ATLANTIS (U) Disney's latest feature-length adventure is about a young explorer looking for Atlantis and meeting a beautiful princess. Not the usual style of animation, and not the usual quality either. (Barnet Odeon)

BANDITS (12) Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton team up as partners in crime and as the boyfriends to Cate Blanchett in this character driven, mildly funny, if overly long, bank robbers on the run movie. (Finchley Warner Village)

A CHRISTMAS CAROL: THE MOVIE (U) Charles Dickens' classic Christmas tale is animated and transported to Boston. The trouble with it is that the animation is poor and the songs are even worse. Voices by Kate Winslet (Belle) who also sings, Simon Callow (Scrooge) and Nicolas Cage (Jacob Marley). (Finchley Warner Village, UGC Staples Corner)

THE GRINCH (PG) Jim Carrey morphs into a green creature who tries to ruin Christmas for everyone. (Barnet Odeon)

HARRY POTTER (PG) Old fashioned mythology meets modern special effects when Daniel Radcliffe joins the cream of British actors to play the young orphaned boy who discovers he is a wizard and is sent off to Hogwarts school for witchcraft and wizadry. (Barnet Odeon, Finchley Warner Village, UGC Staples Corner)

THE HEIST (15) Gene Hackman and Danny DeVito are jewel thieves in David Mamet's fast moving, witty crime flick. A thief's nephew is sent to his partner in crime to ensure the loot is split equally. (Barnet Odeon)

JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK (18) A self-referential, absurd road movie with cult director Kevin Smith's loveable cartoonesque creations. Will be loved by Smith junkies and virgins alike. (Finchley Warner Village)

MEAN MACHINE (15) Replace American Football for football and Burt Reynolds for Vinnie Jones and you get the British remake of the 1974 film, The Mean Machine, The Longest Yard in the US, about an inmate who organises a match against the wardens. A directorial debut from Barry Skolnick. (Finchley Warner Village, UGC Staples Corner)

LORD OF THE RINGS (PG) The fantasy genre at its finest is displayed in this hobbit, elf and dwarf wielding adventure. Fine performances all round from the likes of the young Elijah Wood and the established Sir Ian McEwan and Christopher Lee. Combined with the mesmerising special effects, the audience is bewitched. (Barnet Odeon, Finchley Warner Village, UGC Staples Corner)

THE 51ST STATE (18) Samuel L Jackson inexplicably dons a kilt and joins Robert Carlyle for a drugs crime caper set in Liverpool. Similarities have been drawn with Pulp Fiction and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels but the reception has been poor. (Finchley Warner Village, UGC Staples Corner)

THE OTHERS (12) Spooky, supernatural, suspense drama with a haunting Nicole Kidman as the mother of an enchanting pre-teen brother and sister. (Finchley Warner Village)

THE PRINCESS DIARIES (U) See Review. (Barnet Odeon, Finchley Warner Village, UGC Staples Corner)

SERENDIPITY (PG) John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale are in New York and living with other partners, but they are destined to meet through a series of accidents. Frustrating and saccharine enhanced rom-com. (Barnet Odeon, Finchley Warner Village)

SNOW DAY (PG) Some kids hi-jack a plow to prevent school opening after it has snowed in upstate New York. A Winning American comedy. (Finchley Warner Village)

SPY GAME (15) Robert Redford and Brad Pitt are a CIA agent and his protg. The exciting camera work and some amusing dialogue ultimately fails to compensate from the empty emotion. (Finchley Warner Village, UGC Staples Corner)

December 18, 2001 12:30