Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans

I must admitI didn't have high hopes for this but the film didn't sway from the horrible histories TV and stage formula and it worked well. If you expecting high brow then you will be disappointed but if it's a top British cast with very British jokes you want then you are in luck.

The film passes very quickly and, as the plot is aimed at kids, it isn't hard to follow. It obviously isn't high budget and very much feels like a horrible histories TV special but that doesn't detract from the fun. The film is a little bit of a slow burner but soon catches on.

It's harmless family fun for a 90 minutes and I even learnt a few things while laughing, the whole key to horrible histories success.

We are huge horrible histories fans in our house. This fell short of our expectations as adults. Missing the original cast and the format of the TV show which makes it all so funny. Seemed at parts to be taking itself a little too seriously, which makes it disconnected to both the TV show and the books which are very much tongue in cheek humour and light-hearted and fun.

The cast that were in it were good, but just not from the TV show. History facts were accurate. Storyline was minimal and not offensive.

However, my kids did enjoy it and my 6 year old was engrossed.

Humorous historical drama for kids.

This is the full length feature film release, based on the BBC 'CBBC' TV series. Best way to describe this is to think of an educational 'Blackadder' (another humorous TV history series aimed at older kids and adults).

The plot revolves around the Roman Empire and the rise of Boudicca, stars many familiar British actors, with loads of silly toilet humour and several musical numbers which were just ok.

We took nine-year-old granddaughter who fidgeted a lot, this film probably would have been better as a made for TV special. Stay in your seats while the end credits roll for some funny accompanying commentary from a rat puppet.

I love the TV show so I thought this would be fun to see. It had the feeling that this was a great idea but then we need to fill time to make a decent running time, with little thought to the content. Some jokes overdone especially the Roman numerals. I found the funniest bits of the movie were the little references to The life of Brian, which probably shows my age. I think kids who love the show will enjoy this movie more than I.

Orla dreams of being a Celtic warrior woman fighting the Romans.

Horrible Histories move to a movie format rather than the usual TV sketches. The actors are different but the style and humour is the same. It is mostly aimed at children but adults will find a few laughs too.

The budget is clearly low. Most scenes are tightly shot but in places the director had made no attempt to hide the production limits. The costumes and songs are ok. Nick Frost is the stand out performer. The humour is good and the actors throw themselves into the pantomime. It reminded me of Gladiatress (2004). If you're not sure what pantomime is; it's a British thing, see one of ITV's on you tube.

The story is a simplified retelling of the Boudicca rebellion and true to Horrible Histories the basic facts are correct.