A Monster in Paris 3D (U)

Voices: Vanessa Paradis, Adam Goldberg

For the opening 15 minutes of this family digimation about a fin-de-siècle Parisian film projectionist we seem to have a superior to Scorsese's Hugo, at least in the humour stakes.

Then it becomes something else as the cineaste and his manic inventor friend accidentally create a monster out of a flea – which via a long story goes from hopping over the rooftops to playing guitar at a louche Paris nightclub.

Vanessa Paradis voices the sultry chanteuse who befriends him; Danny Huston channels his dad, John, in Chinatown as a corrupt wannabe mayor ("Water is my weapon of choice"); and the film has fun with running jokes about a straw coat and a monkey that tries to prevent mischief. It loses charm and direction the longer it continues, copping out with an ending too eager to mollify; this thing wouldn't hurt a flea.