Thunderbirds Are Go Film Review

Whilst these days it's not uncommon for any TV show be they animated or live action to get a feature film. Back in the swinging sixties it was still a new thing with the film that i'm going to be talking to you about today being a good example of a film that's basically just an extended episode of the show as while the makers of the film thought of another reason as to why the film failed at the box office I found a few reasons that are completely different and so then join me as I review the film that really should have stayed as a TV show with the film in question being called simply just "Thunderbirds Are Go" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when a spacecraft returning from the first trip to Mars struggles to land safely back to earth it's up to International Rescue to find a way of saving the crew before it's far to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that good with this films plot being the kind of plot that yes does work for a Thunderbirds feature film its also the kind of plot that they would do quite frequently on an episode of the show as well with the only difference being that the show would get to the plot alot more quicker then the film does and not have so many pointless scenes that have nothing to do with the plot of the film as this films plot is the very definition of an extended episode plot and while that can indeed work heck just look at films like Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie and any of the On The Buses films as a good example of that here tho it really doesn't as you expect to see bigger and better things from this franchise due to the fact that you've been seeing the characters but into the same situations that there put in in this film on the show when the whole point of a movie adaptation is to do things that you couldn't possibly do in an episode of the show the plot to The Simpsons Movie works because of the fact that that's telling a story that they couldn't tell in an episode of the show and whilst yes this films plot is a decent plot it is also one feels like the plot to an episode of the show with the plot of the film also being quite boring to watch a couple of times as well with the plot of this film not really being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Peter Dyneley as Jeff Tracy , Shane Rimmer as Scott Tracy and Jeremy Wilkin as Virgil Tracy , Space Colonel Harris and Washington Control. Also starring in this film is Matt Zimmerman as Alan Tracy and A Messenger , David Graham as Gordon Tracy , Brains , Parker and A Police Officer , Ray Barrett as John Tracy The Hood and Commander Casey , this films co-writer and producer Sylvia Anderson as Lady Penelope and The Goldstone Tracking Station Operative , Christine Finn as Tin-Tin Kyrano , Paul Maxwell as Captain Paul Travers , Alexander Davion as Space Greg Captain Martin , Bob Monkhouse as Navigator Brad Newman and The Swinging Star Announcer , Neil McCallum as Dr Ray Pierce , Charles Tingwell as Dr Tony Grant , The PR Officer , An SEC Board Member and A Woomera Tracking Station Operative and Cliff Richard as Cliff Richard Jr.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty pretty good. With the actors that were carried over from the show of course being as good as you'd expect them and with Jeremy Wilkin replacing David Holliday as the voice of Virgil with him still doing a good job in the role with him being so good in fact that he would take over as the main voice actor for Virgil for the shows second and final season and the second and final puppet based Thunderbirds film where the acting does somewhat fail is with the acting from the guest actors as there you do get the feeling that there trying to hard to sound like that they fit in with this world with alot of them just being wooden at best with the best example of this being Bob Monkhouse who can be funny as he's known to be this really funny actor over here in the UK but he doesn't make for a good dramatic actor with it feeling like that the film is holding him back from letting loose when he should have been given permission to go as wild with his characters as he wanted to with alot of the films other main guest actors just being bland for forgettable none of this is of course there fault as they only can only do the best with what there given to work with but there still should have been some level of though and effort from this films director David Lane to get some good performances from the films actors not just the ones that are reprising their roles from the show with the acting that's in this film not really being helped buy the fact that the script for this films is just so bad as it gives none of this films actors alot to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Whilst it would make sense to talk about the films characters here given that this film is based off of a TV show it would also be pointless instead tho were going to be talking the films puppets as they did see an upgrade from the show. With the puppets used for the show being completely redone with them all receiving new wigs and new costumes for the film as well as them all loosing the plastic looking look that they have for the show with this being something that is a huge upgrade from the puppets used on the show as while on the show they could get away with having these small imperfections on the puppets due to the fact that they weren't going to be seen for that long in the first place in the film tho because of the fact that that the screen is alot more bigger it did mean that those small imperfections would now become alot more noticeable and the cinema going public would be alot less forgiving due to the fact that the makers of this film do have alot more money to spend on the puppets then what the makers of the show would have done and given the fact that this is a film it is understandable that they would want to improve upon key visuals for the film as that is something that would help the film standout alot more and while these changes are ones that not alot of people would notice if your a die hard Thunderbirds fan these are changes that you will notice with the changes working well for a film as here you do expect things to be bigger and you do expect things from a show to be made better in the film version because of the fact that more money would have been spent on it and to ne frank the puppets do look really good with there designs remaining true to those of the show whilst also being alot more grounded in reality as well.

This films co-writer an the franchises creator Gerry Anderson once mused that he thought that the film flopped because of the fact that he was asking people to pay for something that they could watch for free on TV. Whilst there is some truth to this as even today films are based off of TV shows do still find it hard to get audiences to go and see film version as why would they go and pay to see something when they can watch it on TV for free that is not the only reason why this film didn't do well at the box office as the film does have a plot that is more suited for an episode of the show then it is a feature length Thunderbirds film and while the show does sometimes have this more darker edge to it the film does kind of go over board with that by showing the characters shooting at rock monsters and having the rock monsters come close to killing some of the characters with both of these reasons and more being why the film wouldn't have made that much money at the box office this is despite the fact that the average episode of the show would have been more then enough to make for a decent feature film with another possible reason being the fact that your asking characters to buy into these puppets for about one hour and thirty minuets and that is something that even for fans of puppets is hard to do and it's something that the show wouldn't have had to deal with as the typical length of an episode of the show is fifty minuets with show more often then not having better done plots which are things that would have taken plot attention away from the fact that there watching puppets plus they could just leave the room or witch the channel over whereas here your forcing them to watch puppets for a longer time but in all fairness tho this film is also one that's just that good in the first place.

To be fair to this film given the fact that each episode of the show was basically a mini film in it's own right. There was no way that the makers of this film could do the same thing in the film as they would always run into the issue of having the film version feel like an extended episode as you just can't have the team go and pull of daring rescue every few minuets as exciting as that would be at first it is also something that would get quite boring after a while as well with the makers of this film doing the best that they could have done and because of that we do get a film that is really well made with all of the puppets looking as good as they did in the film and the storyline being one that you could see working in a Thunderbirds film if the makers of this film cut out alot of the filler like "The Shooting Star" sequence which even co-writer and producer Sylvia Anderson admitted was a big mistake to have in the film due to the fact that it adds nothing to the overall plot of the film but just to defend that sequence we do get some really nice looking visuals which do take as full advantage of the fact that it's dream sequence and we do get a good song out of it as well but yeah that is a sequence that should have been axed from the film with it feeling like that it was only in the film just as way to get Cliff Richard and his band The Shadows into the film and singing a song and again to be fair to this film having The Hood who is the series main villain be the main villain for this film is something that does make sense as you could picture his character trying to find out how Zero-X works so that he can use it's technology for his own evil gains with the issue being that outside of the opening scene in the film the character has no major impact on the plot of the film with him pretty much just being there for fanservice.

Another major issue with the film is the fact that the film spends about ten minuets just showing us how the Zero-X gets put together. With this being something that the film didn't really need to show us as much like with "The Shooting Star" sequence it adds nothing to the film with the film taking even longer to get to the characters that we actually came to this film to see in the first place and while yes the Zero-X ship looks really nice that doesn't mean that you have to show us how it gets put together as that just makes it look like that the film is padding out it's running time when the film could have moved past that quite easily and quite quickly and yet for one reason or another the makers of this film thought it was a good idea to have a huge portion of the films running time be spent on just showing us how this ship gets put together when that's not something that we want to see as this is a science fiction film there the makers of the film didn't have to do any of that they could have just said it starts out like that and it would have worked just as well but credit where it is due tho the ship does look good with it really taking advantage of the fact that it's in a film due to it's length as the ship does eat up the entire frame alot of the time which is about the only time that the film takes advantage of the fact that it's now in a wider screen as everything else in the film doesn't look as wide as it does in the show and looks like that it would be more at home in an episode of the show this is despite the fact that the visuals from the show look like that the would be right at home in a Thunderbirds film with the Thunderbirds themselves looking like that they belong right at home on the big screen with it feeling like that those vehicles where made t be seen on the big screen.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty three minuets and twenty four seconds. With this films running time being pretty much the exact running time that you'd expect a puppet based Thunderbirds film to have and yet even tho the film itself has more then enough running time there to cover that amount of running time the film still doesn't use it's running time as the film doesn't develop it's at all as we don't get to find out why The Hood is even sneaking on board this ship in the place something which is kind of plot point as it's him doing that in the opening scenes that causes those in charge of the launch to ask International Rescue for help with the second launch and yet we have no idea why he wants pictures of that ship in the first place with the film being alot more focused on showing us quite literally every single detail of how this ship comes together at the start of the film all of which eats up screen time that would have been better used in developing the film plots with this even effecting the films characters as none of the films characters get any character development even Alan Tracy who is meant to be the films main character gets nothing interms of character to be fair this is something that doesn't effect the characters from the show as you could make the argument that those characters get there development in the show but it is something that does effect the movies new characters as we know as much about them as characters coming out of the film then we did coming into the film but I really will admit that this film really does have some really bad pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With this film having some really good looking action scenes in it something which is also true for the show as well with the only difference being that it's now being done in a feature length film with the film really only having three action scenes in the whole film yes is something that they would do in the show as well but in saying this given that it's a film you do expect there to expect there to be more action scenes in it as that is something that would have made this film be all the more exciting to see in the first place with the best action scene in the whole film being the main rescue of the film as we get to see International Rescue use all of the Tracy brothers as they all play a vital part of the rescue with this being topped of by the fact that we do get to see some some great looking destruction scenes as the Zero-X destroy a small American town which is something that does look really good in the film with the rest of the films action scenes being quite bland and generic scenes with one of them being Lady Penelope and Parker chasing down The Hood in FAB 1 and the other being the astronauts getting attacked by giant rock monsters which whilst impressive from a technical standpoint just isn't as impressive as something that we'd see in the show but when this film does get it's action scenes right then we do get something that not only looks good but is also quite exciting to watch as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall it's quite obvious why this film didn't make that much money as this is a franchise that was never destined to be a big screen franchise and while yes they did try two more times over the decades to make this franchise work on the big screen this film proves that not all TV shows need to be turned into films in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score f exactly a 5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for there I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk , Wikipedia and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.