Review: Film

THE SPUNKY heroine of Disney's Mulan (left) cuts a Manga-style figure against an incongruous watercoloured backdrop. Her first-century escapades (thwarting the Hun, don't you know?) are played out to a thumping AOR soundtrack and lots of cheesy showtunes ("When will my reflection show who I am inside?"). And yet, for all that, Mulan is still a delight: supple, witty and topped off beautifully by Eddie Murphy's showboating dragon.

On general release

Movie violence - Michael Haneke lectures us - is bad, irresponsible, wrong. At its worst, his Funny Games views like some crude school-instruction film (fourth-form Humanities, double-period). At its best, the cast-iron plotting and sharp depiction of senseless, casual evil takes the breath away. It's a film which triggers conflicting and volatile responses.

Selected release