It’s been the best part of two decades since Alexandre Dumas’s legendary swordsmen declared, “One for all and all for one” on the big screen. British director Paul W S Anderson turns to the 3D format for his old-fashioned reworking of The Three Musketeers that relies heavily on sword play to keep our pulses racing. The cast members look fierce, duelling with their blades in slow-motion, and the body count is impressively high, albeit without a drop of spilt blood to ensure the family-friendly 12A classification.

Screenwriters Alex Litvak and Andrew Davies resort to a glaring anachronism in their pursuit of bigger, bolder thrills.

Dirigibles soar over the skies of Europe more than 100 years before the French invented them, providing Anderson’s film with its set-piece skirmishes in the air rather than on land or water.

At least the leather diving dress used by Athos to creep up unseen on his adversaries in the Venetian canals harks from the right era.

D’Artagnan (Logan Lerman) leaves behind his father (Dexter Fletcher) to seek his fortune in the court of young and inexperienced King Louis (Freddie Fox) and his bride Queen Anne (Juno Temple). En route, the young man crosses paths with Porthos (Ray Stevenson), Athos (Matthew Macfadyen) and Aramis (Luke Evans), who have been disbanded.

D’Artagnan earns the Musketeers’ respect by challenging Rochefort (Mads Mikkelsen), the head of the guards, to a duel for daring to insult his beloved horse, Buttercup.

With the help of M’Lady (Milla Jovovich), D’Artagnan and the Musketeers learn of a plot masterminded by Cardinal Richelieu (Christoph Waltz) to impugn the Duke of Buckingham (Orlando Bloom) by planting evidence to suggest that the nobleman has deflowered the Queen.

With time running out before King Louis declares war against the British, the Musketeers and their new recruit declare, “One for all and all for one” and they hatch a plan of their own to foil Richelieu and restore the lustre of the Queen’s reputation.

The Three Musketeers is a jolly romp, plying comedy, action and romance with a healthy dose of skulduggery and heaving bosoms. Lerman is a likeable hero in training. Stevenson, Macfadyen and Evans stride manfully through each confrontation, while Jovovich proves that anything the boys can do she can do better. James Corden is earthy comic relief as manservant Planchet.

Ren McCormack (Kenny Wormald) arrives in the God-fearing town of Bomont three months after the deaths of five high school students on their way home from a dance in Footloose.

As a knee-jerk reaction, local minister the Rev Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid) persuades the council to pass new laws imposing a 10pm curfew on minors and banning dancing. Ren flouts these edicts, playing loud music in his car and attracting the attention of the local cops and the school’s headmaster. Determined to dance, come what may, Ren vows to revive dancing in Bomont with the help of his buddy Willard (Miles Teller), the minister’s daughter Ariel (Julianne Hough) and gal pal Rusty (Ziah Colon).

Footloose follows the narrative arc of the original, culminating in Ren’s rousing call to arms at a town meeting using the Bible as his primary evidence to extol the joys of dance. Wormald and Hough are both excellent movers and they stand out in the electrifying dance sequences including a rootin’ tootin’ hoedown complete with a flurry of glitter. It’s all predictable yet huge fun right down to Ariel whispering seductively, “You want to kiss me?” and Ren replying staunchly, “Some day.”