Based on Dav Pilkey’s children’s book series, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie is about as silly as it sounds. But the kind of silly that kids (and adults) will love.

Two imaginative primary schoolers – George (Hart) and Harold (Middleditch) – take things too far one day when they accidentally hypnotise their mean principal (Helms) into thinking he is Captain Underpants. An enthusiastic, but not-so-smart, comic book superhero who wears his underpants on the outside (as all good superheroes do) but not much else, Captain Underpants is a character of their own creation.

But every superhero needs a nemesis, and for Captain Underpants that is… wait for it… Professor Poopypants, the school’s devious new science teacher. Professor ‘P’ wants to eradicate all laughter from the school and eventually the planet. Mwahahahaha!

There are plenty of likeable characters and over-the-top moments that will make you and your kids laugh out loud. This one may not kick off a film franchise, but will hopefully serve as a good introduction to the source material and get your kids to read more about these crazy characters. And that’s still success in my book.

I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the first Kingsman film – a surprising mix of fun, over-the-top action and endearing characters. Director Matthew Vaughn gave us an instantly iconic ride and the sequel is in the same, fantastic vein.

Now a fully-fledged Kingsman agent, Eggsy (Egerton) is good at his job. This doesn’t sit well with global entrepreneur Poppy (wonderfully played by Julianne Moore) and the secret organisation known as The Golden Circle. So she takes it upon herself to attack Eggsy and his fellow Kingsmen at home, destroying their rather nice mansion headquarters and taking the world hostage.

With nowhere to turn, Eggsy and Merlin (Strong) do the only thing you can do when you have nothing else to lose: go to America. There, they join up with their American counterpart, the Statesman. Where the Kingsman are quintessentially British, the Statesman are quintessentially American, and Vaughn illustrates their differences to hilarious effect, as both agencies pool their resources.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle retains the same tongue-in-cheek charm and well-crafted writing of the first film while upping the ante in cool spy gadgets, stunning action sequences and hilarious cameos.

It’s just too bad that Eggsy’s awesome mentor, Harry Hart (Firth), ended up being shot and killed in the first film, making it hard to come back for the sequel. But never say never…