Nativity 3 earned critical scorn, and a robust defence from its director.
But is there a missed chance here, wonders Simon?
Audiences love these films and will watch them over and over again.
I confess I was intrigued, then.
Everybody has a fundamental right to like the films they like, without being lambasted for doing so.
If any of you want my spirited defence ofCrocodile Dundee 3, then by all means get in touch.
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With theNativitymovies, Ive been split thus far.
I enjoyed the first one, with Martin Freeman, and my children enjoyed it even more.
Nativity 2, I confess, I had no time for.
It just didnt work for me at all.
Nativity 3, then.
However, I also sat there and concluded that Debbie Isitt had a point.
But a Sunday afternoon screening at the Showcase Cinema in Walsall was full of children laughing along.
They certainly seemed to be enjoying it.
My children did too, as it happened.
However, I did feel a pang of frustration.
And right next door wasPaddington.
In a year thats hardly been vintage for family entertainment,Paddingtonis a film thats really stood out.
As have the likes ofThe Boxtrolls,How To Train Your Dragon 2and large portions ofThe Book Of Life.
We on the other side of the box office counter are charged the same price.
My frustration is thus this: I believe children deserve better films.
However, to be able to take a family to a modern multiplex is not a cheap business.
Thats something that seems to get harder and harder.
Time is as important a currency as cold, hard cash here.
If not more so.
Thus, when we do get to do it, I want the film to be special.
That was my big frustration, as Ive written before, withRio 2earlier in the year.
They talked about it for ages.
Nativity 3, for me, fell into theRio 2camp.
In this case, they couldnt remember the songs, they just remembered the fart jokes and donkey shit.
Or what aboutMillions, for slightly older children?
Theres an awful lot going on in something like that.
That, for me, is the missed opportunity of going to seeNativity 3.
It doesnt do that, nor does it really try.
And thats not a matter of budget, star power or scale me.
Its simple, sheer ambition.
For me, the firstNativityhad some of that, the sequels simply dont.
