STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
It was only by chance I caught this TV adaptation of one of the children's books David Walliams wrote, which looked the most appealing out of all of them, as it happens. But I am glad I did, for although it's not the usual kind of thing I would go out my way to watch, for what it was, it was quite well done and it should have great appeal to it's target audience.
The titular Mr. Stink (Hugh Bonneville) is a vagrant who comes to form a close friendship with a young girl named Chloe, who has problems at home and in the social world. As their bond grows, she learns the tragic truth behind Mr. Stink's decline in society and how important friendship is.
For what at first seems quite a silly and childish story (and largely is) it's quite grandiose in it's attempts to be more moving and heart warming as the tale progresses. The young girl who plays Chloe is well put in these aspects, but her plummy accent sounds out of place saying lines like 'he was the stinkiest stinker who ever stunk.' By the end it's become a real tragi-comedy, which the British do best. Of all the performers involved, it's ironically Walliams who actually works the best, as the arrogant, self serving prime minister. Bonneville works very well, too, though, turning the head of a pre-conceived idea about what a homeless person is, which might not be suitable for a family film.
For a TV production, the special effects are above average too, which will make it even more appealing to the young audience it's aimed at. It only caught me by chance and it's not the kind of thing I'd usually watch, but I was pleasantly surprised by it and maybe you'll be too. ****
