Horrid Henry: The Movie (U) *Directed by: Nick Moore
Starring: Theo Stevenson, Richard E. Grant, Parminder Nagra
After success with last summer’s StreetDance 3D, the commercially canny folk at Vertigo Films have clearly developed a taste for pocket money. This live-action adaptation of Francesca Simon’s books is a minor-celebrity pantomime along St. Trinian’s lines, right down to the school-threatened-by-closure plot and the cameo from the ex-Girl Aloud (here, the bubbly one) casting around for post-pop acting work. Henry himself (newcomer Stevenson) rather gets forgotten in the producers’ rush to chuck in talent contests and more streetdancing – the results of a PR brainstorming inquiry into What Kids Like, rather than a coherent story.
Director Moore, already responsible for one St. Trinian’s rip-off in 2008’s Wild Child, aims for snappy and colourful, but gets something scattershot and synthetic, stuck with the aesthetic of cheap children’s television. The nadir is 20 minutes of mirthless eye-rolling from Dick and Dom as quiz show hosts, but then much of it is reliant on C-listers (Noel Fielding, Mathew Horne, Richard E. Grant, finally landing a credit to rival Spiceworld for naffness) gurning at the 3D camera and getting water or paint deposited on them for their troubles. Come back Dennis the Menace, all is forgiven.
Horrid Henry: The Movie is on nationwide release.
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