The fourth entry in this peculiarly and uniquely British low-rent children's franchise is - astonishingly - the best of the weak sequels for three main reasons. Firstly, the 'new' Mr Poppy (the previous unbearable incumbent's younger brother in story terms) is more engagingly child-like than annoyingly childish with better comic timing and presence; secondly, the unexpected tackling of big real-world themes such as parental absence, World War II and immigration give this film greater centre and relative dramatic heft; and thirdly, the musical finale - an actual Nativity of sorts this time - is more developed and better musically than previous efforts, It is still, of course, cheap, ridiculous and utterly inexplicable - like pantomime - but, and I say this very quietly, I almost actually started to warm to it by the end!
