I FEAR that Stockholm Syndrome may be setting in. Having sat through, by my estimation, two or three hundred Something- or- other Movies - Date Movie, Scary Movie, Epic Movieand so forth - I find myself beginning to make excuses for this stubbornly relentless franchise.

Disaster Moviecould not, you understand, be mistaken for anything other than an animated pop-cultural dung-heap, but you do have to admire the sheer industry with which these fellows go about their task.

Movie boffins have often pointed out that, due to the cumbersome nature of film production, it can take the studios years to react to cultural phenomena. You may remember that the 1960s arrived in Hollywood around 1971. Yet the Disaster Movieteam somehow manages to comment upon (or, at least, point towards) films as recent as The Dark Knight, Hancockand Iron Man.

Okay, the jokes involve bad actors merely walking across the screen wearing cut-price versions of the costumes worn by Messrs Bale, Smith and Downey Jr. You cannot, however, fault the film for its lack of topicality.

For what can you fault it? Well, the production team manage to knock together only four sets. The woman who plays both Juno and Hannah Montana appears to be in her early 30s. The Kung Fu Pandasuit looks moth-eaten. And, considering the pace these guys move, the Night at the Museumsatire seems centuries out of date.

Mind you, I'd still rather watch their version of Sex and the Citythan the real thing.