This rather sweet time-travelling comedy raises welcome memories of French classic Les Visiteurs, especially with the latter’s star Jean Reno on board. On this occasion, he’s headed in the opposite direction, as a grandfather with dementia sent back to 1497 after finishing a round of a Jumanji-style magical game with his family. The film is based on the card game Werewolves of Millers Hollow, but manages to be not too cynical for a giant extended advert, with a certain bubbly spontaneity.
Despite his house being transmogrified into a timber cottage, Gilbert (Reno) finds that his mind has been restored after crash landing in the medieval era. And that’s not all: each family member has been gifted a power related to the role they play in the game. As the Hunter, he has super-strength; his son Jerome (Franck Dubosc), who was the Seer, can read minds; and his influencer grand-daughter Clara (Lisa Do Couto Texeira) is now invisible (ye olde satire). After wincing at an execution of a supposed sorcerer, they realise they must identify and kill the town’s werewolves in order to win the game and go back to the future.
