102 Dalmations. She’s back. Cruella de Vil (Glenn Close) re-emerges with a social conscience that lasts a full 10 minutes. Representing us ordinary, good folk is the pretty probation officer who will keep an eye on Cruella but keeps Dalmations. Wonderfully surreal, it’s a pity that Cruella’s comeuppence takes so long, because by then the kids are too restless to care. Neil Sonnekus
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle. Back in the Sixties Rocky and Bullwinkle were the cream of TV cartoon characters. Now they’ve fallen out of favour and a trio of nasty Eastern European caricatures have transformed themselves into real people and plan to take over ze world. Some of the jokes are good in this dated-looking cartoon-vs-reality interplay, but they’re more for the tired parents than their alert children. NS
Autumn in New York. Will Keane (Richard Gere) is a 48-year-old restauranteur who is the king of bachelors in New York. But into his life comes Charlotte Fielding (Winona Ryder) who will teach him the value of commitment. Deftly directed by Joan Chen, this is for those who want to perv Gere, regardless, and Ryder, who is quite beautiful. And talented. NS
Bossa Nova. Brazilian director Bruno Barreto’s wife, a mellowed Amy Irving, plays a widowed English teacher in Rio de Janeiro. Pedro Paulo (Antonio Fagundes), a divorced, middle-aged lawyer, decides to learn the international language of commerce, while soccer star Accio (Alexandre Borges) must learn how to swear in that tongue because he’s sold out to, of course, Manchester United. It’s warm, wise and ironic, and has a wonderful supporting cast of quirky characters. NS
Children of the Century. Based on poet-playwright Alfred de Musset’s autobiographi-cal version of his affair with woman writer George Sand, this film seems to be about their inability to give each other up. Though they are well and passionately played by Benot Magimel and Juliette Binoche respectively, after more than two hours of to-ing and fro-ing one wearies of them, their Romantic Age and its mal de sicle. NS
The Family Man is a second-chance movie about a Wall Street wheeler and dealer, Jack Campbell (Nicolas Cage), who abandons his college sweetheart, Kate (Tea Leoni), for an upmarket, New York lifestyle and money. He brags to a poor black thief (Don Cheadle), but the guy’s a fairy godfather, and the nonplussed Jack finds he’s married to Kate, has kids and lives in the suburbs. He has to learn to be human, that money isn’t everything and all the usual moral claptrap Hollywood brings out when it wants to honour simple folk. WP
The Grinch. Jim Carrey plays a kind of crazed green yeti who dislikes Yuletide jollity, so he makes Christmastime a misery for the odd-looking inhabitants of Whoville. Sweet little Cindy Loo Who (Taylor Momsen), however, feels the Grinch isn’t all bad, setting the stage for his rehabilitation. Based on the Dr Seuss story, The Grinch transmits some of the original’s charm, but mostly replaces the good doctor’s casual surrealism with cuteness and sentimentality. SdW
Little Nicky. The thought of Adam Sandler playing Little Nicky, the mixed-up son of the devil and an angel, will make many of us despair. He is a monster of conceited, unfunny mannerisms. And yet, and yet. This film did force a few grudging laughs from this reviewer, largely on account of Reese Witherspoon playing Nicky’s mom as a Valley-girl angel. This, and all the frantic FX, might justify the price of admission for a few people. Peter Bradshaw
? Pokemon The Movie: 2000 is a wonderfully drawn, intricate and exciting animated movie. The artwork’s great, and the plot has mythical resonance, creating an imaginative complement to the game. The movie, too, presents a communal world in which everything affects everything else, Zen-like. Recommended, even if you’re not a kid. WP
The Sixth Day. Arnold Schwarzenegger has to battle would-be world-dominators who have mastered the science of cloning people. The action is good, but Arnie’s acting is worse than ever. When he goes up against the Bill Gates of cloning though, it’s exciting enough to pass an easy two hours. SdW
The Tao of Steve. Dex (Donal Logue) is an underachieving, pot-smoking, overweight kindergarten teacher who nonetheless has a faultless seduction technique. But when he meets Syd (Greer Goodman), his secure system begins to show its flaws. The Tao of Steve is funny in an off-beat indie way, has its heart in the right place, and doesn’t drag out the more-or-less obvious conclusion for too long. SdW
Under the Sun is based on a short story by HE Bates about a 1950s middle-class city woman (Helena Bergstrom) who takes a job as a housekeeper on a farm belonging to lonely farmer Olaf (Rolf Lassgard). Eric (Johan Widerberg) is Olaf’s friend, a worldly-wise young sailor and woman’s man. Suffice it to say their worlds collide. Peter Eaton