CGI fantasy adventures in the post-Potter, young-adult, old-child mode are not quite my taste, but this one is likably boisterous, and Iain Softley directs with flair.

Adapted from the novel by Cornelia Funke, it is about Mo Folchart, played by Brendan Fraser: as ever, square of jaw and attitude. He is the devoted father who discovers he is a "silvertongue"; he has the ability to make characters in children's books come to life by reading them aloud - but this opens a portal that lets real people get spirited away into works of fiction.

There are terrific supporting turns from Andy Serkis and Jim Broadbent - and great stuff from Helen Mirren as a dyspeptic great aunt.