Barbie as Rapunzel is an 80-minute video that will thrill children aged three to eight, following on from the success of Barbie in the Nutcracker. Barbie may have started life as a doll in the 1950s, but these days she's also making her name as a computer-animated film star. In a modern twist on the classic fairy tale, Barbie stars as Rapunzel-a courageous and imaginative princess who is locked away in a tower by the evil witch Gothel. With help from her friends (Penelope the cute purple dragon and Hobie the rabbit) and through the power of her own creative energies, she paints her way out of the tower to find freedom, truth and love. The video is visually impressive with dark and light colours used effectively to emphasise good and evil, allowing Barbie to be surrounded by her favourite soft pinks and purples. The well-known actress Angelica Huston is memorable as the vocal talent behind the unbalanced and scary Gothel. Excellent sound effects greatly enhance the film and Dvorak's New World Symphony played by the London Symphony Orchestra makes a pleasant change from films' current dependence on pop hits. Hugo the mighty dragon, Otto the nasty ferret and the sword fight between the feuding kings will hold the attention of those brothers of Barbie fans who are less than enthusiastic about watching this film, but essentially this is a little girl's film and the outrageously pink castle, the magical fashion show before the masked ball and the fairytale wedding will make it a firm favourite for its intended audience. -Tracey Hogan.

This legendary animated feature is surely beyond criticism by now and, furthermore, it's unlikely that we'll see such forceful narrative in a kids' cartoon ever again. Disney's treatment of Collodi's story of the little wooden puppet who wants nothing more than to be a real boy is always guaranteed to have audiences entranced. While some of the movie's success is derived from its liberal use of the kind of imagery no children's film-maker would even attempt to get past the storyboard stage today-a mysterious island where children smoke cigars, get drunk and turn into donkeys, a monstrous, malicious sea-creature which is devoid of any trace of cuddliness and a pair of villains who routinely abduct children, to give just a few examples-the characters are depicted with the finest attention to detail, most of the songs have become classics in their own right ("When You Wish Upon a Star" being only one of many) and the graceful, stylised animation positively glows with fine detail. Essential family viewing. -Roger Thomas.

The third entry in this popular series of festive family comedies, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause brings Tim Allen back as Scott Calvin, a man who has to juggle his family life with a dual role as Santa. This time, there's a newborn in the offing, an invite to his in-laws and a house full of people all ready to enjoy the festive season. What could go wrong? Well naturally things don't quite go to plan, as entering stage left is Martin Short as Jack Frost, who has plans of his own for the Christmas season. Thus, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause sees Scott Calvin and his family continuing to try and keep Christmas on schedule, whilst trying to foil the antics of Mr Frost, sticking closely to the formula that's made this franchise a hit in the process. It's hardly surprising that there's nothing radically different about The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, but then that's hardly the point. This is a very much an easy holiday crowd-pleaser, that bundles in solid family entertainment and a good number of chuckles across its running time. It's worked for the series before, and it works again here, proving to be a welcome seasonal treat, and a fitting third part of a very family-friendly trilogy. Roll on Christmas! -Jon Foster.

While many movie franchises slide as they reach their later instalments, the Harry Potter films just keep getting better. The latest, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is easily the darkest of the series to date, and it's also one of the best. For while it could easily have been little more than a holding film to set up the big encounters to come in the last two instalments of the series, it's to the credit of British director David Yates that the end result is really very good. It finds Harry coming under suspicion from his wizarding colleagues, who don't believe his claims that the evil Lord Voldermort has returned. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix thus finds its title character on the backfoot for much of its running time, with a select band who firmly believe his story, and very powerful figures who don't. Where the movie of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix excels though is in its three trump cards. Number one is a far tighter script than we're used to with Potter films, which, combined with trump card number two-the aforementioned David Yates behind the camera-cuts much of the slavish loyalty to the text away in favour of a film with real momentum. The third, and best, card though is the casting of Imelda Staunton as Professor Dolores Umbridge, who simply flies away with every scene she's in. It's a superb performance, and the film is poorer whenever she's not on screen. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is not a film without a few problems, certainly: it's a fair criticism that not too much actually happens, and one or two bits feel superfluous. [+]

Vin Diesel is game to soften his tough-guy image in The Pacifier, in which he plays hot-shot Navy S. E. A. L. Shane Wolfe, whose latest mission goes awry when the scientist he's sent to rescue is popped off before he can tell Wolfe where he's hidden some Top Secret software something-or-other. Before you can say Kindergarten Cop, Wolfe is assigned guard duty at the scientist's family home, where he's left with some unruly kids when the widow (Faith Ford) takes off to Switzerland to claim her hubby's safety deposit box under the guidance of Wolfe's superior officer. The trouble with this paint-by-numbers fish-out-of-water kiddie comedy is that Diesel himself is a fish out of water in the movie-he's no comic and is far funnier when he's unintentionally spoofing macho heroics in The Chronicles of Riddick. The film limply throws everything it can at you, including the idea of Wolfe directing a community theater production of The Sound of Music, but is just biding its time until the predictable action climax and hugs-all-around denouement. Vin doesn't look embarrassed, but the supporting cast sure does, especially Everybody Loves Raymond's Brad Garrett as a bombastic vice principal and Gilmore Girls' Lauren Graham as Garrett's boss and Diesel's sudden love interest. -Steve Wiecking, Amazon. [+]

Pokémon 2000, the second film to spin off the powerhouse child-friendly franchise of the turn-of-the-millennium, consists of the colourful if babyish human-presence free, short Pikachu's Rescue Adventure and the more elaborate feature The Power of One. The main attraction is up to snuff animation-wise, with imaginative settings (an island lair, a huge dirigible) that crossbreed cyberpunk futurism and Jules Verne style retro-fantasy. It even has the germ of an interesting, almost subversive idea, in that the story's wealthy villain is a green-haired fanatic who is as obsessive about collecting Pokémon as the film's target audience-he's after three fabled birds, Moltres, Zapdos and Articuno, but is really interested in the cute Loch Ness Monster-type being Lugia-but his philosophy is so skewed that he is more interested in owning and numbering the fabulous creatures than training or befriending them. A clever pun in a prophecy decrees that in a predestined crisis, "the world will turn to ash"-this turns out not to be a gloomy foretelling of holocaust but the revelation that human hero Ash is a messianic "Chosen One" who can restore the balance of nature when the collector's antics have unleashed worldwide climatic change. Adults might find the whole thing an endurance test for its shrill voicings, with Americanised kids and Japanese baby-talking Pokémon, not to mention the meld of incredibly simplistic storyline with amazingly intricate backstory. A trace of self-awareness comes in a brief snippet from a Weird Al Yankovic's song ("Polka mon") under the crowded end credits. -Kim Newman Video description DVD special features: The nice-looking DVD (letterboxed to 1. 85:1) comes with a "special edition" Pikachu card; trailers for this film and Pokémon 3; video clips of Pokémon-themed songs performed by Dream Street, Alysha Antonio and Youngstown; a snippet-like "making of the soundtrack" featurette, DVD-ROM features that won't play on a Mac (mostly Web-site links and ads for new poképroducts-"for the first time you will be able to discover if your Pokémon are male or female"!); soundtracks in English, French, Dutch, German and Italian with subtitles in English, French, German, Italian, Dutch and Arabic.