Men in Black 3D, review The plot of part three involves time-travelling back to 1969, where we drop in on Andy Warhol's Factory and witness the launch of Apollo 11, all to stop alien criminal Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement) from mounting a full-scale invasion in the present day. Mentally, though, we're also thrown back to the mid-1990s, when these shiny high jinks were blockbuster gold, and it's surprising how pleasurable the feeling is. The Smith/Jones interplay is now something fonder than it is funny. The script, by Etan Cohen (Tropic Thunder), digs into their dysfunctional relationship - the inter-racial, inter-generational bromance that's not previously spoken its name. There's dramatic mileage to this, not just snappy rejoinders, though Cohen might have offered more of those as well. Once Smith's J has leapt through time - a standout 3D sequence that entails jumping off the Chrysler building - there's more fun to be had, not least in the company of Josh Brolin. Playing the younger K, as yet unacquainted with his future partner, he delivers a Jones impression that is its own immaculate deadpan joke: he's got the walk, the talk and squint down pat. He needs convincing that J is back from the future to save the world, but not a lot. Barry Sonnenfeld has mostly learnt his lesson: frazzled and charmless CGI spectacle in the manner of Wild Wild West (1999) is not the way forward, and the sleekly colourful production design here avoids being all chrome, all the time. Still, the smaller roles lack something. Clement has great authority on screen, but his dull dialogue's a hindrance. Emma Thompson's on dry form as an agency colleague, but gets little to do, and Michael Stuhlbarg's beaky time sage Griffin is on the overly creepy side. The movie's a mixed bag, but a cheery, sunny, nifty-looking one, whose emotional strokes count for more than its predecessors" surly attitude. As Will Smith's first film in four years, it's also a handy reminder that he can carry a bit of undemanding summer escapism more nimbly than anyone.