Dungeons & Dragons - great fun, a proper family film for Easter

Rather like my cat – and without her charm – Dungeons & Dragons certainly sags in the middle. But by the end, it will have won you over with its mix of wisecracks, rollicking adventure, terrific visual effects and quirky characters. It’s enjoyable nonsense – which is just as well because there’s no doubt that this is the first of many Dungeons & Dragons films to come.

There is absolutely nothing here that you won’t have seen elsewhere. There are elements of the Marvels; there is a huge whiff of Harry Potter; there’s an aroma of The Lord of the Rings. In fact, there’s a little bit of pretty much every epic fantasy adventure that has ever been made. You certainly wouldn’t call it ground-breaking in any way. But what it does do is mix up all the elements to get something just slightly different – and by the time the credits roll, it’s has certainly proved a pretty winning formula.

The gist is that Edgin (Chris Pine) is a charmer and a thief, a dodgy guy with a decent heart who kicks it all off by escaping from jail where he’s been languishing for “grand larceny and skulduggery”. And what a cracking word that is. It sums up the sense of adventure that runs throughout the film. But the point is that he’s been a bad boy only because the really bad people murdered his wife. His big hope is that he can find the magic thingummybob that will allow him to resurrect her. The problem is that in his quest he neglects his daughter who falls into the hands of the biggest crook of them all, Forge – undoubtedly the biggest delight of the film because it is played by Hugh Grant in a total, complete, 100 per cent reprise of his Phoenix Buchanan from Paddington 2.

He's the same preening, cowardly, self-serving villain, and you can’t help wondering how Grant has been allowed to get away with serving up one of his own greatest hits in its every last detail. Except you are glad that he has. And you kind of wish there was more of him in the film – especially in those soggy bits in the middle where it rambles completely off the boil.

But eventually it stirs its stumps for the customary succession of finishes. It’s all over. Oh no it’s not. It is now. But no, not yet! But at least you have warmed to the characters by then, not least Pine’s Edgin – a guy who takes pride in the fact that he is a loser. But a loser who at least keeps trying. He and the oddball team he gathers around him lurch into obstacle after obstacle, but in his rallying call to the troops he points out that they will have truly failed only once they stop racking up failure after failure. And it’s that that keeps them going as the film – overlong by at least 20 minutes – rouses itself for an overdue conclusion which will certainly send you out smiling. Good fun. A proper family film for Easter.