The King of Kings review – Charles Dickens retelling of the Jesus story does a serviceable job

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The famous author tells his son and their cat the story of Jesus in this mixed-bag family animation, voiced by an impressive cast This syrupy cartoon account of the life of Jesus (voiced by Oscar Isaac) is narrated, with consummate weirdness, by Charles Dickens (Kenneth Branagh). It’s in fact based on a story Dickens wrote for his children (and wasn’t published until 1934, decades after his death). The idea is that Dickens is telling the story of the New Testament to his young son Walter (Roman Griffin Davis) and Walter’s impish cat, explaining to the King Arthur-obsessed Walter how Jesus was the real King of Kings and all that. And so we see Walter and Charles, in their mid-19th-century garb, wandering through scenes of JC’s life nearly two thousand years earlier, from the nativity to the crucifixion – much like Scrooge and his spectral buddies in A Christmas Carol as they wander through past, present and future Christmases. It rather drags out what is already a pretty long running ...
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The Innocent review – enjoyably French romcom heist caper

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A lonely young widower is drawn into a dangerous plot to pilfer caviar and negotiates pleasingly barmy plot twists

With his fourth feature directing, mop-haired actor-director Louis Garrel puts a French stamp on the Hollywood heist movie. The Innocent is a screwball romcom-caper starring Garrel himself as a guy who gets caught up in a plot to pilfer a job lot of caviar (you don’t get more Gallic than that). It’s a broad, enjoyable, lighthearted movie with a fair few not-insignificant plot holes, but a genuinely surprising storyline that keeps you guessing to the end.

Garrel plays Abel, a young widower, just 32, who’s been emotionally dormant since his wife died. Though he is is close to his mum, Sylvie, a charismatic, warm chaotic actor played with fizzing comic energy by Anouk Grinberg. Sylvie has a thing for bad guys; her latest squeeze is suave thief Michel (Roschdy Zem). They met in prison when she was teaching an acting workshop and he was banged up for a five-stretch. Head over heels, they get married and after Michel is released, open a florist together.

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