Five Children and It

I would think that this was one of those films whose director hadn't read the book it was based on, were it not for the fact that they are just slightly similar. It is certainly possible for a great film to be "based" very loosely on a book and this was certainly the latter but not the former.

There were a number of flaws. One was that it tried to be too much like the Railway Children, probably because adults would expect this, being from the same author. Another is that it also sought to be too like Harry Potter, down to the music and in overemphasizing the setting. I have nothing against J K Rowling or the films but the book is just nothing like the Harry Potter ones. I thought the Psammead, though very well voiced by Eddie Izzard and in character too, was almost gratuitously in a totally inappropriate environment. I may have missed something here, as the comments made about one of the characters' own books may have been a reference to the inaccuracy of the adaptation. There was also no need for the extra characters, and today's special effects could easily have been used to tell the story as it was written, but they weren't.

I saw this film with my two children, one of whom knows the book and the other of whom doesn't. The one who does know it thought it was all right but wasn't as enthusiastic as the one who doesn't. I'm not sure what this means.

I am a judge for the Indianapolis-based Heartland Film Festival. This feature film is a Crystal Heart Award Winner and is eligible to be the Grand Prize Winner in October of 2005. The Heartland Film Festival is a non-profit that honors Truly Moving Pictures. A Truly Moving Picture "…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life."

This is a movie in the tradition of "Harry Potter" movies and "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events." It is a fantasy set in 1917 in wartime England. Five children are sent from London to the countryside for safety and security reasons. They are staying in a large, spooky, Gothic-like house with a math-crazed Uncle played brilliantly by Kenneth Branagh. His acting and make-up are so unique that there is no way you could possibly tell it was Branagh. The Uncle has many rules for the children including stay out of the greenhouse. Of course they disobey the rules and the greenhouse leads them to a secret beach where they find a sand fairy.

The sand fairy is cute and small and insolent and irreverent and funny. The children are off on adventures because the sand fairy grants them one wish a day. They soon find that getting what you wish for can be overwhelming and not welcomed.

The leader among the five children is not the oldest. The leader is a classic all-boy instigator, Robert, that pushes the story forward constantly by being curious and never reigning himself in. He is played by Freddie Highmore of "Finding Neverland" fame and he steals the movie with his character and his screen presence.

The children as a group are interesting. They are loyal to each other, they care deeply for their parents, and they develop a love for the sand fairy. And they learn from their mistakes.

This film has beautiful art direction and wonderful casting and acting.

FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Crystal Heart winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.

Five children go to the country to stay with their uncle during the First World War. While exploring the house they come upon a secret door which takes them down to the beach where they meet a "sand fairy" who agrees to grant one wish a day for them. The wishes all go horribly wrong, but in the process the children learn something.

The Jim Henson Company produced this adaptation of the E Nesbit story and its not one of their better works. The film looks like any other children's book adaptation you can think of to the extent that you could probably inter-cut scenes from this film with any other similar children's film and not be able to tell the difference. Its not bad, but it doesn't have anything unique about it...

...well actually it does, It has two excellent performances that keep this film from sinking to the bottom of the children's film adaptation barrel. The first is Kenneth Branagh as they kids crazy Uncle Albert. he isn't in it all that much but while he's on screen he chews the scenery looking like a deranged Jim Broadbent. He is charmingly scatterbrained as a man who doesn't know what day it is and who wonders where last October went to.

The other joy is Eddie Izzard, in his best role to date as the voice of the sand fairy, the "It" of the title. This is Izzard at his free-form best as he bounces off the walls of sanity in a steady stream of nonsense. Izzard's portrayal is a kin to an evening of his best stand-up comedy but in the context of the story, where anything can and will come out of the mouth of a little creature with a mobile home. Its one of the funniest things I've seen on screen on long time and he's the real reason to see the film.

Over all a completely average children's film made more than watchable thanks to Eddie Izzard's vocal performance as It. Worth a rental or a viewing on cable, especially if you're a fan.

This is a wonderfully sweet, innocent movie that parents and children alike will enjoy. This is a movie that brings us back to our childhood and the dreams and fantasies that were part of the innocence of children and of believing in the impossible. The five children in this movie are sweet and caring siblings - not argumentative and spoiled children, but siblings who clearly love one another.

The idea that make believe can come true is refreshing. Clearly this is a movie about love, hope and dreams. Freddie Hightower, the young star of Neverland, is just as good in this movie. He is joined in his acting ability by 5 other young actors, as well as the wonderful Zoe Wanamaker and Kenneth Branaugh - all of whom are wonderful.

The scenery is wonderful - the England coastline. This is one of those movies they don't make enough of - it leaves you smiling when you finish the movie.

FIVE CHILDREN AND IT is the perfect way to trash the memory of the classic Edith Nesbit novel by turning it into something soulless, trivial, and trashy. Although the premise of the the film and the novel are the same, both veer off in very different directions and it has to be said that this bears little relation to the characters or events of the book's storyline.

Firstly, the setting has been changed to WW1 from the Crimean War; I'm not sure why, except maybe people don't know or care about the Crimean War these days. Instead of the likable, inventive children of the Nesbit story, we get a bunch of screamers, whiners, and - in the case of Freddie Highmore - oddly creepy kids and the stock fat cousin character who of course turns out to be evil. God knows what all that monster stuff in the basement laboratory is supposed to be about.

The famous Psammead, voiced by the irritating Eddie Izzard and animated via rubbishy CGI, is a far cry from the excellent puppet utilised in the old BBC TV series version of the tale. Elsewhere, we get horrible CGI dinosaurs, CGI flying people (to cash in on HARRY POTTER, of course), and dumb comedy in the form of fart and burp jokes. The director is so inexperienced he even uses cheesy slow motion in the sentimental interludes. Elsewhere, viewers are stuck watching the likes of Kenneth Branagh and Zoe Wanamaker mugging for all their worth. Stick with the BBC show!