Rubber-limbed master thief Arsene Lupin III is back, ready to snatch money from the purses of parents looking to keep the kids occupied over the holidays. In this slick 3D computer animation, veteran crowd-pleaser Takashi Yamazaki repeats the trick he pulled in 2014's "Stand by Me Doraemon." It's not so much a reboot as a rehash: a composite of familiar tropes, given an immaculate digital patina that makes the characters look like waxworks stolen from Madame Tussauds.
Lupin and his gang have appeared in many different guises since making their manga debut in 1967. During the past decade, the franchise has gone steamy in "Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine" (2012) and high-tech in last year's "Lupin the Third Part 5," but Yamazaki's screenplay prefers the gentleman thief of Hayao Miyazaki's "The Castle of Cagliostro" (1979).
It's clear within the opening minutes that the director isn't out to reinvent the series. The film is imbued with a nostalgic glow as warm as the evening light that bathes many of the scenes. The story's 1960s setting avoids the complications of modern life, and the components are so well worn, even newcomers may find it feels a bit old hat.