Five Children and It (U, 89 mins) Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Izzard, Freddie Highmore, Zoë Wanamaker, Jonathan Bailey, Jessica Claridge Director: John Stephenson
BASED on a novel by E Nesbit, Five Children and It is the perfect half-term family treat.
The five children of the title are sent to stay with an uncle in the countryside while their father is at the Front in World War I.
The uncle turns out to be Kenneth Branagh doing a nice turn in English eccentricity with an equally daft housekeeper Martha (the delightful Zoe Wanamaker).
The children stumble upon an odd creature, a sand fairy, right, who promises to grant them a wish a day but a wish that lasts only a day.
The usual merry mayhem ensues as they try to keep the fairy secret although he does get captured by Uncle Albert's nasty son who just happens to have a laboratory in the house.
The fairy is a great creation from the Henson's Creature Shop and voiced by Eddie Izzard who gives the film most of its comic moments.
The finale comes when the children decide to rescue their father from the battlefield.
Branagh is good value as always and is perfectly cast as the dotty uncle while the children work their own charm. But it is Izzard's sand fairy which finally steals the movie.
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