MOVIE: Animals and insects feature at the movies

Paul O’Rourke

THERE seems to be more and more animals starring in films these days. 

There are even more pets appearing in the audience, thanks to dog-friendly screenings at the Lighthouse Cinema in Smithfield (we presume they cover the seats). 

So far this year we have had ‘The Secret Life of Pets 2’, ‘Pet Cemetery’, ‘A Dog’s Journey’, ‘A Dog’s Way Home’ and ‘Dumbo’, with more to follow. 

And this week’s cinematic offerings includes the return of our favourite artful arachnid, Spiderman, as well as the first film, as far as we know, to feature the English monarch’s mutts. 

‘The Queen’s Corgi’ is an animated feature from nWave Pictures, based in Brussels and starring Jack Whitehall as the voice of Rex, the Queen’s top dog. Rex has competition for Lizzy’s affections from Charlie (Matt Lucas), another Corgi who takes our hero outside the palace grounds and tries to make sure he doesn’t return. 

From here, Rex has to get himself out of some predictable sticky situations and hopefully find his way home to save the day.

There is no doubt this is a film for very small children, but there is little here for the parents who are taking them. 

The script is unusually simplistic and not at all funny, so Jack Whitehall, who can sometimes work as comic support, is miscast as the lead. 

However, kids may enjoy it and parents may take the 90-minute opportunity to catch up on some sleep. 

‘Spiderman Far From Home’ sees the welcome return of Tom Holland in the starring role, following the success of his last offering, 2017’s ‘Spiderman Homecoming’. 

His character did, of course, feature in the recent ‘Avengers: Endgame’ but is not to be confused with last year’s ‘Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse’ which was an animation. Confusing, isn’t it? 

All you need to know about this version is that it’s looking to deliver more youthful humour than most blockbusters (which is a good thing) and that it has the slickest sounding cast ever assembled, namely: Cobie Smulders, Zendaya (just the one name) and JB Smoove (seriously). 

With schools now closed for the summer, this one is bound to be a winner with the kids.