Early Man (Nick Park, 2018)

Aardman is a highly dependable brand and its productions manage to appeal across the spectrum without straining to do so. Hence, Early Man comes in the established painstaking stop-motion technique, with familiar-looking characters and a mix of broad daftness and wry references to contemporary culture. The storyline this time isn't too ambitious, though, revolving around the attempt by a stone-age tribe to avoid being expelled from their verdant little valley by unscrupulous bronze-age invaders, culminating in a football match to decide the issue, which is an overused plot and a bit of a cop-out, even allowing for the fact that this is essentially a kids' film. Still, it's an innocently jolly ride and there are plenty of diversions in spotting all the British comedy and acting greats doing the voices.

6/10