Ratchet & Clank

Video games have always borrowed from movies and TV – which makes things tricky when those games are translated back to the screen. Based on the hugely popular PlayStation series, this kids’ animation follows a wisecracking alien rodent (like the one from ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’), who teams up with a prissy robot (like the one from ‘Star Wars’) and a loudmouth space captain (like the one from ‘Futurama’) to defeat an evil green mastermind who looks suspiciously like The Mekon from the old ‘Dan Dare’ comics.

All of which would be just about forgiveable if the film wasn’t also stuffed with that snarky, sarky adolescent humour that so many modern screenwriters seem to mistake for wit (see ‘Deadpool’ and ‘Kick-Ass’). It’s not a total washout: at least one gag in five is actually funny, and the action scenes set an enjoyably breakneck pace. If you’re an 11-year-old on a week-long sugar jag, you might just love it.