BRAVE
Dir: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman - Starring: Kelly McDonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson.

Many people, myself included, were concerned that the Disney buyout of Pixar would see commercial imperatives stifling Pixar's extraordinary imagination and innovation. The news that Brave's heroine was to be a princess – an overused Disney trope if ever there was one – along with the ever-increasing number of Pixar sequels, seemed only to confirm sad subjugation by the House of Mouse.

And so it proves. The slide towards cheap sentimentality and tweenie pandering so rampant on the Disney Channel - most obviously heard here in the ghastly aspirational songs - signals we are a long way from Toy Story (or even Up).

So why watch it? Well, it's the animation (and a few laughs and a couple of nifty characterisations, particularly Julie Walters' batty witch). But mainly it's the animation. The landscapes, the camera moves (it must look great in 3D!), Princess Merida's hair, the animals, all are astonishing; a new benchmark for the craft. Kids'll probably dig it too.

Ted is a rather weird, very sweary comedy starring Mark Wahlberg and a talking bear. It is the brainchild of Seth MacFarlane (of TV's Family Guy fame) who also voices the titular teddy. Set-up is that a childhood Christmas wish made the bear talk and they both became instant celebrities. But now, 30 years later, no one cares. It's basically a film about growing up, something that Wahlberg has to face before he loses hot squeeze Mila Kunis. It goes pretty much by the numbers, ace in the hole being the foul-mouthed and totally inappropriate Ted and some fine underplaying from Wahlberg. If this tickles your funny-bone (people I spoke to had mixed views) you'll love it.

Good For Nothing, which had a brief cinema run here, is truly a unique thing: a genuine Kiwi western. A 'Pavlova” western, as writer director Mike Wallis modestly calls it, giving due homage to Sergio Leone and other Italian spaghetti western directors. Echoes of those films are apparent but shot through with a laid-back deadpan Kiwi sensibility, which initially takes a little adjusting to, as do the sometimes dodgy accents. But after a while you settle into the unhurried rhythm and the story of a young Englishwoman (Inge Rademeyer) heading west, only to be kidnapped during a bank robbery by a taciturn cowboy (Cohen Holloway). He just wants to 'poke her good” but has impotence issues. It certainly looks the bizzo, all sweeping open landscapes and big skies, though the pacing may frustrate some.

A military cargo plane crashes in central London and in the ensuing power cut several people find themselves stuck in Storage 24, a huge, yes that's right, storage facility. With an alien. Guess what happens to them (one by one)? Yes, it's Alien in a warehouse, as the group attempt to resolve relationship issues while their numbers slowly dwindle. On the bright side, the film is nicely made: it looks good and makes efficient use of its shocks. And the alien itself – only infrequently seen before the finale – is surprisingly effective. Nonetheless, the unremittingly derivative (and entirely predictable) nature of just about everything does tend to detract.

Sleepless Night (Nuit Blanche) eluded me when it came out a couple of months ago but it's well worth checking out. It centres – as so many French policiers do – on a dirty cop, Vincent, whom we meet as he and his partner violently boost a big bag of cocaine. This proves, in retrospect, to be a mistake. Vincent is recognised and the mob kidnaps his daughter to encourage the coke's return, which is somewhat trickier than expected as it turns out that everyone wants the bag. It's a tense, exciting action thriller, a continuous series of ever-more-complex chases around a single huge nightclub. Very impressive.