Geoffrey Sax's film version of the first book in Anthony Horowitz's best-selling adventure series pitches itself as a teen Bond movie, complete with gadgets, guns, pretty girls and a deranged megalomaniac. Unfortunately, Stormbreaker isn't a patch on the other pint-sized pretender, Spy Kids.

Editor Andrew MacRitchie works tirelessly to invest the myriad action sequences with energy. But for all their pyrotechnics, these big set pieces are never thrilling because there's never any chance that the 14-year-old hero, Alex Rider (Alex Pettyfer), will be injured. The youngster's ability to escape from the jaws of death without a single scratch beggars belief; even Bond has to nurse bruises and cuts.

During a bicycle chase through London, Alex elects to ride kamikaze down the middle of a busy street into oncoming traffic rather than keep on the empty pavement. And a subsequent quad bike chase sees the teenage secret agent riding on two wheels for no good reason other than it looks cool.

When his uncle, bank manager Ian Rider (Ewan McGregor), dies in mysterious circumstances, schoolboy Alex Rider stumbles into a world of mystery and intrigue. He discovers that Ian was actually a top spy for the Special Operations Division of MI6, working under the aegis of Mr Blunt (Bill Nighy) and Mrs Jones (Sophie Okonedo). They recruit young Alex into the MI6 fold so he can infiltrate the lair of billionaire Darrius Sayle (Mickey Rourke), who has generously offered to install the new Stormbreaker computer system free of charge in every school across the UK.

In fact, Darrius and his sidekicks Nadia Vole (Missi Pyle) and Mr Grin (Andy Serkis) are concocting a hare-brained scheme to strike fear at the heart of the country and it's up to Alex to stop them.

Pettyfer is photographed like a pin-up, with lots of close-ups of his blond locks fluttering as he pouts with intent. He doesn't have the acting muscle yet the delivery of certain lines is stilted and the use of stunt doubles is glaringly obvious.

Supporting cast don't so much deliver performances as master-classes in exaggerated facial movement: Nighy rolls his eyebrows with furious abandon, Alicia Silverstone contorts her mouth into curious shapes without warning and Pyle enters into a staring competition with the camera, opening her eyes so wide you fear for her well-being.

Putting a feline spin on the classic fable The Prince and the Pauper (or as this film puts it, Paw-purr), Garfield 2 is a colourful family comedy caterwauling for a decent screenplay. Bill Murray's energetic vocal performance as the computer generated, lasagne-loving kitty, dripping with sarcasm, can only sustain the film so far. Eventually, even he grows bored with the flimsy excuse for a plot and reverts to singing and a fleeting Hannibal Lecter impersonation (the fava beans line) to drag out the running time to 80 minutes.

The sequel's change of location from Garfield's cosy cul-de-sac to a glorious country pile in the heart of merry ole England provides obvious comic moments as the overweight American tabby gets to grips with the ways of the aristocracy. Supporting characters a menagerie of talking animals, which seem to have been shipped en masse from the Babe films are largely forgettable including Jane Leeves and Jane Horrocks as ducks Eenie and Meenie and Sharon Osbourne as the goose, Christophe.

The one notable exception is Winston the bulldog, voiced by Bob Hoskins, who seems a perfect match for man's best friend. Billy Connolly sneers, leers and gnaws the scenery as the scheming villain of the piece a dastardly toff with a greedy eye on the family silver but looks somewhat uneasy with some of the physical comedy.

Garfield's long-suffering owner Jon Arbuckle (Breckin Meyer) intends to propose to his pretty veterinarian girlfriend, Liz Wilson (Jennifer Love Hewitt), but the mood is wrecked by the selfish cat and Liz's shock announcement that she is leaving for London to attend a conference at Carlyle Castle. Lifting himself from his gloom, Jon decides to surprise Liz by secretly flying to England and asking for her hand in marriage there instead.

He leaves Garfield and pooch pal Odie at the kennels but of course the enterprising animals sneak into his luggage. On the streets of the capital, Garfield is mistaken for his doppelganger, a cat called Prince (Tim Curry), who has just inherited Carlyle Castle from the recently deceased Lady Eleanor. So while the real Prince becomes acquainted with domestic life with Jon, Garfield is in the lap of luxury. Unfortunately, Lady Eleanor's dastardly nephew Lord Dargis (Billy Connolly) believes he is the rightful heir of the family estate and so he schemes to remove Garfield.