JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH (51)

Directed by: Henry Selick

Starring: Paul Terry, the voices of Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, etc.

The Pitch: A little boy living with his abusive aunts enters a magical (and animated) world, travelling to New York aboard a giant peach with a bevy of insect companions.

Theo Sez: More Disney than Dahl, or indeed - judging from THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS - Henry Selick, a jolly children's movie that's mostly within shouting distance of the truly imaginative without ever quite getting there. It's undernourished for one thing, the meagre story padded out with some horribly bland songs from Randy Newman (the Artist Formerly Known As Witty). And few of the jokes have bite, whether it's wicked aunties coming on like pantomime villains or ersatz Pinky-and-the-Brain routines from a supporting cast of one-dimensional insects : when something sharp and borderline-nasty happens, like James and the others using the terrified Earthworm for bird-bait - or a bizarre dream sequence, in the approximate style of Terry Gilliam's Monty Python cartoons - it feels joltingly (and refreshingly) unusual. For adults the main attraction is the impressively-detailed animation, plus occasional amusement provided by the cast of all-star voices - even three years after NAKED you keep expecting the David Thewlis-voiced Earthworm to launch into sarcastic tirades about the others ("What's it like being you? Bit hectic?" is surely tailor-made for the hyperactive Centipede). Otherwise a sweet adventure story for well-brought-up tykes ; though at least it has the decency to let James's lost parents remain lost right up to the end.