Film reviews: The Muppets | The Woman in Black | The Vow | Big Miracle

Published on Thursday 9 February 2012 00:00

The Scotsman film critic Alistair Harkness reviews the latest films to be released

The Muppets (U)

Directed by: James Bobin

Starring: Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Jack Black

Rating: *****

AS FANS of Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Superman know only too well, nostalgia for the things you loved as a kid can lead to bitter disappointment when belatedly and reverentially revived on the big screen. With The Muppets, however, director James Bobin and star and co-writer Jason Segel have found a way to pay tribute to Jim Henson’s creations that simultaneously updates the old felt format without sacrificing their timeless appeal. Making a virtue of The Muppets’ lowered public profile, the film cheekily gets to have its cake and eat it by revolving around a quest to re-establish Kermit and Co’s popularity in order to save the Muppet Theatre from being torn down by an evil oil tycoon (Chris Cooper, dialing it up to 11). Naturally, this involves getting the gang back together to put on one last show, which provides endless opportunities for grin-inducing gags and musical numbers (by Flight of the Conchords’ Bret McKenzie) which are almost deliriously delightful. The ensuing chaos is all amusingly self-aware, though Kermit’s eternal optimism prevents it ever feeling flip. The anarchic end result is perfect in its imperfections – and about as joyous as a film for all the family can possibly be.

The Woman in Black (12A)

Directed by: James Watkins

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Ciarán Hind, Janet McTeer

Rating: ***

THE problem with vengeful ghost movies such as The Woman in Black – which is based on Susan Hill’s already much adapted 1983 novel – is that The Orphanage raised the bar so high for this kind of thing that delivering occasional shocks no longer cuts it if the emotional pay-off isn’t strong enough. And, sadly, it isn’t strong enough here. That’s partly because Jane Goldman’s script is devoid of subtlety, partly because James Watkins’s direction doesn’t warm the heart as effectively as it chills the blood, and partly because Daniel Radcliffe, despite giving a very earnest and otherwise engaging performance, lacks the years and the gravitas to truly convince as a grieving husband with a four-year-old son. He plays Arthur Kipps, a London lawyer in 1904 who is sent to attend to the sale of a Yorkshire estate by a boss losing patience with his continued poor performance at work. Arriving in the village of Crythin Gifford, he’s treated with inexplicable hostility by the superstitious locals, but perseveres with the job he’s been sent to do – even as he begins seeing the titular spirit, and children start dropping like flies around him. The story offers few surprises, but it’s big on atmosphere and a few scenes are properly unnerving.

The Vow (12A)

Directed by: Michael Sucsy

Starring: Rachel McAdams, Channing Tatum, Sam Neill, Jessica Lange

Rating: **

IF NICHOLAS Sparks had written the The Bourne Identity, the movie version might have up ended looking something like this amusingly awful romantic drama. Allegedly inspired by a true story, it stars Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum as a couple of married hipsters – she’s a kooky artist called Paige, he’s a brooding recording studio owner called Leo – whose life together takes an unbelievable turn when a spot of car sex in a snowstorm causes a road accident that leaves Paige with a no memory of her life with Leo. Instead, after coming out of her coma, she reverts back to the spoiled, shallow, materialistic rich girl she was before a break with her parents (played by Sam Neill and Jessica Lange) encouraged her to strike out on her own. Staggeringly and unintentionally silly, McAdams takes her post-accident cues from Drew Barrymore’s performance in the similarly themed 50 First Dates by playing Paige in bewildered romcom cute mode. Tatum, meanwhile, attempts to convincingly make her fall in love with him again by making speeches about how we’re the sum of all the moments in our lives and sporting an alarming array of chunky-knit cardigans that would frighten even Jason Statham.

Big Miracle (PG)

Directed by: Ken Kwapis

Starring: Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski, Ted Danson, Tim Blake Nelson

Rating: **

BASED on a true story from 1988, this race-against-time, save-the-whales adventure is, ironically, a lot more concerned with the personal and political squabbling inhibiting the efforts to rescue three grey whales trapped by ice on the fringes of the Arctic Circle than it is with the whales themselves. That’s probably because it doesn’t seem to know how to convey the majesty or the drama inherent in the natural world. Instead everything is filtered through the dull perspectives of characters that aren’t interesting to start with. Chief among these is the local news reporter (John Krasinksi) who breaks the story and promptly develops a crush on the more glamorous national news reporter (Kristen Bell) dispatched from LA to cover it – much to the chagrin of his ex, a Greenpeace activist played by Drew Barrymore. This mild love triangle mirrors the larger conflicts going on between the Inuits determined to protect their way of life, the oil companies looking for drilling permits and the Reagan administration looking for good PR in an election year. In the end, the none-too-subtle big miracle the film wants us to marvel at is the way people can, occasionally, put aside their differences for the common good.

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