Required viewing from the week in movies.

MicmacsBefore he went mainstream with the international hit "Amelie," director Jean-Pierre Jeunet created fantastically surreal fantasy worlds in films like "Delicatessen" and "The City of Lost Children." His latest, "Micmacs," finds the filmmaker returning to his early, comedic, Rube Goldberg–ian style with a tale of a ragtag bunch of misfits who try to take down rival arms dealers in post-9/11 Europe.

While it sounds grim on paper, the vibe is more "Spy vs. Spy" than "United 93." Plus, Jeunet, whose last film was the underrated WWI epic "A Very Long Engagement," has yet to make a bad movie. (We like to pretend that "Alien Resurrection" never happened.)

Also in theaters:
-- Word is that "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" is a passable diversion, provided you can get past Jake Gyllenhaal's He-Man-like abs and wavering British accent. "Passable" is about all you can expect from a video game adaptation these days.
-- Which pun uttered by the "Sex and the City 2" ladies is worse: "Lawrence of My Labia" or "Bedouin, Bath and Beyond"? Oh, brother. This is not a good week for depictions of Middle Eastern culture in film.
-- George A. Romero returns to the zombie well for the thousandth time with "Survival of the Dead." We fall into the camp that wishes he would have quit the brain-eaters around 1985. How about a nice period piece for a change, George?