Battle for Terra 3D

It's that age-old problem: you wait years for a CGI, 3D movie about ­soldiers from a rundown Earth ­travelling across the universe to steal the ­resources of a ­primitive, peaceful alien race in tune with ­nature, then two arrive at once. We are mining from the same vein as Avatar, or swilling from the same trough, if you prefer. Made for less than $8m, this refreshingly serious movie beats Cameron's in many aspects, in that it possesses proper characters, a little ambiguity, a few surprises – all the things that were rarer than Unobtainium on Pandora. The Terrians, resembling floating versions of the baby from Eraserhead spliced with ET, are cute enough to have you rooting for them over the ­human ­military. It's good to see a ­family movie with a little ­ambition, one that doesn't treat all its plot points as foregone ­conclusions.