Magic Beach
Rated G, opens January 16
I couldn’t tell you the number of times I read Alison Lester’s book Magic Beach to my kids when they were little, and there are plenty of others who are just as familiar with it – whether they first came across it as a youngster, parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle or family friend.
Celebrating its 35th anniversary in 2025, Magic Beach captures the childlike joy of time by the water in summer: waves, rockpools, sea creatures, sandcastles, play and, most of all, imagination.
This is where Robert Connolly’s cinematic take on the much-cherished book comes into its own. For although Alison Lester’s pictures show her characters using their time at the beach to create “invincible castles and towers” made of sand – and imagine undersea worlds, smugglers and a life exploring the ocean – the film brings these dreams and imaginings to vibrant life for us.
More than that, it does so through a series of vignettes created by 10 different animators, knitting the stories together into a seamless whole through the connection each child (and one dog) has with the beach and each other.
Every story begins with a live action character, and as their imagination kicks in they take us on an animated adventure – from soft-focus impressionistic to stop-motion, claymation, anime style... the list goes on. Some vignettes are quite, quite beautiful, while others are humorous and a little mischievous. I particularly love the watermelon forest and the dog’s sausage-laden seaside dreams.
It’s a risk to turn a slim, illustrated book into a movie that runs for an hour and 15 minutes – especially one with no more than incidental dialogue. There are no car chases, no aliens, no computers and no mobile phones. There’s just the beauty of the world as it is, fired by the inventiveness of animators and children’s imagination.
One of the girls begins her tale by saying that “in her past life” she was a fish, and that really wasn’t needed – her imagination could have had her talking to the fish regardless! The smugglers’ story also contains shipwrecks and ghosts, which, although within the G rating, could be a little frightening in places for very young viewers.
That said, there is so much to love about this movie. For starters, it is very different to any other offering you will see for kids this summer. In one sense, all it does is highlight the simple pleasures of a day at the beach, but by using a group of animators with different styles and techniques, Robert Connolly has fashioned a story that is as unique and inventive as the characters within it.
If you’re anything like me, you’ll finish watching with an almost irresistible urge to go to the beach.
Summer movie selection
December 19
Mufasa: The Lion King (PG)
A prequel to the much-loved Disney film of 30 years ago, this film explores how the young, orphaned Mufasa is adopted into the princely family of Taka (the future Scar), and – through a range of adventures and challenges – eventually becomes king of the Pride Lands. Old friends Rafiki, Timon and Pumbaa are back to help tell what looks like a worthwhile story. New songs by the ubiquitous Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Boxing Day
A Real Pain (MA)
Jesse Eisenberg is writer, director and co-star of this deeply personal film in which two very different cousins from New York fly to Poland to experience the country, and its World War II history, in honour of their grandmother. It’s fast-paced and razor-sharp, telling a great story about family, self-understanding and responses to grief – if you can deal with Eisenberg’s Allenesque style of anxiety. Some scenes were even filmed in the house where Eisenberg’s family lived before the war, which creates an extra layer of poignancy. Note that the rating is for the serious coarse language; there is also some drug use.
The Correspondent (M)
Richard Roxburgh plays real-life journalist Peter Greste who, along with two Egyptian co-workers, was accused in 2013 of reporting false news and creating a negative impression of Egypt overseas after he covered a military uprising in Cairo for Al-Jazeera. Based on Greste’s memoir detailing their trial, subsequent imprisonment and fight for justice, the film gives us a white-knuckle ride through the dangers of simply reporting the truth in areas of conflict – a timely reminder given the ongoing violence in the Middle East and Ukraine
New Year’s Day
Paddington in Peru (PG)
A charming trip to South America with Paddington (Ben Whishaw) and his English family, the Browns, after he receives word that Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton), the bear who rescued him many years earlier, is behaving strangely and might benefit from a visit. Cue a range of cute and crazy adventures in the jungle and beyond with that most British of bears, plus a cast packed with guest stars.
January 9
Conclave (PG)
The Pope is dead, and cardinals from across the globe – led by a reluctant Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) – must meet in the Vatican to select his replacement. But, as Morris West’s The Shoes of the Fisherman made clear on our screens almost 60 years ago, that will not be an easy task. Will more liberal or conservative voices hold sway? And what should Lawrence do in response to the arrival of an unexpected cardinal none but the previous pope knew about, or secret sins that surface during their deliberations?
Don’t expect the strong thread of faith and choosing the servant’s path we had in The Shoes of the Fisherman – this is a modern thriller, written for a modern audience, although it’s packed with drama and excellent performances from the likes of Isabella Rossellini, Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow, as well as Fiennes. Amid the spiritual, political and worldly angst involved in the cardinals making their selection, Lawrence tells the others how he fears the “sin” of certainty as, if there were no doubt, “there would be no mystery, and therefore no need for faith”. We can enjoy the film for its own sake while also being grateful for the certainty the Bible says we do have because of faith in Jesus.
