Petit Nicolas

If Wes Anderson made French kids’ films, they would presumably look something like this adaptation of the ‘Petit Nicolas’ books created by René Goscinny (best known for ‘Astérix’) in 1959. Director Laurent Tirard and his team have furnished their 1960s doll’s house world to retro perfection: from knobbly-kneed little boys in short trousers and knitted tank tops right down to shag-pile rugs.Ten-year-old Nicolas (Maxime Godart) is in a bit of jam. Convinced that his parents are having a baby, he concludes – with a child’s perfect misunderstanding of the consequences – that they will abandon him in the woods. Resorting to desperate measures, he ropes his chums into a plan to make himself indispensable at home. Nicolas is essentially a better-behaved, less mischievous ‘Just William’. He’s charming and adorable to parents, yes – but you’ve got to wonder if kids will find this mummy’s boy a bit wimpy. Also, this is subtitled rather than dubbed into English, so it won’t work for little ones.