The Shaggy Dog (U) You can tell the school holidays are upon us as this family film about a man who turns into a dog reaches the big screen. This achieves the ultimate family movie goal of appealing to adults and children. Danny Glover, Kristin Davis, Tim

The Shaggy Dog (U) You can tell the school holidays are upon us as this family film about a man who turns into a dog reaches the big screen. This achieves the ultimate family movie goal of appealing to adults and children. Danny Glover, Kristin Davis, Tim Allen and Robert Downey Jr star. 4/5

* Firewall (12A) Harrison Ford stars as a computer expert who must hack into the systems he designed to protect a bank in order to save his kidnapped family. Ford does his good but all-too-familiar best and the fabulous Paul Bettany takes on the role of the British bad guy. 2/5

* Basic Instinct 2 (18) Sharon Stone reprises the role of troubled novelist Catherine Tramell. This time it's David Morrissey's psychiatrist Michael Glass who gets caught up in her seductive game. A sequel definitely not worth making. 1/5

* Yours, Mine and Ours (PG) Frothy and forgettable 'two families coming together with lots of children and hi-jinx' comedy. Rene Russo and Dennis Quaid as a widow and widower who marry and end up living with 18 children and a pig. 2/5

* The White Countess (15) Three of the Redgrave dynasty (Vanessa and Lynn, plus Natasha Richardson) star in the last Merchant Ivory film, as Ismail Merchant died during production. Ralph Fiennes takes the lead as a blind former diplomat who takes refuge in 1930s Shanghai and sets up his ideal bar. Poignant and moving but it does not quite fulfil its potential. 3/5

* Romance and Cigarettes (15) Imaginative but slightly incoherent musical drama staring Susan Sarandon and James The Sopranos Gadolfini, with excellent appearances from Christopher Walken as Sarandon's cousin and Kate Winslet as a sexy northern redhead. 3/5

* Hostel (18) Gore abounds in this horror about three travellers tempted to wander off the beaten track to a hostelfull of ladies, but all may not be as it seems...3/5

* Inside Man (15) A pacy thriller from Spike Lee, staring Denzel Washington as a police officer and Clive Owen as a clever robber who takes hostages at a bank. Jodi Foster takes a super bitchy turn as a dealmaker. 4/5

* The Ringer (15) Johnny Knoxville stars as a man attempting to rig the Special Olympics by pretending to be disabled in order to win money to help out his friend. Far less offensive than it sounds (it is endorsed by the real-life Special Olympics), it is also funny and highly enjoyable. 3/5

* V for Vendetta (15) Matrix makers the Wachowski brothers take on Alan Moore's late-80s comic book and update it to not-so-distant-future London. Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving star, although you never see the latter's face as he never removes his mask. There have been worse comic book adaptations but it's certainly not one of the best. 2/5

* The Pink Panther (PG) Steve Martin takes on the role of Inspector Clouseau in a film that isn't quite as bad it could have been but still is no masterpiece. 2/5

* Tsotsi (15) Winner of the best foreign film category at this year's Oscars, Tsotsi is an absorbing yet painful story of a Soweto criminal who accidentally kidnaps the baby of a wealthy family. 4/5

* The Hills Have Eyes (18) A remake of Wes Craven's 1977 horror. A suburban family find themselves at the mercy of a family of cannibals mutated by atomic tests. 3/5

* The Proposition (18) Ray Winstone, Guy Pearce and John Hurt star in this brutal Australian Western. Tough stuff but a film well worth watching. 4/5

* Date Movie (12A) Another spoof movie from the makers of Scary Movie, Date Movie fails to pull it off as a clever comedy. 2/5

* Chicken Little (U) An animated Disney film that follows the barmy bantam who warns the town that the sky is falling in. Ridiculed at first, his fears soon prove well-founded. 4/5

* Big Momma's House 2 (PG) Another instalment in the Big Momma saga and this time FBI agent Malcolm Turner goes undercover for a troubled woman under suspicion for murder. 2/5

* Walk The Line (12A) Joaquin Pheonix plays a singer who escapes the Arkansas grind for the brighter lights of Memphis in this biopic of Johnny Cash. 4/5