It was somewhat hard to judge this film on its own merits, as the heavy-handed and wholly unnecessary additions to the the source material were so distracting. My wife and I were excited to watch this with our kids of just the right age, but were then left very disappointed. If the production team didn't believe that Arthur Ransome's wonderful book was sufficiently exciting, why film it?
Right from the first scene material is added. And it's counter-productive: the book sees the children into their special adventure within just a few pages, where the film takes twenty minutes.
For a child reader the novel is a pure delight, and the adventures real and thrillingly out of reach but still within the contemplation of children; there's nothing too scary or beyond their control, and the young reader desperately wants to be part of that freedom and excitement. The film, however, strays into very adult territory, with situations genuinely outwith the children's control and full of real danger, and children would not want to be there. Peat diggers and pretend pirates seem scary but aren't: men with guns are.
At one point my 6 year old buried her head in my chest and said 'kids films aren't supposed to have guns!' Too true.
Nonetheless it's not wholly without merit. If you don't know the books sufficiently to suffer these frustrations, it's still an exciting tale of childhood adventure that is unimaginably permissive from a modern perspective, set in the stunning scenery of the English Lake a District. It still has charm, just far less than it might have had. The six child actors are nothing special, with only the re-named Tatty really delighting, but their performances are sufficient not to get in the way, in contrast say to the 2005 adaptation of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
In summary: passable, but fans of the book should avoid the film.
Right from the first scene material is added. And it's counter-productive: the book sees the children into their special adventure within just a few pages, where the film takes twenty minutes.
For a child reader the novel is a pure delight, and the adventures real and thrillingly out of reach but still within the contemplation of children; there's nothing too scary or beyond their control, and the young reader desperately wants to be part of that freedom and excitement. The film, however, strays into very adult territory, with situations genuinely outwith the children's control and full of real danger, and children would not want to be there. Peat diggers and pretend pirates seem scary but aren't: men with guns are.
At one point my 6 year old buried her head in my chest and said 'kids films aren't supposed to have guns!' Too true.
Nonetheless it's not wholly without merit. If you don't know the books sufficiently to suffer these frustrations, it's still an exciting tale of childhood adventure that is unimaginably permissive from a modern perspective, set in the stunning scenery of the English Lake a District. It still has charm, just far less than it might have had. The six child actors are nothing special, with only the re-named Tatty really delighting, but their performances are sufficient not to get in the way, in contrast say to the 2005 adaptation of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
In summary: passable, but fans of the book should avoid the film.