OPENS JULY 23, CERT PG, 103 MINS

From Jean-Jacques Annaud (The Name Of The Rose, The Bear) comes the most feline-friendly movie since The Aristocats. Imagine the most breathtaking wildlife special youโ€™ve ever seen, and youโ€™re halfway there. Except that these big felines can act as well as any A-lister.

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Granted, the editingโ€™s clever, but thatโ€™s Annaudโ€™s gift. While heโ€™ll always be a good old-fashioned film-maker and never a great or radical one, ride the hiccups in the story and this rattles along with wide-eyed charm. A few decades ago in an exotic land, two cute tiger cubs are separated. Oneโ€™s flogged to a circus, caged, his spirits battered. The other gets lucky as a rich boyโ€™s pet, only to later be trained as a ruthless killing machine. Nasty humans then pit the brothers against each other in a gladiatorial battle?but will they recognise each other?

Guy Pearce is smooth as a Dr Livingstone-style adventurer, but doesnโ€™t do much. Itโ€™s all about the tigers: stunning creatures, burning bright. A family film with guts. Also fur.