Action
Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny (12A)
Review: When he’s not outrunning giant boulders, cheekily bringing a gun to a sword fight, riding a runaway minecart to the end of the line or surviving an atomic bomb blast inside a lead-lined refrigerator, intrepid archaeology professor Dr Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) has always been blessed with the gift of words. He famously advised a class of students that “X never ever marks the spot”, rued the unfortunate end to his romance with Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) by declaring, “I can only say ‘I’m sorry’ so many times” and jokingly referenced his ability to cheat death by telling a duplicitous treasure-hunting rival, “I’m like a bad penny, I always turn up”.
In the final chapter of the gung-ho franchise that has been on a downward trajectory like that boulder since Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Ford’s bull whip-cracking alter ego has another moment of clarity. Reminiscing with old friend Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) about their previous escapades, Indy tempers expectations for this loopy quest for a device fashioned by Greek mathematician Archimedes: “This is not an adventure. Those days have come and gone.” That’s a fair reflection of a lacklustre first instalment without Steven Spielberg in the director’s chair
Instead, James Mangold takes charge, working from a script he co-wrote with brothers Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth and David Koepp, which trades heavily in nostalgia. Action set-pieces, including chases on horseback, two and four wheels, are slick but Ford’s hero feels tired – physically and emotionally – and digital trickery that smooths away a quarter of a century from his facial features for 1940s flashbacks is unconvincing. Antonio Banderas appears briefly as a salty seadog, who is dragged into the globe-trotting hunt for a contraption that can turn back the clock, and perhaps spare audiences the bloated 154-minute running time of Mangold’s picture.
Twenty-five years after Indy and British professor Basil Shaw (Toby Jones) stole one half of the fabled Archimedes Dial from Nazi Colonel Weber (Thomas Kretschmann) and superstitious doctor Jurgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), Basil’s spirited daughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) gatecrashes Indy’s retirement party, convinced she can complete her father’s work. “Why are you chasing the one thing that drove your father crazy?” despairs her grouchy godfather. Alas, a supposedly reformed Voller, trigger-happy right-hand man Klaber (Boyd Holbrook) and US government agent Mason (Shaunette Renee Wilson) also seek the relic, which is rumoured to act as a compass for fissures in time.
Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny bounces back lightly from the series-low of Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. Action sequences limit the amount of time Ford spends on foot (a digitally rendered Indy has a strained relationship with gravity as he leaps across carriages of a speeding train) and Waller-Bridge picks up the slack by sprinting across rooftops or boarding a moving aircraft in an unconventional manner. The eponymous adventurer has outwitted Nazi platoons, booby-trapped temples and a cult dedicated to human sacrifice but he’s no match for the ravages of time.
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Animation
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (PG)
Review: Computer-animated films can take several years to come to fruition so it is inevitable that fantastical features from rival studios might surface in quick succession with similar themes, emotional hooks or aesthetics. Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken splashes into cinemas just over a year after Pixar explored intergenerational angst in Turning Red, a beautifully crafted coming-of-age comedy about a shy 13-year-old who metamorphoses into a giant red panda every time she succumbs to embarrassment or excitement. Kirk DeMicco’s water-based fantasy for DreamWorks Animation, which is co-directed by Faryn Pearl, trades a gargantuan, fluffy bear for a fearsome sea monster and cheekily introduces a self-deluded character with a cinched waist, cascading red hair and a fishtail, who could be interpreted as a cheeky dig at Ariel from The Little Mermaid.
The script co-written by Pam Brady, Brian C Brown and Elliott DiGuiseppi remains at surface level for the majority of 91 pedestrian minutes, gradually revealing the titular heroine’s multi-tentacled secret and body image insecurities to friends and classmates under the timely banner of living an authentic life. Ruby is repeatedly urged to “go big” but the film paddling around her remains small in ambition and scope, building to a showdown against a towering adversary that strives for the majesty and menace of fiery Te Ka in Moana.
Shy teenager Ruby Gillman (voiced by Lana Condor) is a kraken who lives on dry land in Oceanside with parents Arthur (Colman Domingo) and Agatha (Toni Collette) and her younger brother Sam (Blue Chapman). The family has blue skin and gills but tells the coastal community’s residents that they look different because they hail from Canada. Agatha forbids her daughter from going into the sea, scuppering plans to attend the end-of-year prom on a boat with best friends Margot (Liza Koshy), Bliss (Ramona Young) and Trevin (Eduardo Franco).
Ruby tries to convince herself that prom is a “postcolonial, patriarchal construct” but she secretly yearns to ask skater boy Connor (Jaboukie Young-White) to be her date. A failed prom proposal culminates in Ruby plunging into the sea and she finally learns her destiny to inherit the throne from her imperious Grandmahmah (Jane Fonda). Historically, krakens are sworn enemies of mermaids, which means Ruby can’t be friends with sympathetic new girl Chelsea Van Der Zee (Annie Murphy), who also leads a secret life beneath the waves. Suffocated by tradition, Ruby angrily vows to break free.
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is a gently effervescent yarn that dilutes a wholesome and heartfelt central message of self-acceptance and individuality. Every facet of DeMicco and Pearl’s fantasy is polished – vocal performances, colour-saturated visuals, composer Stephanie Economou’s energetic soundtrack – but it’s formulaic and derivative fare that resolves conflict in the flick of a tailfin. A happily ever after without effort and sacrifice doesn’t feel truly deserved.
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