Mind your language: Robert Aramayo and Peter Mullan in ‘I Swear’.
I SWEAR **** (120 minutes) MA
Let’s face it: the number of worthy films about disability vastly outnumber those films about disability that are actually worth sitting through. I Swear falls squarely into the latter category.
Kicking off with one of the best opening scenes in years, I Swear is an amazing, brave, incredibly funny, somewhat sad yet ultimately uplifting tale about personal courage and the importance community support plays in embracing those dealing with challenges.
Anchored by an extraordinary performance by Robert Aramayo, the film is based on the real-life story of John Davidson, whose reasonably normal life as a working-class kid in Scotland was upended with the onset of Tourette’s Syndrome, a neurological affliction that makes people utter obscenities involuntarily.
Showing a remarkable sureness of touch, writer/director Kirk Jones – a journeyman who has been around the block with Waking Ned, Nanny McPhee, What to Expect When You’re Expecting and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 – proves a master of balance, even though parts of the film are as subtle as a sledgehammer.
While the stuff that spouts uncontrollably from John’s mouth is unavoidably funny – both to the audience and the characters in the film – Jones makes no joke about the condition as he details John’s noble quest for acceptance, understanding and advocacy.
Are there feel-good cliches in the film? Heaps.
As is always the case, what matters with movie tropes is how well they are deployed, and here they are so well interwoven into the film’s emotional design you can’t help but be moved. Examples include a loveable community worker (beautifully played by veteran Peter Mullan) and some snappy montages.
When done poorly, films dealing with important topics that have a cause to push and a message to impart can be painful to endure, often to the point of torture. (When will we stop pretending about I Am Sam?)
Gladly, I Swear is the precise opposite.
HOPPERS **** (104 minutes) PG
Proving that there is a Movie God, the latest offering from former hit factory Pixar is not only a sheer delight, it’s a big step on the path to redemption for a once-great animation studio that we long believed couldn’t put a foot wrong.
A high-spirited sci-fi lark that, like Wall-E, has a warm, unforced eco-theme, Hoppers follows the adventure of nature-loving teen Mabel (Piper Curda) who is worried the local pond she and her late grandmother adored is about to be destroyed by Jerry Generazzo (Jon Hamm), the local, re-election hungry mayor who is building a huge causeway right through it.
Distraught at finding all the animals have abandoned the place, Mabel learns from the lab at the local uni that all the animals will return if a beaver is reintroduced to the area.
She also learns by accident that the scientists have been studying the wildlife using an Avatar-esque device (yes, they reference the film) that can transfer human consciousness into a robot beaver.
Via this means she is able to engage with the eccentric ensemble of critters who all think she’s a real rodent. Complications ensue.
Fast, funny, full of verbal and visual wit, the film’s glorious animation is of the usual standard-setting standard, its luminous rendering of the world inhabited by animals and insects echoing the painterly brilliance of A Bug’s Life – yet that’s not the main draw here.
Thanks to a full-bodied narrative that grabs you from the opening minute, Hoppers lands as one of the most mature, thematically rich and emotionally nuanced Pixar offerings yet.
Those diehard Pixar fans who regard the underrated Onward as one of the studio’s best will see similarities in just how thoroughly thought-through the story is and how far the main characters are permitted to develop.
Especially pleasing is how skillfully the film develops the main storyline – the conflict between Mabel and the Mayor – beyond the creaking cliches of the well-worn environment-vs-civilization scenario.
As the characters of Mabel and the Mayor evolve beyond their respective stereotypes, we see a more shaded presentation of the issue, one that acknowledges both the importance of preserving nature and that you can’t un-invent progress.
Indeed, Hoppers does such a good job in this regard oldies might recall the great British conservationist Gerald Durrell, who stressed how nature and the modern world are part of one holistic system, not two competing ones. Recognising that is essential for survival. Trouble only occurs once you step outside the system.
Intentional or not, Hoppers honours that venerable philosophy.
Thankfully, Hoppers also signals that Pixar is now over its costly Woke phase, making agenda-pushing films that disrespected the traditional family demographic in deference to a niche audience that – surprise, surprise – didn’t exist.
Recent comments by Pixar director and Chief Creative Officer Peter Docter (Up; Monsters, Inc; Soul; Inside Out) make clear the studio’s course correction.
Speaking to The Wall Street Journal (6 March 2026), Docter acknowledged how giving directors carte blanche to “do what you want” was not a great idea and produced expensive films with no broad appeal.
“As time’s gone on, I realized my job is to make sure the films appeal to everybody,” he said.
Adverse audience reactions to LGBT content in Lightyear and Elemental also lead the studio to bring focus back to more universal themes. Notably, Elio was stripped of its LGBT story elements during its troubled production. It still bombed.
Wary of having Pixar films seen as pushing parents to discuss touchy topics with their children before they want to, Docter said: “We’re making a movie, not hundreds of millions of dollars of therapy.”
FOOTNOTE: As someone who regularly incants “enough already” once sequels go beyond two, and who detests the practice of subjecting trailers to “deep dive” reviews , it came as a joy to these world-weary glazzies to behold the teaser trailer for Toy Story 5.
Without wishing to credit it as being anything more than a taster, the film (due 18 June) actually looks like they’ve embraced a fresh, topical idea by having the original cast of toys facing off with a you-beaut digital device.
Looks really good – but we’ll see.
THE MAGIC FARAWAY TREE **1/2 (110 minutes) G
The classic tale by Enid Blyton is brought sufficiently to life in this pretty-looking, if overlong, update.
After losing her job at a hi-tech appliance company, Penny (Claire Foy), her house husband Tim (Andrew Garfield) and their three kids move to a shack in the country where they discover the titular tree.
The film takes a tad too long to get to the magic and director Ben Gregor struggles to get strong performances from some of the child actors.
Rising to the task, though, is Delilah Bennett-Cardy as Beth, the snarky device-addicted teen whose character arc is the film’s chief asset.
The visuals are good and there’s a nice piece of work from Nicola Coughlan (Bridgerton; Derry Girls) as Silky, a bubbly Faraway Tree tenant who wants human friends.
One quibble: For the kids to get to the magical places they have to climb a crooked, unstable, miles-long ladder into the clouds.
Really, couldn’t all that magic conjure up an elevator or an escalator or something? Just asking.
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