PSAMMEAD, NOT PENNYWISE

Streaming this week on YouTube and other platforms...

Four Kids and It—This British fantasy is based on the 2012 book Four Children and It by Jacqueline Wilson, which in turn was adapted from the 1902 novel Five Children and It by E. Nesbit. Directed by Andy De Emmony, it places the four squabbling kids—two each from either side of a new relationship between their single parents (Matthew Goode and Paula Patton)—on a beach at Cornwall. Here they meet the “It,” otherwise known as the Psammead, a long-limbed, hairy, flatulent, prehistoric sand-troll who can grant them one wish per day, which only lasts until the sun sets.

The wishes are mostly standard kid stuff—to be a pop star, to be able to fly—but they’re pretty well-staged. The kids are charming; the parents are attractive, and Russell Brand wins some laughs as a birdbrained neighbor. Michael Caine voices the Psammead very well; his sensible Cockney tones convincingly articulate the movie’s oft-repeated moral: Be careful what you wish for.

Squeegee—This 11-minute Short of the Week from shortoftheweek.com is a skillfully-made adults-only vignette by Morgan Krantz about an erotic encounter between an executive and a window washer. It's dirty and funny, but also, thanks to the wistful performances of the leads (Amy Rutherford and Blair McKenzie), truly yearning and poignant, especially in these isolated times.