Tad and The Magic Lamp

You'd have thought that by now, "Tad" would know never to go anywhere near any ancient artefacts, but nope - this time he finds himself in trouble and in need of Aladdin's legendary magic lamp. Apparently, it was gifted to Queen Victoria - who just wished for hats - and now resides in Buckingham Palace. Sneaking in and luckily not bumping into Nicolas Cage, he, girlfriend "Sara", the scene-stealing "Tupac" and the sarcastic "Ra-Mona" have to retrieve it and do some time-travelling so they can save the day back atop an Aztec sacrificial pyramid. Using the varying historical timelines allows the animators to take this, admittedly very episodic, series of adventures and involve all of the cast - including quite a useful young bairn; a very knowledgeable archeo-bot (might this be the "dig" at an AI future for all archeologists?), a wacky bird and the not so very menacing Suleiman the Great along the way. It's quickly and entertainingly paced and even if the conclusion didn't quite add up, I did quite enjoy the slap-dashery of it all and there are some nasty medieval weapons in here too. It's an effortless family drama to watch and though I didn't enjoy it quite as much as The "Emerald Tablet" (2022 and the only other of this series I've seen), I like that these themes still have a place in cinema.