Cheap, cheerful St Trinians 2 is a movie pantomime

Cheap, cheerful and ultra camp, St Trinian's: The Legend of Fritton's Gold has inevitably been described by film critics as the movie equivalent of a Christmas panto. On that level, although the film has received middling reviews, most critics agree that it makes a reasonable holiday film, for teenagers at least.
 
The second 21st-century remake of the St Trinian's films - originally made in the 1950s starring Alastair Sim, George Cole and Joyce Grenfell - sees the girls in pursuit of a wicked millionaire, the evil Lord Pomfrey, played by Dr Who star David Tennant. Also joining the starry male cast is Colin Firth, who plays the old flame of horsey headmistress Camilla Fritton, played once again by Rupert Everett.
 
Twenty-something actresses Talulah Riley, Gemma Arterton and Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding don gym-slips to play the boisterous boarders. In 2009, the 'belles' of St Trinians are divided into tribes such as "emos, chavs and 'posh tottie'". And as the Guardian's Xan Brooks notes, the students all look at least five years beyond their natural leaving date. "Presumably they are being held back for bad behaviour," he says.
 
Rupert Everett in drag as Miss Fritton is one of the film's highlights. As he leads his girls on their treasure hunt, Everett camps it up "nobly", says the London Evening Standard's Derek Malcolm. In a more scathing, one-star review from the Independent's Anthony Quinn, Everett is described as "the sole source of any laughs".  
 
The first St Trinian's remake, released in 2007, earned more than £12m at the UK box office but it seems less likely the second film will do so well. "Not a penny seems to have been spent on what may be regarded as the world's worst sequel," says the Mirror’s David Edwards in another one-star review.
 
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING:
 
Kevin Maher, the Times: "Cheap, ramshackle entertainment that's nevertheless imbued with affection." (Verdict: 2/5 stars.)
 
Xan Brooks, the Guardian: "Is there any mileage in pointing out that the whole thing is relentlessly silly? That would be like complaining that Bobby Davro's interpretation of Buttons lacks nuance and gravitas." (Verdict: 2/5 stars.)
 
Sukhdev Sandhu, the Daily Telegraph: "The St Trinian's films of the Noughties are very different beasts from those of the 1950s. Gone is the musty eccentricity. It's been replaced by target demographics. The new tearaway Trinians are labelled Goths, emos, geeks. They include Sarah Harding of Girls Aloud. They've modelled their patter on Catherine Tate's parodies of feral chavs." (Verdict: 3/5 stars.) ·