The Magic Faraway Tree Film Review

There are some films that just capture your imagination and then there are some films that are just flat out bad. With the film that i'm going to be talking to you all about today being one of the films that does capture your imagination and looking at not only who wrote the film but who is also starring in the film that's not entirely surprising as the film does have the perfect writer to help bring it to life and really update the story in the process and so then join me as I review the film that sadly really doesn't contain Nicola Coughlan rapping with the film in question being called simply just "The Magic Faraway Tree" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when they are forced into moving to the countryside kids Beth , Fran and Joe discover a magic tree that leads to a magical land which they must use to help there father achieve his dream and become closer as a family. 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 them in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / resented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. This films plot is about as good as it was ever going to be due to the fact that there's not really that much plot there in the first place with the films plot coming across as being the typical family film plot with not all that much added to it and this is something that does work to this film advantage as part of what makes the films plot work is it's charm and back to basics approach. While yes this films plot really could have been alot more stronger then what it is in the first place if this was the case then then the film would loose alot of it's charm and while yes granted the films plot even for a film is rather simple in nature this again is something that does work as it allows you to be swept away in the magic of the moment and remember just what it's like to be a kid in the first place and given the fact that this films was primarily made for little kids it does make sense that the films plot would be simple and while it's not as charming as both Paddington and Paddington 2 it is still a plot that is full of wonder , magic and imagination with the plot of this film also 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 Andrew Garfield as Tim Thompson , Claire Foy as Polly Thompson and Delilah Bennett-Cardy as Beth Thompson. Also starring in this film is Billie Gadsdon as Fran Thompson , Phoenix Laroche as Joe Thompson , Nicola Coughlan as Silky , Nonso Anozie as Moonface , Jessica Gunning as Dame Washalot , Jennifer Saunders as Grandma Thompson , Rebecca Ferguson as Dame Snap , Dustin Demri-Burns as The Saucepan Man , Mark Heap as Mr. Oom Boom Boom , Oliver Chris as Mr. Watzisname , Jos Vantyler as The Birthday Elf , Sir Lenny Henry as The Great Know-All , Sir Michael Palin as Know-All , Simon Russell Beale as Know-All , Hiran Abeysekera as Angry Pixie , Pippa Bennett-Warner as Hannah , this films writer Simon Farnaby as The Farmer , Claire Keelan as The Farmer's Wife , Ramon Tikaram as The Market Stall Seller and Dame Judi Dench as the voice of A Fridge.

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 them in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / resented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. This films acting is something that could be seen as being a very mixed bag as while the acting from the more experienced adult actors is really good with them all nailing there characters it's when we get to the films kid actors that the acing does indeed start to take a slight nose dive in terms of quality as while there not bad persay it's that they are clearly not as good as the adults actors with the films kid actors coming across more as bland and robotic then anything else. With the films best actor being Andrew Garfield as Tim Thompson as even tho he doesn't get to do a whole lot in this film with him being more as a side character then the films out right main character he does make the most of the time that he does have on screen and we the audience do end up wanting to see more of him due the energy that he brings to this role and while it would have been nice if he was in more of the film or at least enough to make him feel like a main actor the fact that he still does turn in a good performance is something that does help to elevate this film that even without him in it does have a really well stacked list of actors as it would have been very easy for him to just sit back and turn in an OK performance and yet you can tell that he is really trying and that is something that does shine through in his final performance in this film. With the acting that's in this film not really being helped by the fact that this films script is really bad as it gives none of this films absolutely anything 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 help to hurt the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Doing the CGI for this film is Entropy Group and the legends and the greats that are currently over at Lola Post Production. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well them in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / resented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. The film does mainly use CGI to create all of the magical world which even then there are some practical sets used like when the characters are walking down a staircase in the tree itself for example. To be frank here the film only really uses CGI when they have no other choice but to use it like for having flowers grow to a large height or having the tree itself basically shrink down so that it can open itself up with this being the best way to use CGI as then the makers of the film can then blend it into live action footage which does make it easier to fool us the audience into wondering what is fake and what was done for real and while there are alot of really good effects in this film alot of the CGI effects in the tree itself just feel uninspired as this is meant to be magical tree and yet there's nothing magical about it which in all fairness could be due to the fact that that might have been how it was done in the original books and that is fair enough but for the film version you do expect there to be something magical shown about the tree to make it standout from the human world. Yet when the film does get to show us these other lands that's when we get to see alot more of the potential in the films effects as while they don't go to crazy from an effects point of view they do help to highlight just how magical that this world can be from the point of view of a kid.

This film is based on the 1942 book of the same name by author Enid Blyton altho the film does borrow elements from the first book in the The Faraway Tree series. Which does make this film feel like an adaptation of both the first and second book in alot of respects and going by a quick read on the books Wikipedia page it does seem like that the plot of the film wasn't the plot of any of the books in the series and was something that was made up for the film which given the fact that it does seem like that these book were light on an actual plot in the first place is something that does make sense and it is something that does allow the makers of this film to go into more fun and weird places with the books characters and settings. Altho it is something that does make you wonder why they did adapt "The Enchanted Wood" first as that was the first book in the series therefor it would have made sense for them do that and then move on to the rest of the books afterwards as by taking this approach it does now mean that any potential sequel would be alot more harder to do and while it is hard to say if the film does recapture the tone and spirit of the books what can be said is that if you did like the books growing up as a kid then odds are you might not like this film due to the fact that's not a retelling of the books story and is instead just doing its own thing with the characters which does make it an adaptation in name only. However tho this is something that could be seen as being a good thing as the James Bond films where never straight adaptations of there books and yet that worked as it allowed the readers of the book to be just as surprised as the people watching the film version and it could be the same thing here as there will be people such as myself who never read the original books and was therefore surprised by what happens in the film.

Even tho the film has been out in the UK for a good few months now the film is coming out in America in a few months which does make it super hard to go into that much detail about what happens in the film. What can be said about the film tho is the fact that there is a moment in the film that does come out of nowhere and yet the film treats it as this big deal when if you take into account how the characters got to this place in the first place this character is actually totally justified in there actions and while the film doesn't harp on it for to long as the film does skip past it as soon as they can it is something that does form a key plot point in the film and yet it was never given much thought with it feeling more like an after thought in the grand scheme of things. Which given that it does read like the books themselves never really had much in the way plot this is something that does make sense but again given that this is the film version and the makers of this film are taking liberties with the source material in the first place then they very easily could have had more of a focus on how the kid characters feel about this move as it is a big thing as the kids are essentially leaving there entire lives behind them to start over again and yet the film does expect them to just accept it and yet when one of them doesn't it treats them like they are the ones in the wrong and not the parents for not at the very least asking them if they wanted to move houses in the first place, however to be fair tho given the fact that the characters in this film are essentially living in a fantasy version of the real world this is something that you can very easily look past as it could be treated as how the characters in that films world work and to be fair to this film it does do a good job of making the character in question be a likable character when it would have been very easy for them to be really unlikable.

The family in this film were as well handled as you'd expect from the co-writer of the Paddington films as the film does take the time to present all of them as being real people with real human emotions. While they don't have the warmth and charm of The Browns from the Paddington films there is a clear effort thrown in here to make them feel like a real family as they do act exactly how you would expect a real family to act with them having a loving if somewhat kooky stay at home father , a mother who does want the best for the family and is also willing to try anything to help there dreams come true with the kids being the kinds of kids that you do see alot of the time outside your window. This is something that does help to make them feel all the more real as characters as we've all seen families like this one in our day to day lives even if we didn't know it and this is something that does show that this films writer Simon Farnaby does know how to write loving families as he did do the same thing for the Paddington films and to be fair it is something that does work just as well here in this film and while there are somethings in this film that don't work exploring the family unit is not one of them as we do get to spend alot of the time with the family and that is something that the makers of this fil didn't really need to do and yet because of the fact that they understand that for this fil we have to like this family as much as they like each other that means that we do get scenes that yes could very well be seen as being generic family film scenes and yet they work because of how well written that those scenes are and because of that you do want to to see them succeed at the end of the film. With there only being one member of the family that doesn't quite work and even then its more due to the fat that the character doesn't get to spend alot of time in the film and the scenes that this person is in she's arguing with the family or talking bad about them which is something that does make them feel more like the films main villain.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and fifty minuets and two seconds. This is something that is quite along time for a family film as you do typically expect a family film to come in somewhere around one hour and thirty minuets and yet here w have a film that is almost two hours long and while you don't really feel that you also can't expect a kid to sit still for that amount of time either and given the fact that this film is adapting a kids book that is something that should have been taken into account however tho this film really does have the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time in the first place. Yet even so this film still doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the film doesn't take the time to fully develop its plot with it feeling like that key plot points come out of nowhere with alot of them not really feeling earned and when the the film is this long despite the fact that it does have so much to set up then the makers of this film should have taken less time in showing the kooky things that the mothers old company did and spent more time in developing the films plot even if it's just by adding small thigs to the plot as those small things are things that could make the plot of this film feel alot more developed and thought out. This is something that does also effect the films character development as out of all of the films characters its only Beth that gets some form of character development in this film and while her development is earned and it does feel right for her character there are other characters in this film that did need it and never got it due to the fact that the film is more focused on showing us scenes in other worlds alot of which go absolutely nowhere and add nothing to either the plot or the characters then it is in giving us well thought out characters but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is a comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy 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 comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With the film having some cute family comedy moments that do work and while this film doesn't really have any laugh out loud funny moments it really didn't need to as all it needed to have was cute moments with the characters just being there fun and goofy selfs and that's really it and to be fair that's exactly what this film does give you from a comedy point of view be it from the main characters or from any of the side characters and because of that whilst yes there are some dud jokes in this film alot of the films jokes do work as well as they possibly could have done. With the films best joke being a small running joke that that they have with The Farmer and his wife and it's not one that will be spoiled here as it is a cute joke but what can be said is if you remember David Bradley's character from Hot Fuzz where his character had an indistinguishable accent well it's the same type of idea here only this film while it doesn't quite go all the way with that joke it does do something new with it that does make it funny, with alot of what makes that jokes work so well is Simon Farnaby's acting as he does know how to make this joke really funny and given the fact that he wrote the films script with this joke being something that does work so well as it does feel more in line with his style of comedy writing as it's just the right amount of absurd with the rest of the films jokes being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Overall whilst yes there are other and quite frankly better family films out there if your looking for something that will entertain little ones for a few hours and will make you remember your own childhood then you really can't go that far wrong with this film 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 thigs that are in this very film in this very review and as such tat really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where 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 ad gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk , IMP A Awards . Com 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.