It's not too difficult to see why this carried all before it at the French Box Office in 2009 and an uncredited cameo by Gerard Junot in a sly dig at/nod to his own multi-award winner Le Chorus is only frosting on a wonderful celebratory cake designed to appeal to both les enfants and les parents, a concoction in which Alain Chabat, the multi-talented and highly accomplished actor-writer-director had an authorial hand, one of five that prove that too many cooks don't always spoil the broth. The source material although beloved in France is almost totally unknown in England but the ensemble playing by the kids plus a great trio of adults - Valerie Lemercier, Kad Merad and Sandrine Kiberlain, playing her second school teacher on the bounce - render this academic. Nor need the plot - despite being secure in the love of his parents and friends Nicholas convinces himself that his parents are trying for another child that will eclipse him - detain us unduly. This is a film of observation and the observation is spot on. Roll on the DVD.
Review of Little Nicholas
