The Sleepover (2020) offers us some familiar adventures in babysitting.

There’s more than a whiff of ‘Disney Original Movie’ to Netflix’s latest offering, a family adventure caper which sees siblings Clancy and Kevin discover that their seemingly boring stay-at-home mum Margot is actually Mathilde, a former international jewel thief whose witness protection cover has been broken by her old gang. When Margot is blackmailed into taking on one final job, with her husband taken hostage, the kids set out to rescue their dad and stop their mum from falling back into a life of crime.

“The Sleepover” is an undemanding, lightweight and eminently kid-friendly crowd-pleaser with likeable performances throughout and a sense of fun which makes for a pleasant watch. There’s little that’s original in its kids out-and-about-in-the-big-city format but the gang have enough quirks and comic timing to keep things ticking over, with former live-action “Kim Possible” Sadie Stanley and Maxwell Simpklins particularly impressing. It’s not quite as witty or action-packed as, say “Spy Kids” but there’s a lot here that’ll keep young ‘uns and tweens thoroughly entertained for the full hour and forty run time. Åkerman’s great in the dual role of stick-in-the-mud mum/ combat-trained jewel thief and Joe Manganiello is clearly having fun playing lighter than he usually gets to as Mathilde’s former partner-in-crime. Ken Marino, as Margot’s blissfully unaware pastry chef husband, may be more of a marmite element but his schtick never overpowers the rest of the movie and the caper is eventually wrapped up in satisfyingly breezy fashion.

6/10