Sir Billi

Sir Sean Connery breaks his retirement here to voice a skateboarding Highlands vet, in a charmless kids' film that claims to be the first full-length animated feature to be made entirely in Scotland. Alan Cumming, Ruby Wax and Miriam Margolyes also contribute their vocal talents to this strange tale that follows the hunt for an escaped beaver in a Highlands where animals talk. There's even a celebrity spot from Dame Shirley Bassey who sings the title song. But all this talent is largely wasted by husband-and-wife creative team Sascha and Tessa Hartmann. The film would be more aptly called "Silly Billi" because it's incoherently plotted, with unremarkable dialogue, and consistently fails to amuse. It's also a little creepy and just a touch smutty in a bid, perhaps, to pander not just to its core audience of young kids, but also accompanying grown-ups. Even some injudicious James Bond jokes fall, clunkily, on stony ground.