The Last Legion (2007)

It’s not specifically marketed at children, but this action-adventure romp directed by Doug Lefler is certainly well-suited to the younger viewer. 

Thomas Sangster plays Romulus Augustulus, who is descended from the Caesar bloodline when his parents are killed. He is taken in by the kindly Aurelianus Ambrosius (Colin Firth) and Mira (Aishwarya Rai), and guided by the wise – and oddly bearded – Ambrosinus (Ben Kingsley). 

It’s quite entertaining in a fairly silly manner. The only real criticism is that Sangster could’ve been more of a hero, instead of someone that things merely happen to. That way, you might have found yourself actually rooting for him.

Nowhere Boy (2009)

Biopic of the teenage John Lennon, directed by artist Sam Taylor-Wood.

Growing up in Liverpool in the 1950s, Lennon (Aaron Johnson) is torn between his solid, strict, practical Aunt Mimi (Kristin Scott Thomas) and his flighty mother, Julia (Anne-Marie Duff), who gave him up to live with her sister. 

Wisely, it keeps to the emotional drama: the story of Lennon’s musical development mostly takes place in the background. I feared that it would be a sentimental and/or simplistic account of the heartache that led to his rise to fame, but the film explores his complicated relationships with nuance and subtlety.