Camp Hideout

Juvenile hall or summer camp. That's the choice put to Noah, a foster kid with a habit of petty theft, and 'Camp Hideout' starts when he picks what looks like the easy option. Directed by Sean Olson, it's a family comedy in 'Home Alone' territory, with kids, traps and two clumsy crooks, and it has a Christian streak without making it the centre of the story.

Noah turns up at camp with something that isn't his: a gadget he stole for two crooks who now want it back. There he runs into Falco, the owner, a grouch who can't stand children, and Jake, an upbeat counsellor determined to win him over. Between sing alongs, food fights and paintball, the boy starts to let his guard down.

Until the crooks work out where he's hiding and show up at camp dressed as pest controllers. Noah and his new friends will have to fight back with whatever they can find, starting with a hideout in the woods packed with booby traps. Will it be enough to send them packing?

Ethan Drew plays Noah and Corbin Bleu, Chad from 'High School Musical', is Jake, with Amanda Leighton as Selena, the other counsellor. Christopher Lloyd, Doc from 'Back to the Future', plays Falco. It was shot in October 2021 at a real Christian camp, Deer Run, in Franklin, Tennessee.

Roadside Attractions released it in US cinemas in September 2023. Mainstream critics were pretty hard on it, taking aim at its clichés and childish humour, while family and faith review sites recommended it as a good pick for a family night.

• Family
• Comedy