The Boxtrolls (PG, 97 mins)

The Boxtrolls (PG, 97 mins)

Directors: Graham Annable, Anthony Stacchi

3 stars

Possibly the weakest summer on record for animated movies closes out with this likeable but problematic stop-motion effort that can't quite make up in charm what it lacks in coherence.

Though an American production, The Boxtrolls is adapted from a British book by Alan Snow called Here Be Monsters, and retains a mostly British voice cast led by Ben Kingsley and Jared Harris. The titular creatures live under the streets of a quaint but rather odd town, coming up from the sewers at night to scavenge.

They're much feared by the townspeople, to the extent an exterminator is hired to rid them of the problem.

What they don't know is that the Boxtrolls are in fact perfectly friendly, if a little disgusting. What's more, a young boy lives with them, raised as one of them and named Eggs (because of his box) since he disappeared from the town as a baby.

It's a bit of a shaky start that fills us in on all this, introducing us to a number of characters defined more by their oddness than anything more tangible.

Chief among these is Kingsley as the exterminator, Archibald Snatcher, sounding like Michael Gambon doing an impression of Terry Jones' Mr Creosote from The Meaning of Life. The result much of the time is as incomprehensible as that suggests.

Elsewhere the voices are just a little too clipped in their Englishness, with Isaac Hempstead Wright from Game of Thrones as Eggs and Elle Fanning as Winnie, the young girl helping him as they take on Snatcher.

The best stuff comes from Richard Ayoade and Nick Frost, who are on sparkling form as Snatcher's accomplices.

It's Pythonesque in other ways too, with a real Gilliam flavour to its bizarre and grotesque look, which kids generally respond to. It's also incredibly brown and, for all that it's delightfully rendered, never exactly nice to look at.

The animation is lively though, allowing the film to ooze a playful charm to go with its homemade, hand-cranked vibe.

And things do pick up somewhat when, after years of the Boxtrolls being picked off by Snatcher, Eggs goes to the surface to try to save them.

It's a world where the ruling classes are more concerned with cheese (no, really) than the welfare of the people.

This commentary on inequality is the main thematic thrust and, alongside a strong message of the merits of family, the film's intentions are certainly good.

But there's an inefficiency to the story that holds it back, Snatcher's scheme is never fully formed, and the climax is interminable. The characters are never appealing enough, the Boxtrolls are largely anonymous, and the overall feeling is that this is more guts and gruel than heart.

See it if you liked: ParaNorman, Coraline, Frankenweenie

A Most Wanted Man (15, 122 mins)

Director: Anton Corbijn

2 stars

Another John Le Carre novel is adapted for the screen with uninspiring results that don't do much more than prove that Philip Seymour Hoffman had so much more to give us.

Set among a low-tech Hamburg intelligence community still reeling from the security failings of 9/11, Hoffman is the spy boss looking for a terrorist who his superiors want arrested, but who he thinks can lead to bigger fish.

Complicated but pedestrian, tele-visual and familiar looking, this is more about political bureaucracy than spying. Stock characters like Rachel McAdams' lawyer and Willem Dafoe's banker offer a bit of a hodgepodge of accents, meaning that it can often be stilted, but Hoffman is mostly able to overcome this, and he commands the screen with his gruff and world-weary performance.

See it if you liked: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Pride (15, 120 mins)

Director: Matthew Warchus

4 stars

It's amazing that it's taken 30 years for the story told in Pride to make it onto film, such is the feel-good factor generated by this captivating drama.

At the height of the miners' strike in 1984, a young man (George MacKay) travels to London to take part in the Gay Pride march and joins up with a group of them as they form the LGSM - Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners.

As they raise funds to help the people of a small Welsh town, just because they're giving them money doesn't mean they're accepted, and much of the prickly tension in a terrific midsection comes from these differences being overcome.

It's a neatly told story about two downtrodden groups supporting each other, with a marvellous cast that also includes Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton and Paddy Considine. It's funny in that one-liner way that good British comedies do so well, and though it does meander a touch in the later stages, Pride is a proper crowd-pleaser.

See it if you liked: Made In Dagenham, Billy Elliot, Brassed Off

In Order of Disappearance (15, 117 mins)

Director: Hans Petter Moland

4 stars

Stellan Skarsgård stars in this blackest of comedies disguised as a Nordic noir as Nils, who runs the snowplough for a remote Norwegian town.

When his son is murdered he sets out for revenge, putting him on a collision course with drug dealers in what at first seems like a Liam Neeson vehicle as he mercilessly takes them out.

Though we probably spend too much time with the gangsters at the expense of getting to know Nils, this is still gripping stuff, with the laughs coming as thick and fast as the violence, and more often than not going hand in hand.

With its flippant approach to death and its unpleasant characters, it's not exactly built on strong ethical foundations, but it is horribly entertaining.

See it if you liked: Insomnia, Jackpot, Fargo

The Wizard of Oz (U, 98 mins)

Director: Victor Fleming

5 stars

One of the greatest family films ever made returns only to IMAX cinemas to hopefully mesmerise a new generation. As Judy Garland's Dorothy journeys to the magical land of Oz to learn the message that there's no place like home, the result is a shimmering fantasy that has survived and flourished for 75 years, with winning characters, immortal songs, glorious design and some genuinely creepy moments. Don't miss this rare chance to see it on the biggest of big screens.