STAY ALIVE (15) William Brent Bell's youth-oriented horror thriller should perhaps be re-titled Stay Awake: a plea to the audience. We're not frightened for an instant by the bloodthirsty villainess, and the characters are so witless in the face of impending doom, death is frankly the kindest option for most of them.

GARFIELD 2 (U) This is a colourful family comedy Bill Murray's energetic vocal performance as the computer generated, lasagne-loving kitty, dripping with sarcasm, can only sustain the film so far. Supporting characters a menagerie of talking animals, which seem to have been shipped en masse from the Babe films are largely forgettable.

THE BREAK-UP (12A) The Break-Up is an anti-romantic comedy, which wades through the emotional wreckage wrought by a young couple, whose relationship seems destined for the scrapheap. Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn, hugely gifted comic actors, have been given a screenplay which furnishes them with scant opportunity for merriment.

STORMBREAKER (PG) Geoffrey Sax's film version of the first book in Anthony Horowitz's best-selling adventure series pitches itself as a teen Bond movie. Unfortunately, Stormbreaker isn't a patch on the other pint-sized pretender, Spy Kids. Young Alex Pettyfer doesn't have the acting muscle yet and the use of stunt doubles is glaringly obvious.