Jackboots on Whitehall Review

The simplest way to describe Jackboots on Whitehall is as a World War 2 Team America. Set in an alternate history where the English soldiers have not been rescued at Dunkirk and taking its cues from the comic book heroes of the era, Jackboots is an anarchic comedy that proves very hard to dislike.

After losing their land and air forces, England is invaded by the Nazis, led by the high camp trio of Goebbels, Himmler and Goering, when they tunnel under the channel and emerge in Trafalgar Square, with an aim to capture Winston Churchill and put him in a cage. Clearly realism, sensitivity and political correctness were far from the top of the priority list. It’s left to simple farm boy Christopher, rejected by the army because his hands are too big (ahem), to save the Prime Minister and fight off the invasion. He rallies the inhabitants of his sleepy Kentish town, including the charming Daisy, her psychotic father and local reverend, a swarthy French resistance fighter and a misguided American fighter pilot, who is convinced that they’re fighting commie Ruskies. Together, they join the fight to save England.

The cast list is impressive. Lending their voices are none other than Ewan McGregor, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Timothy Spall, Alan Cumming, Stephen Merchant and Sanjeev Bhaskar, to name a few. The film is also shot surprisingly well, with some very nice aerial photography over the carefully constructed sets. The puppets are well done, though those based on actual historical figures (Churchill, Goebbels, et al) are somewhat superior to the fictional characters. The caricatures owe a lot to the likes of Spitting Image and really are very good, even if Goebbels is almost nauseatingly disturbing to look at.

It is of course the film’s humour that it hopes to trade on. Much of it is very funny, if rather juvenile. There are several instances of razor sharp satire, interspersed with very broad and blunt comic assaults. The laugh rate, however, isn’t quite as high as it needs to be, though, to come off favourably in the inevitable comparisons to Team America the film will receive. Edward and Rory McHenry (who also wrote the film and were heavily involved with the production design) direct the film pretty well, especially for such an unorthodox feature debut. I would suggest that the pace of the editing could have been picked up in places and some scenes felt a little like filler, however.

Despite its numerous flaws, though, I loved Jackboots. I found myself grinning all the way through and was even a little stirred at times (but then, who isn’t by a rousing chorus of Jerusalem, even when sung by puppets?). Jackboots on Whitehall may not quite make it onto any best films of the year lists, but it should at least go down as one of the most memorable.

Tooth Fairy Review

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson stars as Derek Thompson, a slightly past-it ice hockey player whose propensity for knocking out the molars of his opponents on the rink has earned him the nickname of ‘The Tooth Fairy’. He is dating single mum Carly (Ashley Judd), mother to two sprogs, Randy and Tess (Chase Ellison and Destiny Whitlock). When Derek inadvertently crushes the dreams of a young fan and nearly tells Tess that the tooth fairy doesn’t exist he is summoned to the world of fairies and sentenced to two weeks as tooth fairy duty by the fairy’s leader Lily (Mary Poppins herself, Julie Andrews); his punishment is overseen by his care-worker Tracey (Stephen Merchant).

As a kid’s flick, Tooth Fairy is keen to cover as many bases as possible. There’s a sports movie narrative as Derek attempts to rebuild his career, music-themed sequences as Randy rehearses for a school talent contest, a decent stab at romance in Derek and Carly’s relationship, plus the whimsical world of the fairies to enjoy. The producers are clearly trying to appeal as many children as possible and to give the film its due, it manages to keep its numerous narrative threads relatively untangled, however, there is evidence that there were even more plot detail that was scrapped in the one fleeting scene of a potential love interest for Randy, which would have been over-egging it somewhat.

The film reminded me mostly of The Santa Clause, in its re-imagining of a children’s fairy story as a kind of bureaucratic civil service – director Michael Lembeck helmed that film’s sequels as well as a plethora of American sitcoms. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is a weirdly charismatic leading man, and not an unfunny one at that. It would be interesting to see him try his enormous hand at comedy for a more grown-up audience; he could potentially be hilarious. His comedic thunder is well and truly stolen, however, by Merchant, who provides plenty of laughs, having clearly been given relatively free reign to improvise many of his lines. There’s also a brief cameo by Seth MacFarlane as the fairy’s ‘Q’, which again amuses. There’s plenty for both old and young to laugh at – surprisingly and funnily there are a couple of veiled drugs references for the adults.

Less impressive are the overly trite themes of the importance of dreams, ambition and self-belief, which grate after a while. Randy is also a total drip and somewhat unsympathetic. The production design and special effects are also a little hackneyed in this post-Potter cinematic world, though I’m assuming studio Walden Media were operating at a fraction of the budget.

There are far more good things than bad to say about the film, in particular its strong cast and good humour, which mercifully does not resort to cheap toilet humour to amuse the kids; moreover the humour is derived from the characters and their foibles. Ultimately though, this is a children’s movie and thus should judged on how much they liked it, not adults. The kids in the packed auditorium I attended seemed to have a whale of a time. I thoroughly recommend Tooth Fairy to any younger siblings or children you may have.

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/05/24/review-tooth-fairy/