Director: Eric Summer, Eric Warin (2016) BBFC cert: U

This dancing twist on the Cinderella story tangos with the Strictly format, but fails to impress the judge, me.

Felicie is an eleven-year-old girl who dreams of becoming a ballerina. Escaping the orphanage for a prestigious dance school in Paris, she must survive several elimination rounds in order to audition for a role in The Nutcracker ballet.

Her main competition is a spoiled, rich girl with a murderously pushy showbiz mother. Among the other, crudely drawn characters, are a snaggletoothed hunchback and a limping cleaning lady.

It’s a French/Canadian production with Elle Fanning dropped in to voice the lead and add a light sprinkle of Hollywood sparkle.

The animation is mediocre, the humour is broad slapstick, and it has a relaxed attitude to its young heroine being at the sharp end of a love triangle.

Lagging in the wake of Moana, Disney’s forward looking and far superior recent offering, this seems strangely old fashioned.  And not just because it’s set in 1879.

Offering limited fun for dance-mad tweens, everyone else may find themselves wishing Ballerina would foxtrot off.

★★☆☆☆

@ChrisHunneysett