Bon Appetit

Harking back to the Looney Tunes era, Bon Appetit features a quirky monster, a story familiar to anyone whose dessert has fallen prey to the depradations of someone older or bigger or both, and, for reasons not entirely clear, a French sensibility.

It opens with the credits, a nice stylistic touch, though it hasn't got the same brassy flair as the fanfares that announced the imminent arrival of Bugs or Porky. Instead we get a little girl, her mother ignoring her, and a creature with a rumbling tummy gazing longingly at her ice cream.

That the cone falls victim to the creature should be no surprise, but her journey to reclaim it is fun, even funny, with a mixture of humour both visual and bodily that will amuse children of any age. The helpful signs in the digestive tract of the monster and the fact that his stomach is full of butterflies are both neat touches, but sadly Bon Appetit feels a little derivative. Hullaballo's sound work conveys the unpleasantness of watching someone eat, and the rumbling of the monster's tummy is certainly visceral. For all that, Craig Knowles' and David Ridges' film is stuck in the shadow of those it seeks to emulate. It's a small treat, but with finer vintages available it might as well stay in the cellar.