Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans

A Horrible Histories movie should definitely include the amazing comedians of TV's Horrible Histories, Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Jim Howick! The movie is not bad, made in the style of the series, but it could have been way better. I hope that in the sequel we get to see some of our favorite comedians.

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.

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.

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.

I've always found HH amusing on the telly box, by 8 year old twin girls love it, so I'm often in the room when it's on.

I wasn't sure what to expect from it's move to the cinema, but I went with an open mind.

It's got a very strong cast from Britain's sitcom/tv drama/stand up stable, and it's had a very clever script written for it too. There are many, I suppose Easter eggs, in there some obvious, some not so, but I found them funny and clever.

Ok so some of the humour is a bit toilet based, but so is most British humour! It's very similar to some of the better Carry On films, obviously without the cruder humour.

It's got a bit of a slating on here, which to be honest I found a bit sad. Do yourself, and your kids a favour and on a rainy day this holidays go see it!