Reviews

This looked good. I was hoping for a silly, no brainer piece of entertainment. Yeah, i got that, but i got it with a huge smack in the face of thanks for the cash advance.

It is to me a massive self gratification exercise for Jack Black, he just wants to cover those rock songs and double up on any earnings from the original score and from the selling for the film.

There are SO many brilliant and fun adaptations of this story into film and i urge you to see those instead. This slap stick approach is insulting with its simplicity. It did not even hold the entertainment of the younger members of the audience.

I am struggling to write enough to be able to make sure no one wastes there time or money on this feature in either the cinema or public release in due course.

Mr Nice - I read the book and went in knowing the film was not going to be as good as the book. So it was no surprise it was not. But unlike some other adaptations, it was horribly below the quality of the book.

We should have experienced all manor of emotions, but instead I was left feeling all manor of disappointment. I am a fan of Rhys Ifans and also Howard Marks. But even with fond feelings of these people I could not help be feel let down.

READ THE BOOK - Skip the film and read the book. I don't read much, only a few books in my 30+ years but this was one that grabbed me. The film, should have and could have grabbed me, but it knocked me into a stoned submission of comatose.

I nearly walked out, they tried to cram too much in and while many normally complain adaptations supply not enough, or it did not follow the book in true form, for this it was the opposite. They tried too much and in an effort, it was all done too fast. It is hard to keep up. If I had not read the book, I would not have known what was going o, how, where, who or when.

We go from the brilliantly cast Rhys Ifans to the damn right confused and outrageous bad placement of Omid Djalili, a rather weak stereotype.

This could have been a deep flavoured and full bodied red wine. Instead it was a weakened squash that is so diluted it tastes like slightly sugared water with a funny colour. Shot beautifully capturing the different times with the technology of filming from that time. But let down far too much by the speed of story, the empty and incomplete endings to all the strings started but so few meeting at the beginning, middle or end it made me feel angry.

When I first read about this film, I liked what it was saying, I liked the direction and I liked the bigger picture of the dream of ordinary people.

There are some great lines, great moments, great scenes but it does not hold together greatly, in fact it is rather badly held together at all.

To me, it felt piecemeal, it did not come together anywhere near as well as it could have done.

I felt it deserved the low score because it easily had the potential to become a great film and even with some possible cult status later on. However the passion was not there to do it. It feels more like a money spinner with some up and coming names, a great idea and an old veteran who could do and has done a lot better.

I really wanted to enjoy and want more from this film. The fact was, I did want more, but only because it was lacking in so many areas, and not for the great feature it so easily could have been

You need to take this film at face value. It is not trying to be clever. It is simply out and out slap stick routine stretched out through decently scripted film.

This films simple premise is to make you laugh. It certainly made me laugh. The over the top jokes, scenarios and pain really brought this to life as a silly belly laughfest.

Nice light hearted comedy offering a laugh to all ages. I think a no brainer comedy is a good thing to lift spirits and raise a smile.

I cant imagine anyone not finding this film funny in one way or another. If you like the comedy style of Jim Carey and movement of Lee Evans or Rowan Atkinson then I recommend you give this a go.

Enjoy

Seeing this again brought back memories. I loved cheesy horror when I was a kid. Back then I found this scary, seeing this and films like it again, shows them in a great comical light.

The key core key characters are really placed. The geek that wants and gets the top girl, who is seeing of course the top footballer. The best is the Detective both with the bumbling cops and later emerging as the valiant hero I guess unintentionally costume detail, it was excellent, the whole look of the film does seem high detail. It is a pleasure to watch the picture as well as the acting.

With a black and white start it really helps give the film an artistic edge.

Enjoy

The sheer detail of the animation on this was superb. I watched in ore of everything unfolding in front of me. At times, strangely due to the high detail, it did feel too polished and plastic. But this was rare and did not detract from the film.

I can see this becoming a regular on Christmas TV play lists. It works well at being a film you can dip in and out of, have on in the background when doing things, or sitting down and taking it all in.

It is both light and in depth, giving it appeal to all ages.

We see all the usual emotions crammed into this film.

Overall, very exciting easy going film offering many levels of enjoyment. I hope to see more from this set of creative minds

Not a great experience for me. I found it hard to get into the film and felt it was dull in colour making it feel slow.

I feel I was seeing many more missed opportunities to create something much better. However, I feel I must have been missing something with how the producer wanted this to come across.

The picture seemed constantly dull, colours were realistic for the times shot in, but because of the picture it felt they were on a low contrast fuzz filter.

If you are a fan of Matt then pick up another of his films. I cant say he acts badly, he does the movie well. The movie however does not do him well. If you like the sound of this story, then perhaps give Matchstick Men a try instead.

This was a very good film, very well put together and great formation of characters.

I very much enjoyed Bruce Willis's role in this film. His character was in my opinion perfectly done. It felt on many levels that the principle was a combination of of main lead roles found in Tim Burton films. He had a crazy streak about him and a quiet dark side. I draw parallel to these but Bruce Willis plays it in a lighter context, removing the undertones of blackness.

While i feel there was not enough of the Principle i think it would have been a delicate line if too much was brought in.

The film crossed many of the emotions felt by the characters while showing them taking in all the typical teen party and school life activities.

This tackles animation in a different way from a lot of the past recent animated films.

It is a beautifully crafted piece with a great and crisp finish to the feel, movement and enjoyment of the film.

Touching in places with good characters. More of a serious cartoon with fewer laughs than found in typical animated films.

It is a good light introduction to Manga although there are many types of Manga animation styles. This is built up using a multitude of emotions, felt by all the main characters and filtering a few layers down giving it a very real world feel despite it being shown in the future.

It is not hard to imagine this almost being a real possibility for the future. However, you can still feel the fantasy of it. With that you can draw between the lines and see how this could have been done on the flip side, turning it into a bright, fun, funny and cutesy too feel good extended cartoon.

Good for all ages and fans of animation. A big screen treat. I will am very much looking forward to the BluRay release.

I felt this film to be hollow and failing in many areas. With regard to overall synopsis this could have been done in an incredible way.

The sheer potential for character building, relationships, perhaps addressing minorities that congregate in dense areas (although these individuals where housed there), would have really opened this up and given it a fantastic and truly deep dimension.

I would not recommend seeing this. The only reason for a 3 over 1 was simply due to the fact I imagine the foundation being strong for a creative and precise mind.

If you are looking to view something along these lines, I draw a strange parallel to The Mist http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0884328/ (B&W version if you can). BUT this is only because of what i feel is great character building. The solidarity of the characters (you get a little feeling of that in this).

I did enjoy this. I like old cheesy Kung Fu movies.

This is a great fun movie and many of the action scenes are clever, nicely styled and can be very comical.

I find the dubbed version (not something go for if on a serious foreign film) helps add that extra layer of cheese and fun factor then letting you simply concentrate on all the intricacies and silliness going on in the film.

It is fun, but there are better ones around, not counting the early Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan ones. Of course we also have some great modern successes with such people as Stephen Chow.

Q

I really enjoyed this. I got it thinking it was going to be a documentary, but it revealed itself as a good piece of tongue in cheek fun.

I think this has been well done, pretty much an extended TV show into a film, but due to the characters or rather original actors willingness to have fun and be made fun off helps this work in a great old style Innocent way.

If you are a fan of the original TV series then i am sure you will enjoy this.

Q