Sean Penn has done many good things, and none of them can be found in this sentimental guff. As Sam, he's an autistic who, with the help of saintly lawyer Michelle Pfeiffer, tries to prove he's a fit father to his daughter. It's manipulative, dishonest, and wreaks carnage on The Beatles' songbook. Penn was Oscar-nominated. You have to laugh.
An animated kiddies' thing which, to my untrained eye, looks scarily like Rugrats, this is set in the African wilderness. And has elephants in it. So you don't need to trouble your inner genius to work out that Peter Gabriel, Youssou N'Dour and Paul Simon will feature. "Father And Daughter" is the latter's first song for a film in 15 years, and he can still turn a lyric and craft a tune like an unlikely deft demi-god. He can even mumble "trust your intuition, it's just like goin'fishin'" and sound wry. It's no "Mrs Robinson" but it's warm as a puma's gums.
More convincingly medieval than his breakthrough film The Seventh Seal, The Virgin Spring is a dark ballad of revenge balanced between Christianity and paganism. Max von Sydow's daughter is raped and murdered; he kills the culprits. On the surface a simple tale, but laden with intricate themes of guilt.
