Toe-tapping, hip-swaying delight

6:50am Saturday 29th November 2008

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MAMMA Mia! (Cert PG, 104 mins, Universal Pictures UK, Musical/Romance/Drama/Comedy, also available to buy DVD £21.99/Gift pack DVD £29.99/Blu-ray £26.99) Starring: Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Dominic Cooper, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard.

Sophie (Seyfried) prepares to marry her hunky fiance Sky (Cooper) on the idyllic Greek island where her mother Donna (Streep) runs a taverna.

Unfortunately, the blushing bride-to-be has no one to give her away because Donna - lead singer of the now defunct group Donna And The Dynamos - has always refused to reveal the identity of her daughter's father.

So Sophie invites her three potential dads - divorced architect Sam (Brosnan), intrepid travel writer and explorer Bill (Skarsgard) and steadfast banker Harry (Firth) - to the wedding without telling her mother or Sky.

The men's arrival throws Donna into an emotional whirl, leaving childhood mates Tanya (Baranski) and Rosie (Walters), who have flown in for the nuptials, to pick up the pieces.

Thankfully, a hip-thrusting disco medley is the perfect antidote to relationship woes, reuniting the characters as Sophie and Sky prepare to say, 'I do'.

Mamma Mia! is a toe-tapping, hip-swaying delight which skips merrily through ABBA's greatest hits, including 'Chiquitita', 'Gimme Gimme Gimme', 'Super Trooper' and 'Take A Chance On Me'.

From the opening strains of 'I Have A Dream' in dreamy moonlight to the full-cast rendition of 'Waterloo' in glittery catsuits and platform boots, this rollicking romance is 104 minutes of pure, undiluted joy.

It doesn't matter a jot that most of the male cast can't hold a melody.

Indeed, the roughness of some vocal performances only adds to the film's boundless charm as the cast throw themselves into each brilliantly choreographed number with unrestrained gusto, reaching a crescendo with Streep's heartbreaking solo on 'Winner Takes It All'. A DVD gift pack, comprising the film, a journal and pen in a sound-chipped box, is also available.

DVD Extras: 'The Making Of' featurette, deleted scenes, out-takes, Amanda Seyfried 'Gimme Gimme Gimme' music video; Blu-ray: 'The Making Of' featurette, 'A Look Inside Mamma Mia!' featurette, deleted scenes, out-takes, deleted 'Name Of The Game' musical number, Amanda Seyfried 'Gimme Gimme Gimme' music video, Bjorn Ulvaeus cameo.

Rating: Five out of five.

WALL-E (Cert U, 94 mins, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Family/Sci-Fi/Comedy/Action/Romance, also available to buy DVD £20.99/Blu-ray £26.99) Starring: Fred Willard and the voices of Ben Burtt, Jeff Garlin, John Ratzenberger, Sigourney Weaver.

In the distant future, humankind evacuates Earth aboard giant cruiser spaceships belonging to the Buy-N-Large corporation, leaving behind an army of solar-powered droids to clean up continents of detritus.

The last of these pint-sized mechanised creations, WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class), dutifully crushes all of the refuse into neat blocks, collecting any interesting artifacts of 20th century life (a Rubik's Cube, brassiere, fire extinguisher, bubble wrap) to add to his personal collection.

Out of the blue, a mysterious mothership touches down on the planet surface and spits out a sleek search-bot called EVE (Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), who has been programmed to seek out flora on the third rock from the sun.

What she discovers, however, is an out-dated Load Lifter with a lust for life.

WALL-E is a magical, out of this world love story, distinguished by amazingly detailed visuals that astound and delight from blast-off.

Director Andrew Stanton has created a masterpiece that tugs at the heartstrings and leaves us giddy with joy. As soon as this beguiling film ends, you'll be clamouring to press play on the DVD again.

From the opening shots of a satellite-encircled Earth, Pixar's latest feature is a feast for the senses, conjuring unforgettable images like the diminutive hero hitching a ride on EVE's spaceship and allowing his free arm to caress the rings of Saturn, or the robots' deep space waltz.

Every frame is crafted with love and jaw-dropping attention to detail. A hysterical bonus short film called Presto, chronicling the battle of wits between a turn-of-the-century magician and his cute stage bunny, is the icing on the cake.

DVD Extras: Director commentary, 'Animation Sound Design: Building Worlds From The Sound Up' featurette, 'The Imperfect Lens' featurette, 'Captain's Log' featurette, 'Notes On A Score' featurette, 'Life Of A Shot' featurette, 'Robo-Everything' featurette, 'WALL-E & EVE' featurette, deleted scenes, Presto short film, exclusive BURN-E short film, teaser for the film Up, 5 Buy-N-Large Industrial shorts, poster gallery, Easter Eggs, theatrical trailers; Blu-ray: director commentary, 'Animation Sound Design: Building Worlds From The Sound Up' featurette, 'The Imperfect Lens' featurette, 'Captain's Log' featurette, 'Notes On A Score' featurette, 'Life Of A Shot' featurette, 'Robo-Everything' featurette, 'WALL-E & EVE' featurette, deleted scenes, Presto short film, exclusive BURN-E short film, teaser for the film Up, 5 Buy-N-Large Industrial shorts, poster gallery, Easter Eggs, introduction by Andrew Stanton, introduction to BURN-E by director Angus McLane, BURN-E Storyboard PiP, Cine-Explore in-movie commentary, Hoverchair Quarterback: Trash Talk & Trivia pop-up guide to film references, 3D Set Explorations, WALL-E's Treasures & Trinkets montage, theatrical trailers.

Rating: Five out of five.

The X-Files; I Want To Believe (Director's Cut) (Cert 15, 103 mins, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Sci-Fi/Thriller, also available to buy DVD £19.99/two-disc DVD £22.99/Blu-ray £28.99) Starring: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Billy Connolly, Amanda Peet, Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner, Adam Godley, Callum Keith Rennie.

Father Joseph Crissman (Connolly), a convicted paedophile, experiences alarming visions of a kidnapping, then leads authorities to a severed limb buried in the snow.

Agent Mosley Drummy (Joiner) approaches Scully (Anderson), who now works as a physician at the Our Lady Of Sorrows Hospital, to make contact with Mulder (Duchovny) so that he can consult.

She reluctantly agrees and soon finds herself partnering a reinvigorated Mulder at FBI headquarters, where Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) Dakota Whitney (Peet) briefs them on the perplexing case.

While Mulder is fascinated by Father Joe's claims that he channels premonitions from God, Scully remains sceptical, searching as ever for a rational and scientific explanation.

The X-Files: I Want To Believe begins promisingly with the abduction of an FBI agent from her garage at night but struggles to sustain tension as Mulder and Scully bicker over the validity of Father Joe's bold claims, even with a nighttime chase sequence through a maze of scaffolding to quicken the pulse.

On-screen chemistry between the two leads smolders and the film develops their relationship in intriguing new directions.

Duchovny and Anderson slip back into their roles with ease, the latter delivering a terrific, incendiary one-liner to make her feelings clear about Father Joe's heinous indiscretions.

Connolly is a little miscast in his provocative supporting role while Peet and Joiner remain firmly in the background.

This slow-burning plot thankfully steps away from the intricate extra-terrestrial conspiracies, which dominated the TV series, but feels insubstantial. Second time around, X doesn't quite hit the spot.

DVD Extras: Director and producer commentary, 'Body Parts: Special Make-Up Effects' featurette, 'Chris Carter: Statements On Green production' featurette, deleted scenes, gag reel, Xzibit 'Dying 2 Live' music slideshow; two-disc version: director and producer commentary, 'Body Parts: Special Make-Up Effects' featurette, 'Chris Carter: Statements On Green production' featurette, deleted scenes, gag reel, Xzibit 'Dying 2 Live' music slideshow, photo gallery, three-part 'Trust No One: Can The X-Files Remain A Secret?' feature-length documentary, digital copy of the film; Blu-ray: director and producer commentary, 'Body Parts: Special Make-Up Effects' featurette, 'Chris Carter: Statements On Green production' featurette, deleted scenes, gag reel, Xzibit 'Dying 2 Live' music slideshow, 'The X-Files Dossier: Agent Dakota Whitney Files' BD-Live web-enabled content, The X-Files Complete Interactive Timeline, director and producer picture-in-picture commentary, BD In-Movie features, isolated score track, digital copy of the film.

Rating: Three out of five.