FILM / Critical Round-Up

CHAPLIN

'Chaplin will need to fight hard for an audience. Times change . . . current youth is hugely uninterested in cinema's past . . . for those cinematically literate, Chaplin has long been unfashionable, especially in Britain.' Geoff Brown, Times

'Somehow the film never quite brings Chaplin's personal complexities into clear focus . . . Nor does the film maintain a strong enough story-telling rhythm.' Hugo Davenport, Daily Telegraph

THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL

'Very enjoyable and absurd for about 30 minutes, after which drama and sentiment take over. Jerry Juhl's script becomes too obsequious to the original, leaving the Muppets to mug frantically in the few seconds they get between the Scrooge-and-ghost set pieces.' Nigel Andrews, Financial Times

'There is enough foolery and magic to please young children, though they may start wriggling when the soft-toy superstars take a back seat to Caine's Scrooge.' Geoff Brown, Times

MO' MONEY

'It is so ill-behaved it is almost charming. Or am I just suffering from pre-Christmas concussion?' Nigel Andrews, FT

'This is a pretty awful film . . . what's good about the movie are the comedy scenes.' Derek Malcolm, Guardian

'If this is grown-up cinema, give me Peter Rabbit.' Geoff Brown, Times