Belle and Sebastian - the Adventure Continues

Viewers of a certain vintage will have nothing but fond memories of Belle and Sebastian, which was a fixture on the BBC's school holiday schedules in the late 1960s and early 70s. Clearly, the French recall the adventures of a mettlesome boy and his Pyrenean Mountain dog with similar affection, as this is a sequel to Nicolas Vanier's 2013 revival, with Félix Bossuet returning as the 1940s youngster living with surrogate grandfather and Alpine goatherd Tcheky Karyo and his niece, Margaux Chatelier. However, she goes missing when the plane bringing her back from fighting with the Resistance crashes and Bossuet enlists the help of pilot Thierry Neuvic (who has no idea he is the lad's father) to search a wilderness made all the more forbidding by a raging forest fire. Christian Duguay directs steadily and makes the most of Christophe Graillot's handsome photography. But the action dawdles in places to give Bossuet chance to get to know Neuvic and tomboy lumberjack Thylane Blondeau.