The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008)

Written and directed by Mark Herman, this is an adaptation of a novel by John Boyne set in Poland during World War II. 

The eight-year-old son of a Nazi officer disobeys his parents and befriends a child held prisoner in a death camp. The story hinges on the boy not understanding what the place is (he thinks it’s a “farm”), and it’s painful to see the consequences of his naivety play out to their inevitable conclusion. 

Vera Famiga isn’t at her best playing the child’s mother, and David Thewlis doesn’t really excel as his Nazi father. It’s a somewhat simplistic account of events that seems geared towards younger viewers. And it was criticised for framing the tragedy around the officer’s family rather than the wider tragedy of the true victims of Nazi persecution.

Ender’s Game (2013)

A sci-fi saga presumably aimed at 12-year-old boys, this version of Orson Scott Card's 1985 novel is entertaining and races along in an exciting way.

Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) is an unusually talented child selected to join an orbiting military academy. He is one of many young people being trained to lead Earth’s defence against invading aliens named the Formic. Harrison Ford plays his mentor, Colonel Hyrum Graff, while Ben Kingsley is Mazer Rackham, a war hero from the aliens’ first attack.

For some reason the training segments of the film – complete with drill instructor – seem to deliberately pay homage to those in Full Metal Jacket, a film that the young audience won’t even be aware of.

The visuals are often remarkable, with seamless zero-gravity CGI and impressive videogame-like effects. 

In places it can all seem a little silly – a bunch of kids taking everything very seriously indeed – and although it attempts to introduce moral issues, these aren’t explored in great depth.

But ultimately it’s a well-paced romp, and the double twist of the ending certainly wasn’t predictable.