Movie: Under the Mountain

Starring Sam Neill, Oliver Driver, Tom Cameron, Sophie McBride

Teenage twins Rachel and Theo (Sophie McBride and Tom Cameron) are sent to stay with their aunt and uncle in Auckland after their mother dies.

The twins share a special bond, but it's fragile after their mother's death, and Rachel finds Theo shutting her out more and more.

Unfortunately, the twins are about to find out they're at the centre of something much bigger, and need to find their "twin-ness" again to stave off the threat.

Anyone over 35 will remember the old TV series of Under the Mountain, so there's a certain amount of nostalgia attached to the film version.

However, it doesn't quite live up to the original story.

The basics are still there – the twins having to save the world from the evil alien threat, but some of the details have been changed a little unnecessarily.

Newcomers Cameron and McBride are fine as Theo and Rachel, and Oliver Driver is creepily unrecognisable as the malevolent Mr Wilberforce – one of the aliens bent on taking over the world.

Sam Neill does a nicely weary turn as Mr Jones, the only thing – apart from the twins – standing between the Wilberforce and total annihilation.

Unfortunately, some of the liberties taken with the story come across as just a little bit clumsy, and the whole film moves along just a little bit too fast. You're left at the end of it wondering what exactly has happened, and wanting about 15 to 20 minutes more to round everything out properly.

It's probably a little bit dark for younger children, too, once things really get going with Mr Jones and the Wilberforces.

There's lots of creeping about in dark, slimy rooms and tunnels, which is very atmospheric, and the film is visually appealing, but the story is a bit of a letdown.

It's not a bad trip down memory lane for Kiwis who remember the TV series, but it could have been so much more, if a little bit more time and care had been taken with the story.

- © Fairfax NZ News