Simon Pegg

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning

22/05/25

Cineworld, Edinburgh

And so, it would seem, the end is nigh – though I’m cynical enough to believe that will depend entirely on The Final Reckoning’s box office. It’s been a long and varied ride for Mission Impossible. As I’ve observed before, most franchises start strong and have a couple of decent follow-ups, before eventually running out of ideas and becoming pale shadows of their former selves. MI – based on the popular 60s TV series – began its cinematic journey way back in 1996 (originally helmed by Brian de Palma) and then struggled through a bunch of variable sequels until director Christopher McQuarrie came on board for 2015’s Rogue Nation. In that film, all the disparate elements finally gelled.

For my money, 2018’s Fallout was MI’s pinnacle: tense, propulsive, gloriously inventive, it kept me hooked right to the final frame and earned itself a five star B&B review. 2023’s Dead Reckoning wasn’t quite as perfect and the fact that it was a Part One didn’t help, particularly when Part Two wasn’t set to rear its head for another couple of years. Realising, no doubt, that viewers’ memories will need a significant nudge, The Final Reckoning opens with a kind of overview: a greatest hits package offering glimpses of a younger, leaner Ethan Hunt going through his frenetic paces.

After that, we arrive in a darker, gloomier world than we’re used to seeing in MI, where super-powerful AI Big-Bad, The Entity has taken control of the entire planet’s nuclear weapons and appears to be on the verge of initiating World War Three. (Sound familiar?) Ethan Hunt is now in hiding after the shenanigans of Part One so the American President (played by Angela Bassett, who, let’s face it, is the leader we all wish America currently had) puts out an urgent plea for him to show himself and to bring along that mysterious key he got hold of in Part One.

Will Ethan step up to this new challenge? Well, what do you think?

Aided by Grace (Hayley Atwell), Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benjie (Simon Pegg), plus former adversary, Paris (Pom Klementieff), Hunt devises ever more ingenious ways of taking on the all-powerful Entity and, if the storyline is patently absurd, well of course it is. This is Mission Impossible, FFS!

To give Cruise and McQuarrie their due, they have put everything they’ve got into making this the ultimate MI adventure and, to a large degree, they’ve succeeded. There are some incredibly-assured sequences, not least a claustrophobic and nail-biting return to that Russian submarine we saw in Part One. There’s also a nerve-racking aerial routine, where Hunt clambers all over the fuselage of a single-engined plane (in mid-flight) in a desperate bid to come face-to-face with human villain, Gabriel (Esai Morales). The fact that Cruise has done all these stunts for real is, of course, admirable, though I do wonder what professional stunt performers must think about such grandstanding. (I note from the credits that Cruise actually employs a stunt double, which begs the question ‘What does that man do to earn his fee?’ Make the coffees?)

On the debit side, the film’s ponderous running time does leave me with the onerous task of choosing the right moment to nip out for a toilet break – and I’d argue that thirty minutes could easily be clipped from this, simply by removing some of those references to past adventures. Having a call-back to a character who actually appeared in the very first movie is a nice touch, but I ask myself how much does it actually add to the story?

Still, kudos to Team Cruise-McQuarrie, who have devoted so much of their time, energy and (let’s face it) money to this franchise. But it does seem like the right time to bow out. And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only film fan who wistfully remembers Cruise in films like Jerry McGuire, Rain Man and Magnolia, where he was actually required to act and turned out to be pretty damned good at it.

I’m already looking forward to seeing what he does next.

4 stars

Philip Caveney

Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose

19/11/23

Amazon Prime

There are are some so-called ‘true’ stories that, if presented as fiction, would simply be dismissed as sheer nonsense. And then there’s ‘Gef,’ the talking mongoose, alleged to have haunted the Irving family on the Isle of Man in the 1930s, a situation deemed credible enough to prompt esteemed investigators into travelling to the Irvings’ remote farmhouse in order to establish whether or not Gef is actually real. Even the BBC produced a film about him and, for a while his fame was widespread. My main reaction to the story is one of bewilderment: why did anyone take this blatant baloney seriously?

I’ve heard about the story previously, thanks to an episode of the podcast, No Such Thing as a Fish, so my interest is sparked when I hear about writer/director Adam Sigal’s feature film. However, the fact that it hasn’t troubled the cinemas but has been unceremoniously dumped onto Amazon Prime suggests that there can’t be much here to shout about and, sadly, this proves to be the case.

Respected psychological researcher, Doctor Nandor Fodor (Simon Pegg), receives a letter from the Irving family telling him all about their resident mongoose and, after consulting esteemed colleague, Harry Price (Chistopher Lloyd), who has also investigated the case without reaching a satisfying conclusion, Fodor is intrigued enough to travel to the Isle of Man, accompanied by his assistant, Anne (Minnie Driver), to whom he may or may not be attracted. (It speaks volumes about the storytelling when I have to report that I’m still not sure sure about that element.)

Once there, they meet the affable Mr Irving (Tim Downie) and the other members of his household, including his teenage daughter, Voirrey (Jessica Balmer), who makes no secret of the fact that she is an accomplished ventriloquist. (I know: suspicious, right?)

But Fodor’s subsequent attempts to get to the truth of the matter are met with a whole series of bewildering obfuscations. Is Gef real? (No.) Or is he a cunningly contrived hoax, designed to bring people to the Irvings’ remote farm for reasons that can only be guessed at? Normally in cases of deception, the idea is to generate money, but that certainly isn’t what’s happening here. While the Irvings are far from being destitute, they live a frugal existence.

Sigal’s film is certainly enigmatic and it’s also handsomely filmed, the era convincingly evoked thanks to Sara Deane’s assured cinematography – but the screenplay spends far too much time telling us about events that have happened off screen, whilst offering us only the barest glimpses of Gef (voiced by Neil Gaiman). Both Pegg and Driver do their best with their respective characters, despite being given so little to work with. In the end though, the biggest mystery of all is how this unremarkable little project managed to pull in such a strong cast.

By the time we reach the underwhelming conclusion, I’ve pretty much given up on the film, and that’s a shame. There’s something so off-the-wall captivating about its central premise, that I’m left with the powerful conviction that there’s surely a great film to be made about Gef and his escapades.

Sadly, this isn’t it.

2.8 stars

Philip Caveney

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

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

Slaughterhouse Rulez

14/11/18

Comedy-horror is a notoriously tricky beast to master and few have had better results in this genre than Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Both Shaun of the Dead and World’s End fall squarely into this category and even Hot Fuzz (their very best film) sports a handful of horror elements expertly woven into the action. For this first release from their production company, Stolen Picture, they content themselves with supporting roles, but their handprints are all over Slaughterhouse Rulez, even if they are missing Edgar Wright’s sure-footed directorial skills.

After the death of his father, working class lad Don Wallace (Finn Cole) is sent off by his well-meaning mum to the imposing Slaughterhouse Public School, where she hopes he will have the benefit of a superior education. Once there, he finds himself sharing a dorm room with Willoughby Blake (Asa Butterfield), a louche, moody character who seems to be housing a whole clutch of secrets.

Don’s acquisitive eye soon falls on posh girl Clemsie Lawrence (Hermione Corfield), but she seems to have eyes for somebody else – and besides, most of Don’s time is spent coping with the predations of the school bullies, chief amongst them the sadistic Clegg (Tom Rhys Harris). Meanwhile, the preening headmaster, known to the pupils only as ‘The Bat’ (Michael Sheen), has given permission for a fracking rig to operate in the forest that borders the school playing fields, a move that dismays troubled teacher, Meredith Houseman (Pegg), and which leads a band of anti-fracking protesters, led by Woody (Frost), to set up camp in the woods.

As the drill descends into the ancient stones beneath the school, it releases something darker and even more dangerous than shale gas…

The set up here is nicely handled and captures the cruel and venal world of the boarding school all too well (trust me, I speak from personal experience). The large cast of characters are well drawn and engaging and, for the most part, the punch lines land pretty much where they should. It’s only when the film moves into its final third that things start to feel a little too protracted, too teased-out by attempts to tie the plot back to earlier events in the school’s history.

A more direct approach would have paid dividends here and kept the pace from flagging, which it undoubtedly does in places; but this is nonetheless a decent entertainment with some gloriously visceral carnage that’s never allowed to be so icky that it overpowers the humour. Those hoping for a Pegg-Frost reunion will have to be content with the one brief scene they share – but, for their first offering as producers, this really isn’t a bad start.

4 stars

Philip Caveney

 

Mission Impossible: Fallout

 

27/07/18

Most film franchises follow a familiar trajectory. They start well and, through the rules of diminishing returns, steadily become ever more feeble until somebody finally has the good grace to pull the plug on them. The Mission Impossible series, however, seems to have gone in the opposite direction. After a couple of so-so efforts, episodes three, four and five really managed to cut some mustard – and this sixth instalment of the TV-inspired show is surely its strongest manifestation yet. Indeed, this audacious thrill-ride, courtesy of returning writer/director Christopher McQuarrie is so enthralling I occasionally find myself holding my breath as Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) jumps off buildings, races on motorbikes, dangles from helicopters and runs for miles, all in the name of truth and justice. Yes, it’s complete tosh, but when it’s done this well, who cares?

When we first meet up with Hunt, he’s worrying about Julia (Michelle Monaghan), the wife he’s been forced to live apart from in order to keep her out of danger. But of course, for an IMF operative, danger is never very far away. Old adversary Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) is being used as a pawn by various secret powers, who aim to utilise his special skills to convert some stolen weapons grade plutonium into deadly nuclear devices. Hunt and his sidekicks, Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames), are assigned to take care of securing Lane and the plutonium and, for this mission, they are assigned an extra player – August Walker (Henry Cavill), a hard man with a high opinion of himself. But, when things go awry, the team are faced with a even trickier challenge. They must track down two nuclear weapons before they are detonated – an occurrence which will destroy huge areas of the planet. (So no pressure there.) Luckily, Hunt’s old flame Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) is on hand to lend her own special talents…

There’s quite a tricky story line here, with plenty of unexpected twists and reveals – and naturally, some of those hi tech masks that the makers are so fond of, but really, it’s all just a linking device for a whole string of spectacular set pieces, which are so triumphantly realised, you’ll barely have time to stop and speculate how far-fetched they are. Cruise, looking far better than anyone his age has any right to be, revels in some of the most hair-raising stunts this side of a Jackie Chan movie – indeed, the scene where he actually breaks his leg is included in all its wince-inducing glory. Cavill, who I’ve never really rated as Superman, is a lot more interesting when given a bit more character to play with and there’s excellent support from the rest of the cast.

Okay, you can argue that this film isn’t really about very much, but you’d be missing the point. It’s all about action and only a very few movies have managed to do it as effortlessly as its done here. My advice? Strap yourself in and enjoy the ride. And Mission Impossible Seven? Well, I certainly wouldn’t rule it out.

5 stars

Philip Caveney

 

Star Trek Beyond

Jaylah_and_scott

23/07/81

Star Trek has had a somewhat chequered history in the movies, a series that started well, peaked around the  third film and then become increasingly moribund with each successive instalment. In 2009, J.J. Abrams managed to deliver a great big kick up the franchise, revitalising the whole shebang – and while his sequel, Into Darkness wasn’t quite as assured, managing to upset a lot of Trek stalwarts with it’s reinventions, it was nonetheless, well told and fairly absorbing. Now Justin Lin (of the Fast and Furious movies) picks up the baton and attempts to run with it. Oh dear, oh dear…

Things start promisingly enough with a clever sight gag and soon after that, a sequence where The Enterprise arrives at a remote space station, a stunning construction that looks like it might have been designed by Escher – but when Kirk (Chris Pine) agrees to go and help some captives on a beleaguered planet, he and his intrepid crew soon realise that they have wandered into an elaborate trap, set by the villainous Krall (a virtually unrecognisable Idris Elba) and a huge space battle ensues. It goes on for what seems like weeks and the fact that it occurs in murky, half-darkness does nothing for an audience’s ability to follow what’s happening. Soon, the familiar characters are aboard escape pods and hurtling towards different locations, where they will have to regroup in order to stop Krall from employing a terrible weapon…

There are a few moments here, where Lin remembers that what has always fuelled Gene Roddenberry’s creation most effectively is the interplay between the characters. But whenever there’s a danger of things getting interesting, the script by Simon Pegg (who should have known better) and several other broth-spoilers, flings us back in the direction of yet another interminable pitched battle. And the franchise finds itself  in the doldrums once again, undoing all of Abrams hard work. A coda where a character solemnly intones the old bit about ‘boldly going to strange new worlds’ seems all the more ironic.

There’s nothing new or interesting here, just the resounding clunk of a missed opportunity.

2 stars

Philip Caveney

 

 

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

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02/09/15

We were far too late getting on to this – largely because an entire month of reviewing at the Edinburgh Fringe left us with too little time to actually make it to the cinema: a sorry state of affairs. Rogue Nation is the latest improbably titled instalment in Tom Cruise’s evergreen TV spy spinoff and as the series goes, it’s one of the better efforts – an adrenalin fuelled romp with an outrageously daft plot and a whole heap of inexplicable gadgetry to help the IMF team achieve their goals.

The film starts as it means to go on with the throttle wide open. Ethan Hunt attempts to board a plane… after it’s taken off. (Don’t try this at home. That’s my old stamping ground of RAF Wittering hundreds of feet below, by the way and yes, that is Cruise clinging on to the side of the plane. Nobody can say he doesn’t earn his millions.)

Hunt is on the trail of a mysterious organisation called The Syndicate, who have dedicated themselves to the eradication of the IMF and who are headed up by evil villain, Solomon Lane (a deeply creepy Sean Harris.) As Hunt hurtles around the world, evading assassins and leaping athletically from very high buildings, back at base, Brandt (Jeremy Renner) is engaged in a more pedestrian battle as grumpy CIA man, Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) attempts to get the Impossible Missions team shut down. It seems he finds them a bout too reckless for his liking. Soon Hunt is pretty much out there on his own, aided only by his hapless bessie mate, Benjie (Simon Pegg, who must be relieved to add a much-needed hit to his CV) and by the mysterious Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) who keeps popping up just in time to save Hunt’s life.

It’s fairly pointless to go into the plot. Most of it is unfathomable and all of it is unlikely, but it’s presented with enough tongue-in-cheek brio to suspend your disbelief. There’s an ingenious set piece at the Vienna opera house, while an underwater sequence where Hunt has to hold his breath for three minutes wracks up the tension to an almost unbearable degree. On the downside, there’s a  motorbike/car chase that seems a tad perfunctory this time around, but that’s a minor quibble. Overall, this is a superior slice of entertainment, which should keep you riveted till the final credits. And of course it still features Lalo Schifrin’s sinewy, unforgettable theme tune, which is a thriller all by itself.

What else can I say? Mission accomplished.

4.2 stars

Philip Caveney

Hector and the Search For Happiness

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20/07/15

The presence of Simon Pegg in a movie can usually be relied upon as some kind of quality control, but as Hector and the Search For Happiness proves all too readily, this can’t always be relied upon. Based upon the best selling self-help book by Francis LeLord, the film tells the story of Hector (Pegg) a successful psychiatrist, happily living in London with his girlfriend Clara, (Rosamund Pike.) But talking to a succession of depressed people on a daily basis eventually has an inevitable effect on him and he undergoes a bit of a mid life crisis; whereupon he tells Clara that he needs to go off and ‘find himself’ or more accurately, to find the essence of pure happiness.

To this effect, he visits China (for no apparent reason other than Chinese people are considered to be quite happy.) He  goes to work with an old college friend in Africa, and, in the final segment, he visits Los Angeles and his old flame, Agnes (Toni Collette) now a happily married woman with two children and a third on the way. Pegg tries hard to instil the proceedings with some degree of interest but is ill served by a story that despite involving so much travel is clearly going nowhere. It’s all a bit vapid to be honest. There’s some nice scenery to enjoy along the way and several serious actors appear in minor roles – Stellan Skarsgard, Jean Reno and Christopher Plummer to name but three, but apart from a few fridge magnet bon mots, there really isn’t an awful lot to be gleaned from the story, which eventually collapses into a conclusion that is so mind-numbingly predictable, we could have saved Hector the price of all those air fares.

2 stars

Philip Caveney

Man Up

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06/06/15

Some films are little more than entertaining fluff, but as entertaining fluff goes, Man Up is right there with the best of them. It boasts two likeable leads in Simon Pegg and Lake Bell, a great supporting cast, a witty script by Tess Morris and a genuine ‘feel good’ tone that carries you effortlessly through to its (pleasingly predictable) ending.

Lake Bell is Nancy, a thirty something female with a poor record in the relationships game. At the film’s start, she’d supposed to be attending the engagement party of a couple of friends, where she’s been set up on a blind date, but opts instead to eat a burger alone in her hotel room and watch The Silence of the Lambs. Pestered by her sister, Elaine (Sharon Horgan) to get in there and give it a shot, she goes to meet the man in question. The ensuing toe-curling conversation is one of the film’s funniest scenes. On the train home, she meets Jessica (Ophelia Lovibond) who is herself en route to a blind date, carrying a cheesy self-help book for the purposes of identification. By chance, Nancy ends up with the book and with the blind date, Jack (Simon Pegg), a forty year old would-be artist who is still hurting from the pain of the separation from his ex. Caught up in the moment, Nancy allows Jack to think that she is actually Jessica and the two of them embark on a night of drinking and conversation, made all the more challenging by Nancy’s desperate attempts to ‘be’ Jessica – who it turns out, is a twenty four year old triathlete! It’s all going swimmingly until they visit a bowling alley and bump into Sean (Rory Kinnear) one of Nancy’s ex schoolmates and a man who has been nursing a (rather creepy) obsession with her ever since…

Mistaken identity is a familiar conceit in the movies and many have tried this idea with average results, but Man Up is a superior product in most respects. The quirky script has far more surprises up its sleeve than you might expect from a subject like this and there are some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments along the way, even if we know all along that Jack and Nancy are made for each other and there’s no way the filmmakers would dream of letting us down in that regard. If you’re expecting the earth to move, this may not be for you, but if you’re in the market for a quirky, heartwarming feel good picture, you could frankly do a lot worse than this.

4.4 stars

Philip Caveney