The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas

Six years on from the dull thud of the first live-action Flintstones movie, comes this belated attempt to turn the Bedrock crew into a big screen franchise. This time though, the bets have been hedged, with a second-rank cast and more obvious targeting of the children's audience. Addy is no John Goodman, but he makes a personable Fred, irrepressible without overplaying his hand; Baldwin's worryingly persuasive as the semi-troglodytic Barney Rubble; while Johnston proves an energetic Wilma, and Krakowski's a good egg Betty. Cumming tenuously frames the story as a sly-witted, bright green alien visiting Earth to study primitive mating habits. The cast put a lot of spirit into the workaday material and returning director Levant emerges with a somewhat livelier movie. The succession of prehistoric puns, fun cartoon-ish sets and comic dinosaur effects are all colourful enough to divert the very young.