Little Manhattan (PG)

Love means never having to say you're 11 in this sweet, if slightly sickly, confection about a scooter-riding New Yorker (Josh Hutcherson) who develops a serious crush on a pretty classmate (Charlie Ray). Were he an English yoof, unplanned pregnancy and an appearance on The Jeremy Kyle Show would seem inevitable. Director Mark Levin thankfully keeps things this side of icky, concentrating on this junior Woody Allen's lovelorn confusion and not, er, his junior Woody.

The film has a winning charm that transcends screenwriter Jennifer Flackett's rose-tinted vision of the Big Apple as one giant playground. It's also great fun, especially in those scenes where Hutcherson receives romantic advice from kung fu teacher Mike Chat, while Bradley Whitford and Cynthia Nixon provide selfless support as the young hero's estranged parents.

Print