director Christopher Nolan wants us to ponder the titular character’s life in some considerable detail.

Nolan – still smarting, no doubt – from the underwhelming critical response for his previous offering, Tenet, has pulled out all the stops here, choosing to shoot the film using IMAX cameras. This at first seems an odd decision for a film where men in suits talk about physics but Nolan constantly cuts away to dazzling optical displays of nuclear fission, fizzing and popping like surreal fireworks, and there are impressive recreations of Los Alamos in New Mexico.

Ludwig Göransson’s score also impresses though it occasionally underpins some quite complicated dialogue (just as it did in Tenet) and I find myself wishing it would pipe down a bit. Just saying.

Cillian Murphy plays J. Robert Oppenheimer with considerable presence, managing to portray him convincingly at various stages of his life, from wide-eyed young student of physics to embittered elder statesman. Emily Blunt is quietly impressive as his wife, Kitty, and Robert Downey Junior is delightfully devious as Lewis Strauss, the man who sets Oppenheimer on the path to his ultimate destiny. The film boasts a massive cast that positively bristles with A listers, so many it feels pointless to mention them all – but I’ll make an exception for the assured performance of Matt Damon as Lt General Leslie Groves, the man who appointed Oppenheimer to oversee the Manhattan Project.

The screenplay, written by Nolan, sweeps confidently backwards and forwards through Oppenheimer’s chronology, never confusing and constantly throwing out disturbing questions about the nature of mankind’s eternal hubris. The potential danger that the complicated science might be hard to follow is not allowed to become a problem.

Ultimately, the central character emerges as a martyr, a brilliant man encouraged and seduced by the powers that be, then rejected and used as their scapegoat. Murphy’s chiselled features seem to stare out of that giant screen as if appealing for understanding for the torture he’s going through, the awful weight of responsibility resting on those narrow shoulders. I know little about Oppenheimer before I see this film and am now fascinated to learn more.

Oppenheimer keeps me hooked throughout and sometimes does the near impossible, creating suspense for an event I already know the outcome of. While this doesn’t quite measure up to Nolan’s finest work, it’s nonetheless an impressive film that deserves the plaudits it’s receiving.

And if it isn’t quite as assured as it’s shocking pink stablemate, well, this is a much tougher tale to tell… and a harder one to stomach.

4.4 stars

Philip Caveney

Barbie

21/07/23

Cineworld, Edinburgh

I was never much of a Barbie girl. In 1970s Britain, Sindy was the gal du jour, although I didn’t play with my Nurse version of her very often. Despite my indifference, the original grown-up doll – brainchild of Ruth Handler, played here by Rhea Perlman – has more than endured, securing herself a place in the cultural fabric of the western world, at once an impossible ideal and an inspiration, a symbol of toxic beauty standards and glass-ceiling-busting possibility. Barbie’s dilated body, with its uneven weight distribution, might mean that she can’t really support her head and that walking upright is near impossible, but hey, she’s a dentist, an astronaut, a mermaid – even a freakin’ president. Little girls can project a lot more onto her than they ever could onto a Tiny Tears.

And who else but Greta Gerwig could harness this wonderful contradiction and turn it into a pink-fuelled picture, as fierce and funny as it is feminist? This is a clever, sassy, two-hour romp of a movie – and, despite the relentless hype that’s preceded it, it doesn’t disappoint.

Margot Robbie’s ‘Stereotypical Barbie’ is the standard edition, the one we all think of first when we hear those two bilabial plosives. She was clearly born for the role, not just because of her particular brand of gorgeousness, but because she’s got the acting chops as well, imbuing the plastic goddess with humour, strength and vulnerability.

At first, it’s business as usual in Barbieland: the sun is shining, the beach is calling, and every night is girls’ night, with all the many iterations of Barbie just hanging out and having fun. The only doll who’s even slightly unhappy is Ken (Ryan Gosling), who’d love to spend the night with his girlfriend, even though he’s not sure why or what they’d do to pass the time. But then, out of nowhere, Barbie starts to think dark thoughts. What’s happening? Are those… tears? Before she knows it, she’s off to the Real World on what she assumes will be a simple mission to put things right. After all, she’s Barbie, isn’t she? There’s nothing she can’t achieve…

Gerwig doesn’t just walk the thin line between celebrating and critiquing Barbie: she jumps up and down on it, turning somersaults and waving cheekily. “If you love Barbie, this movie’s for you,” says the trailer. “If you hate Barbie, this movie’s for you.” It’s true.

Gosling and Robbie are both excellent comic actors, and the script – by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach – is whip smart, providing plenty of laughter as well as food for thought. The supporting cast are very good too, especially Kate McKinnon as punky outsider ‘Weird Barbie’ and America Ferrera and Ariana Greenblatt as Real World mother and daughter duo, Gloria and Sasha. Helen Mirren voices the omniscient narrator, who adds to the arch knowingness of the film, which – to my mind – is no bad thing. The choreography is as bold and vivid as any Barbie girl could wish (although perhaps the Ken dance routine overstays its welcome), but it’s the costumes and set that really linger in the memory, a series of candy floss confections, liberally dusted with glitter.

The showing we’re at is pleasingly busy, even though it’s 10 o’clock on a Friday morning. There are lots of families here, as well as couples, groups of women, and plenty of people on their own. It really is for everyone. So come on Barbie, let’s go party: dig out whatever pink stuff you have lurking in your wardrobe, and head on down to your nearest cinema.

4.6 stars

Susan Singfield

Luck

16/07/23

Apple TV

After experiencing some er… issues at his old outfit, former head honcho of Pixar John Lasseter has formed his own studio, Skydance Animation, along with a whole bunch of other producers. Their first release, Luck, an Apple original, has all the visual hallmarks of a Pixar production, though directors Peggy Holmes and Javier Abad – and writers Kiel Murray and Jonathan Aibel – don’t seem able to negotiate the fine line between emotion and mawkishness quite as skilfully as Pixar do.

The film starts confidently enough with orphan Sam (Eva Noblezada) turning eighteen and accepting that the ‘forever family’ she’s always longed for simply isn’t going to happen. She must strike out on her own, find a job and learn to fend for herself. It’s refreshing to see an older protagonist at the centre of an animated story and, when we learn that Sam’s always been cursed with bad luck, the point is skilfully demonstrated by a series of beautifully-timed slapstick routines.

But Sam’s luck changes dramatically for the better when she shares a snack with a talking black cat called Bob (entertainingly voiced by Simon Pegg in a dodgy Scottish accent. Don’t worry, it’s explained later…). Bob leaves behind a lucky penny, which Sam picks up – whereupon, her own luck changes for the better. If she drops a slice of toast now, it lands jam side up! But Sam vows to give that penny to a little girl at the orphanage, who Sam knows is hoping to be adopted.

When she inadvertently drops the penny down a toilet, Bob comes back in search of it – and, before she quite knows what’s happening, Sam is accompanying Bob to the legendary ‘Land of Luck’ in search of a replacement…

Luck is a bit of a mixed bag. The early sections, set in the real world, work just fine and hit the chuckle buttons, promising a thoroughly enjoyable experience – but, once in the fantasy world, everything becomes a bit too complicated for its own good and, as a result, it feels less assured. The story galumphs along at full steam expecting us to take a lot in our stride: a tribe of penny-polishing leprechauns with awful accents (no excuses offered this time); a Queen dragon voiced by Jane Fonda; a leprechaun captain (Whoopi Goldberg); and a camp moustachioed unicorn called Geoff (Flula Borg), who is fond of a workout down the gym.

But then it turns out there’s also a Land of Bad Luck and, when Geoff’s complicated machinery (it keeps the two opposing forces balanced) goes a bit haywire, we’re told there’s a danger of all the good luck in the world disappearing, a possibility that unfortunately generates no jeopardy whatsoever.

Not awful then, by any stretch of the imagination, but frankly not in the same league as some of Pixar’s big-hitters – though, truth be told, even they are struggling to reach their former heights. Why would that be I wonder? Bad stories? Bad management decisions ? Or just bad luck?

You decide.

3.4 stars

Philip Caveney

Wham!

13/07/23

Netflix

This will surprise a lot of people but Wham! were not really one of the bands I followed back in their heyday. Oh, I was aware of them – indeed, it was hard to miss them in the four years of the 1980s that marked their meteoric rise to stardom and their unexpected demise.

This account, cleverly assembled from a mixture of archive footage, Top of the Pops appearances and the many scrapbooks collated by Andrew Ridgeley’s mum, has been herded into shape by director Chris Smith and the result makes for entertaining – and occasionally thought-provoking – viewing.

This is the story of two young schoolkids, the aforementioned Andrew and his best pal Georgios Kyriacos Panayioto (a name that would soon be changed to George Michael). The boys got into all the usual childhood scrapes but also developed a determination to be pop stars, an ambition led by Andrew and ably supported by George. Together they wrote some songs. We get to hear the originals, recorded on cassette tapes and, while they’re rough and ready, there’s already the spark of a hummable melody in there. Now all they need is a record company…

When Wham Rap! first hit the scene in 1982, it didn’t exactly set the charts alight – but the boys’ determination knew no bounds and it wasn’t long before the duo were toothily gracing every teen pop magazine in existence. They also drafted in backing singers Dee C. Lee (later replaced by Pepsi) and Shirley to broaden their appeal and, together, the four of them made a series of exhausting public appearances at clubs up and down the UK. And, as each of those early songs was given a thorough reworking and some decent production values, the hits began to flow like honey.

But as we’re watching, something quickly becomes apparent. One of the duo has a talent that easily outpaces the other. A talent for songwriting, performing and producing. And there can really only be one logical conclusion…

What connects most powerfully in this true account of male friendship, is that Andrew has to be one of the most benign and forgiving human beings in history, willing to grant his best friend artistic freedom, even if it means turning his back on the megastardom he’s enjoying himself. There are plenty of people willing to criticise George for some of the things that happened to him after he went solo, but Andrew isn’t one of them. Having led his friend into the limelight, he doesn’t hesitate to set him free. We could all do with learning that lesson.

Wham! wisely concerns itself with the years 1982 to 1986, finishing up with the band’s massive farewell tour. There were plenty of other successes awaiting George Michael further down the line – and some much darker times too – but this film doesn’t go there. What’s on the screen is cheering, celebratory and occasionally heartwarming stuff, which – of course – only makes the ensuing tragedy all the more heartbreaking. It surprises me to admit that this documentary makes me appreciate the band more than I ever did when they were at the height of their success.

You don’t have to be a Wham! fan to enjoy this extraordinary true story but, that said, if you happen to be one anyway, then it’s win-win.

4 stars

Philip Caveney

My Imaginary Country

11/07/23

The Cameo, Edinburgh

The young people at the heart of this documentary are genuinely awe-inspiring. Prior to watching this, I’ll admit that I was almost entirely ignorant of the situation in Chile, and certainly unaware of what this impressive grass-roots protest had achieved.

Sparked by – of all things – an increase in the price of subway tickets, the ensuing estallido soon expanded into a general call for equality and justice, a demand for a new way of living. Hundreds of thousands of people – primarily young women – stood up for the cause, persisting in the face of tear gas and military oppression. And they won, eventually forcing a change of government.

Patricio Guzmán is a seasoned documentary maker, and it shows. My Imaginary Country offers us a tentative celebration, combining a justifiable sense of pride and triumph with a note of caution about what could still go wrong. After all, Chileans are all too aware that their hard-won democracy can be plucked from them in an instant.

Nonetheless, the footage captured here is mesmerising. Drones reveal an apparently endless sea of people, the scope of their demands seemingly as inexhaustible as their number. They don’t confine themselves to a single issue. Instead, they want it all: increased pensions for the old, equal rights for LGBTQ+, better job prospects, free education, decent health care for all. In short, they want society to function properly, the way it’s meant to. They want politicians to live up to their promises.

Governments around the world should take note. Today’s youth knows how to mobilise; they know how to take matters into their own capable hands. And they’re tired of being ignored.

4 stars

Susan Singfield

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One

10/07/23

Cineworld, Edinburgh

Most long-running movie franchises start strong and steadily run out of steam. The Mission Impossible series, however, seems to be running in reverse. It kicked off way back in 1996 (inspired by Bruce Gellar’s groundbreaking 1960s TV series). Even with seasoned director Brian De Palma at the helm, the results were sort of so-so. Each successive film tried a new director with similar results and it wasn’t until Christopher McQuarrie came aboard for 2015’s Rogue Nation that the gears finally began to mesh. Indeed, 2018’s Fallout was an adrenalin-fuelled, five-star smash and I really didn’t see how McQuarrie and everybody’s favourite Sandi Toksvig-lookalike, Tom Cruise, could ever hope to reach such stratospheric heights again.

My doubts are reinforced when it’s revealed that Dead Reckoning is only Part One of a story. While I understand that films continually strive for ‘bigger’, if a tale cannot be fully encapsulated within the confines of a 163 minute running-time, then surely something is amiss?

But I’m happy to report that I’m wrong on this score. The latest instalment might not be the perfectly-crafted beast that was its predecessor, but it nonetheless runs a pretty close second.

This time around, the antagonist is not a person so much as a thing: an AI creation known as The Entity. (Brilliant timing on this, I have to say, with everyone and his dog looking at ChatGPT and predicting imminent doom.) When we first witness The Entity’s powers, it is taking out a Soviet nuclear submarine and pushing the world to the brink of destruction, so it’s pretty clear that Ethan Hunt and his merry crew are going to have their work cut out to bring this mission to a satisfactory conclusion.

Said merry crew includes old hands, Luther (Ving James), Benji (Simon Pegg) and Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson), and there’s also new recruit, Grace (Hayley Atwell), a talented pickpocket but – as it transpires – a pretty average driver. The boo-hiss brigade features the return of The White Witch (Vanessa Kirby), who is as smirkingly horrible as ever. The McGuffin this time around is a pair of interlocking keys, which have somehow become separated from each other. When combined, they will grant the possessor access to the sunken submarine where The Entity is currently housed. But the AI has a human ambassador called Gabriel (Esai Morales), who is accompanied everywhere by his enigmatic hit-woman, Paris (Pom Klementieff, without her Guardians of the Galaxy antennae). This formidable duo will go to any lengths to thwart Ethan.

Meanwhile, Hunt’s employer, Kittridge (Henry Czerny), continues to be as fiendish and unpredictable as the villains he’s supposedly trying to defeat. Which side is he on, anyway? I’m still not entirely sure.

As ever, the extremely complex plot is mostly an excuse to link together a whole smorgasbord of action set-pieces, which somehow manage to feel fresh and innovative, no matter how mundane they sound when listed: car chases and countdowns, punch-ups and explosions, mix-ups and murders – and, of course, Tom Cruise running across a variety of landscapes like Mo Farrah on poppers. All the usual suspects are here for your delectation and, it must be said, they are brilliantly executed. A final confrontation aboard an out-of-control Orient Express racks up the tension to such an unbearable degree, I’m virtually chewing my own fingers off.

And then…. Lalo Schifrin’s immortal theme music kicks in, the credits roll and, against all expectations, I find I’m still up for another instalment. Honestly, I can’t wait. Except I’ll have to. Dead Reckoning Part Two is currently scheduled for June 2024 and I’ll be one of the first in the queue – assuming AI hasn’t taken over mankind by then and turned us all into human kitty litter.

Just saying.

4.8 stars

Philip Caveney

Smoking Causes Coughing (Fumer Fait Tousser)

09/07/23

Cineworld, Edinburgh

French writer/director/cinematographer Quentin Dupieux is a singular filmmaker, with an offbeat style that defies definition. This latest offering, for example, is about a superhero task force – except it isn’t, because they’re never called upon to perform any actual heroics and, in any case, it’s hard to know what their particular skillset (harnessing the negative energy from cigarettes, obviously) could achieve. Apart from making people cough.

But if saving the world isn’t on the agenda, Chef Didier – a revolting, slimy-mouthed puppet-rat, voiced by Alain Chabat – still has plans for his Tobacco Force (Gilles Lellouche, Vincent Lacoste, Anaïs Demoustier, Jean-Pascal Zadi and Oulaya Amamra). Noticing a little friction in the group, he decides that what they need is some team-building. Ignoring their protests, he packs them off to a country retreat, where they are ordered to focus on re-establishing their bond. This complex set-up is, in fact, just a framing device for what is essentially a whimsical portmanteau movie, as our heroes try to impress each other by telling fantastical tales around a campfire. But even this is far from straightforward, as a wandering child, Josette (Thémis Terrier-Thiebaux), and – ahem – a grilled fish (voiced by Franck Lascombes) also get in on the act…

The bleached-out colour palette, shonky robots and scruffy puppets all add to the sense of unreality that pervades this film. It looks suspiciously like something from 70s children’s TV, and yet it’s oddly polished too, as if it’s been sprinkled with magic movie dust.

Yep – it’s as weird and wonderful as it sounds. In an era of Marvel-saturation and double-digit sequels, it’s refreshing to see an oddity like this on offer in a mainstream cinema. Dupieux lets his imagination roam free and – although the inside of his head must be a strange place indeed – it makes for a very entertaining output. Highlights here include the gross-but-sweet story of a man caught in a wood-chipper, and the superheroes’ matter-of-fact acceptance that their accommodation boasts ‘a supermarket fridge’, complete with shopkeeper. Of course it does.

Don’t ask. Just do yourself a favour and book a ticket to see this in a cinema near you.

4 stars

Susan Singfield

Joy Ride

08/07/23

Cineworld, Edinburgh

Viewed via an Unlimited ‘Secret Screening,’ Joy Ride is a film we probably wouldn’t bother to book in normal circumstances – but I’m all for stepping out of my comfort zone now and then. This is a rumbustious comedy, a sort of Asian-American Bridesmaids.

Audrey (Ashley Park) is working in a Seattle law firm and jumps at the chance of going to China to oversee an important business deal. She has no memories of her birthplace because she was adopted as a baby by a white American couple, but she’s still besties with Lolo (Sherry Cola), her friend and protector ever since her arrival in the USA. Lolo is an artist, who specialises in objects inspired by human genitalia – something that writer/director Adele Lim seems to think is hilarious, and something on which we’ll have to agree to differ.

Would it be a good idea for Audrey to take Lolo to China with her? Clearly it wouldn’t, but of course she does anyway. Along for the ride comes Lolo’s hapless pal, ‘Deadeye’ (Sabrina Wu), a non-binary computer nerd obsessed with K Pop. Deadeye is a strangely adorable character and one of the best things about this patchy tale.

Once in Beijing, the trio meet up with mutual friend, Kat (Stephanie Hsu), an actor currently filming a popular television series, with a Hollywood deal in the pipeline. Kat and Lolo have an adversarial relationship, which is intensified when Kat introduces her hunky fiancee, Clarence (Desmond Chiam), a devout Christian who has no knowledge of Kat’s sexually active past, nor of the fact that she sports a memorable tattoo in an intimate place.

When Audrey meets the Chinese businessman with whom she needs to broker a deal, he’s clearly unimpressed when she admits to knowing nothing of her origins. When Lolo suggests it might be a good idea for Audrey to reconnect with her birth mother, in order to save the deal, the four friends promptly set off on an odyssey to the place where Audrey was born…

On paper, it sounds like a complicated scenario, but essentially, it’s an excuse for a breathless romp that meanders through a variety of locations, occasionally managing to be genuinely funny. More often than not, however, it confuses the lead characters’ insatiable appetites for sex and cocaine with humour. You could argue that there have been lots of films in which male characters follow similar trajectories, but if I’m honest, I don’t care much for them either. I’d also be more impressed if Joy Ride‘s ultimate message wasn’t one of those fridge magnet statements about friendship and forgiveness. And the problem is, you can see it coming from miles away.

The best bits here are the observations about different cultures, the way that a person’s upbringing influences the decisions they make throughout life. Trying to find a train carriage, for instance, Audrey shies away from sharing with Chinese people and instead assumes the lone white female on the train is more trustworthy. Big mistake.

Ultimately, Joy Ride delivers pretty much what it says in the title: a silly, frenetic chase through a series of unlikely situations, sometimes hitting the jackpot, but mostly missing by miles. A potentially funny sequence where the foursome try to impersonate a K Pop band (in order to get through an airport checkout without passports) is full of promise, but is squandered when they can only manage to deliver a truly forgettable few lines. Still, I’m hardly in the demographic for this. If Hsu’s recent success in Everything Everywhere All at Once is anything to go by, this could do serious business.

2.9 stars

Philip Caveney

Nimona

30/06/23

Netflix

Nimona is clearly a film with a charmed life. Originally set up as a Disney+ release, the production found itself summarily dismissed even as it neared completion. Perhaps a story with a unapologetically gay hero and his gender (and species) fluid sidekick made the House of Mouse a tad too nervous for comfort. Happily, the production wasn’t left stranded for too long, because in stepped Anapurna and Netflix to save the day – and it’s evident why they felt this project was worth saving.

Set in a fantasy world where swords and shields happily co-exist with flat screen TVs and mobile phones, Nimona focuses on the story of Ballister Boldheart (voiced by Riz Ahmed), an enterprising young ‘commoner’ who is offered the opportunity to become a member of the Elite Knights by Queen Valerin (Lorraine Toussaint). The monarch is looking to change a process that dates back to the founding of the order, when a heroic young woman called Gloreth saved the kingdom from a rampaging monster. But when Ballister is framed for a terrible crime, he cannot find anybody to back him up: not even his boyfriend, Ambrosius Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang), himself a descendent of Gloreth and everybody’s favourite young hero.

Enter Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz), a motormouthed shapeshifter, who has decided that Ballister could do with a little help – whether he wants it or not – and that what he needs more than anything else is a sidekick. It’s the growing relationship between these two characters that forms the true heart of this irreverent and very funny feature. Directed by Nick Bruno and Troy Quane , Nimona is based on a graphic novel by Nate Stevenson, and boasts an eye-catching hybrid style that treads a tricky line between 2D and hyper-realistic animation that somehow blends together with absolute authority.

Of course, there’s an allegorical subtext to what’s happening here. Nimona’s comments about never fitting comfortably into the normative world in which she’s obliged to live are telling – but, happily, I never feel like I’m being beaten around the head with the film’s message. On the contrary, I’m thoroughly entertained by what’s on the screen and constantly delighted by the clever twists the story features.

Whatever the true reasons for its cancellation, Disney’s loss is ultimately Netflix’s gain. I haven’t been so seduced by an animated feature since Across the Spider-Verse, and, if Nimona isn’t quite in that exalted league, it’s certainly not far behind it.

4.4 stars

Philip Caveney