DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOUR AMONG THIEVES (12A, 134 mins)
Previous attempts to translate the co-operative monster-slaying and spell-casting of Dungeons & Dragons to the big screen, including a 2000 fantasy adventure starring Jeremy Irons and Marlon Wayans, failed to replicate the unabashed fun or thrill of a campaign of the roleplaying game.
John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein's boisterous romp is a confident step in the right direction, combining special effects-laden action and tongue-in-cheek humour under the aegis of two dungeon masters, who struck a similarly irreverent tone with their previous film, Game Night.
The duo's breezy script, co-written by Michael Gilio, acknowledges the game's legacy with a cheeky homage to the 1980s animated TV series and fleeting appearances by creatures from D&D lore including a Mimic, Displacer Beast and Gelatinous Cube, which absorbs and digests organic matter including unfortunate adventurers.
A reliance on practical visual effects, including animatronics, puppeteering and make-up, imbues the film with nostalgic, old-fashioned charm in keeping with the gaming origins although a mind-bending sequence with a portal inside a moving stagecoach necessitates some nifty digital trickery.
Character classes such as barbarians, bards, paladins, sorcerers and wizards and the principal setting of the Forgotten Realms on the continent of Faerun are immediately recognisable but for all the reverence and revelry, Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves feels like it's always one roll of a polyhedral die shy of glory.
Expertly choreographed fight sequences land glancing blows but never a sucker punch, jokes elicit warm smiles but rarely a full-blooded chortle and a big emotional pay-off is telegraphed far in advance.
Greatness is within Daley and Goldstein's grasp but it slips tantalisingly through their fingers.
Following the death of his wife Zia (Georgia Landers), lute-playing bard Edgin (Chris Pine) abandons a noble pledge and turns to petty thievery with his surrogate sister, exiled barbarian Holga (Michelle Rodriguez).
The duo recruit self-doubting sorcerer Simon (Justice Smith) and incorrigible rogue Forge (Hugh Grant) to their merry gang.
A plan to steal the fabled Scroll of Reawakening backfires and Edgin is incarcerated with Holga in the giant panopticon of Revel's End on charges of grand larceny and skulduggery.
A daring prison break shepherds Edgin and Holga to the seemingly impenetrable vault of Castle Never and a hare-brained heist that harnesses the combined talents of sorcerer Simon, shape-shifting tiefling druid Doric (Sophia Lillis) and dreamy paladin Xenk (Rege-Jean Page).
In their way stands menacing Red Wizard Sofina (Daisy Head), who specialised in the school of necromancy.
Shot on location in the UK and Ireland, Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves is an entertaining and imaginative jape that aims bigger than Daley and Goldstein can ultimately deliver.
Pine sparks a pleasingly antagonistic relationship with Page while Rodriguez performs the majority of the heavy lifting when it comes to on-screen fisticuffs.
Ray Chan's impressive production design constantly dazzles the eyes but the heart goes wanting.
7/10
GOD'S CREATURES (15, 101 mins)
A mother's unconditional love knows no bounds in a tense Irish drama written by Shane Crowley and directed by Saela Davis and Anna Rose Holmer.
Eileen (Emily Watson) is thrilled when her estranged son Brian (Paul Mescal) arrives back home from Australia to their close-knit fishing village.
For the first time in years, the hard-working clan is together, including Eileen's husband Con (Declan Conlon), daughter Erin (Toni O'Rourke) and her baby boy.
The return of the prodigal son isn't greeted with so much enthusiasm by Con or by Eileen's co-worker Sarah (Aisling Franciosi) at the seafood processing plant.
When shocking allegations are levelled at Brian, Eileen is asked to provide an alibi.
Her decision to lie for Brian has dire repercussions for the family and the wider community.
7/10
MUMMIES (U, 88 mins)
Spanish filmmaker Juan Jesus Garcia Galocha, who previously worked as art director on Tad The Lost Explorer And The Secret Of King Midas, makes his directorial debut with an animated adventure co-written by Jordi Gasull and Javier Barreira.
Emmy Award-winning screenwriter Ricky Roxburgh collaborated with the duo on the English-language translation.
The Pharaoh (voiced by Sean Bean) presides over a secret afterlife for Egyptian mummies, hidden from prying human eyes beneath the shifting sands of the ancient pyramids.
In this subterranean world, the noble ruler looks forward to his daughter Princess Nefer (Eleanor Tomlinson) finding true love and ascending the throne with the Royal Family's treasured ring on her finger.
Ambitious archaeologist Lord Carnaby (voiced by Hugh Bonneville) and his henchmen, twins Danny and Dennis, steal the fabled heirloom and spirit it away to the Carnaby Museum in London.
Nefer gives chase along with charioteer Thut (Joe Thomas), his younger brother Sekhem (Santiago Winder) and their pet baby crocodile.
Far from home and the rituals of the Egyptian court, the interlopers adapt quickly to the strange customs of the west.
7/10
LITTLE EGGS: AN AFRICAN RESCUE (U, 89 mins)
Arriving in cinemas just before Easter, Little Eggs: An African Rescue is a computer-animated adventure about a rooster racing to save a precious cargo, written and directed by Gabriel Riva Palacio Alatriste and Rodolfo Riva Palacio Alatriste.
Toto and his wife Di are delighted to welcome two golden eggs into the world.
The children are snatched from the nest and spirited away to a gourmet food event in Africa.
Toto, Di and pals give chase and they encounter a menagerie of madcap critters including a trio of clueless hippos, hungry crocodiles and deranged monkeys.
6/10
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