Millions announces its implausibility by situating itself in a UK on the verge of switching to the euro. For several minutes you wonder to yourself if Danny Boyle’s follow-up to 28 Days Later is about to present the reanimated corpses of Sir James Goldsmith and Dennis Thatcher leading an attack on Westminster, or related news stories, such as, ‘hell freezes over’. Happily, the film quickly proves far too charming to sustain such notions, though it must be said that Millions is not without its fair share of the deceased.
Following his mother’s death, seven-year-old Anthony (McGibbon) develops a keen interest in the afterlife, fantasising entire conversations with chain-smoking saints in his, ahem, routine boyish way. Young Anthony’s already untameable imagination is ignited further when a Nike sports bag crammed with money comes crashing – quite literally – into his life. Being a sweet little chap, he goes on a philanthropic binge – bringing the homeless to Pizza Hut and stuffing thousands of pound notes through the local Mormons’ letterbox. His nine-year-old brother, Damian (Etel), meanwhile, has other ideas for their newfound wealth and hopes to invest in property before the euro changeover renders their sterling loot worthless.
There are, however, certain complications. The bloke with the knitted hat (the prop department were presumably fresh out of bags marked ‘swag’ and stripy jail uniforms) wot stole the money in the first place is hot on the boys’ trail, and with only a week until their cash is no longer legal tender, the time to spend, spend, spend is running out fast.
While this premise seems to offer little that couldn’t be found in one of those Australian kids TV movies, Millions is a delightful confection bolstered by unaffected performances from its young leads, an amusing screenplay from Frank Cottrell Boyce (Twenty-Four Hour Party People) and inventive direction. With this orphan’s own adventure, Mr Boyle has found the perfect vehicle for the whimsy he once channelled into A Life Less Ordinary to spectacularly uneven effect. Using his seven-year-old hero’s kaleidoscopic flights of fancy as a springboard, buildings sprout up at Lego speed and a train robbery scene cuts between the actual heist and a thrilling re-enactment with Tonka trucks.
Even a small supporting turn by Daisy Donovan – whose enormous bulging eyes and jittery presence cause you to stiffen into your chair, thinking, ‘no sudden movements… no sudden movements’ – proves surprisingly tolerable in the context. Let’s just hope the movie doesn’t get clobbered at the box-office by the kidult might of the light-sabre.

Running Time 98mins. Cert PG. Opens May 27th