THE best gifts often come in the smallest packages, and the old adage certainly holds true for Stuart Little 2 (U).

This is charming and heart-warming sequel to the 1999 smash-hit about a talking mouse adopted by an impossibly perky human family.

Everything that worked so well in the original, a witty screenplay, appealing characters, great special effects and wholesome family values, has been polished even more in this second picture.

It's like a massive dose of unabashed, sugar-coated joy, and you're left almost powerless to resist.

Michael J Fox once again voices courageous little mouse Stuart, who lives with his adopted human family, the Littles (Hugh Laurie, Geena Davis, and Jonathan Lipnicki), in sprawling New York City.

It is two years on from the original and things are difficult for Stuart because his mother has become overly protective and won't let him do all the things teenage mice want to do.

Life in the Little household changes forever with the arrival of Margalo (voiced by Melanie Griffith), a beautiful canary who steals Stuart's heart.

Don't even think about the strange biological perversity of a relationship between a mouse and a canary, just lose yourself in the sweet innocence of it all, after all this is more Disney than David Attenborough.

The course of true love never did run smooth, and here our plucky hero's happiness is jeopardised by the dastardly Falcon (James Woods), who wants to get his talons into Margalo's plumage.

Stuart Little 2 is a sweet, old-fashioned family film spruced up with superb special effects and a wonderfully dark sense of humour.

The problem the sequel has is that the central thread of the first film was the rivalry between Little and the family cat, Snowball, voiced by Nathan Lane.

Their hate, hate relationship has now become distinctly buddy buddy and although Lane still has some catty one-liners, if you'll excuse the pun, there is not the same edge to the humour.

Director Rob Minkoff orchestrates the big set pieces with aplomb, including an exhilarating aerial chase in Stuart's new bi-plane.

The computer animation is flawless throughout, right down to the way the wind ruffles Stuart's fur.

Fox voices the rodent with good humour and charm, not to mention a tangible vulnerability.

Griffith is effervescent as the object of Stuart's infatuation and Woods is good fun as the feathered villain.

As ever, Lane's neurotic, self-obsessed feline steals every scene with a selection of barbed one-liners.

If there is one gripe, it's the short running time. The original Stuart Little was 84 minutes long, but this is a paltry 77 minutes small hero, small screen time, it seems.