Just brilliant...

Rating: 10/10 (30 September 2000)

I've just got back from the cinema, and although the film finished 30 minutes ago, I still have a huge grin across my face. Billy Elliot is a magnificent slice of feel-good entertainment.
With it's backdrop of the miner's strike of 1984, and the theme of triumph over adversity, this is bound to draw comparisons with Brassed Off and The Full Monty. However, this is a better film than both, and leaps and bounds ahead of the latter.
Brilliantly judged performances all round, especially from Julie Walters and Gary Lewis (Billy's teacher and his father respectively) and new-boy Jamie Bell is a revelation. Add to that a fantastic soundtrack, understanding, unintrusive direction and some fantastic laugh out loud moments, and you have the first truly brilliant British film of the new millennium.