Believe (David Scheinmann, 2013)

Bend It like Beckham with an even younger lead and a concomitantly simplified social agenda, Believe is another addition to the kids' fairytale football flick canon where the path is plotted out with a time-tested sense of security. The steady presence of Brian Cox is always a plus, this time playing a retired Sir Matt Busby, who takes it on himself to coach the team of plucky Mancunian working class nippers to a cup final against the local grammar-school toffs. But these things very much hang on the likability of their heroes or heroines to generate goodwill, even amongst an audience of children, and the rebellious 11-year-old with the magic feet who the film revolves around is just too hopelessly dim to put up with all the way through, never mind the rest of the hokum on show.

4/10