Film by numbers

Rating: 5/10 (2 January 2003)

It seems to be a trend nowadays that British movies must take place in some Northern English location to give it a bit of social meaning (see Full Monty, Brassed Off). Unfortunately these films end up being full of cliches. There just isn't anything surprising in the story of Billy Elliot. Of course everybody is sursprised/angry by the choice of Billy to become a ballet dancer but then everybody rallies behind him for the feelgood ending. The best bits are the dialogues between Julie Walters (the ballet teacher) and Billy and the scenes at the teachers house.