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DVD Jackboots on Whitehall
 Rating: 5.3 Genres: Animation | Comedy | Sci-Fi Director: Edward McHenry, Rory McHenry Writers: Edward McHenry, Rory McHenry Stars: Hugh Fraser, Alexander Armstrong, Rory McHenry |
| Storyline World War II: What if Nazis seized London and all of England had to band together? When scarily campy Nazi leaders invade by drilling under the English Channel and up through the cobblestones on Whitehall, Churchill leaves his quiet retirement with a cat that looks like Hitler to issue a call to arms from his bunker under Downing Street. Chris, a young farm worker with large hands, rallies the village to fight the good fight — including an alcoholic Vicar, the oldest man in the town, several idiots, a random Frenchman and Bobby Fiske, a swearing American who believes he’s battling Russia. The world’s future is in their tiny plastic hands. Innovative puppeteering animatronics from Scottish brothers Edward and Rory McHenry combine with the larger than life voices of Ewan McGregor, Alan Cumming, Dominic West, Rosamund Pike, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Spall and Richard E. Grant. Written by Anonymous |
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| Plot Keywords: england, scot, german, germany, world war two | |
| Details: Country: UK Release Date: 8 October 2010 (UK) |
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| Box Office Budget: $6,000,000 (estimated) |
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4 comments
The credits at the end said 'Many puppets were harmed during the making of this film' which is certainly true. It's hard to describe this film, a bit like a mix of Team America (but these aren't marionettes), and a whole bunch of war films, I loved spotting the references from everything from Zulu to Apocalypse Now. There's a love story, the Hollywood style inclusion of an American, Billy Fiske, taking a main part (Tom Cruise wanted to do this in a proposed film 'The Few' about the real Billy Fiske). I loved it and gave it 8 stars, but will it be you're cup of tea? I don't know but hopefully there'll be plenty more reviews to guide you and explain this film better than me before it's released.
Maybe it's because I grew up on Supermarionation but I loved this! The references to war films – and their clichés, they come thick and fast. Trying to guess who voiced which character. It also for me referenced British children's comics from the 70s, for e.g. Commando for the boys and Bunty for the girls. The animation was bad enough to be inspired. The individual characterisations made me think of the old Margaret Rutherford films. The young are all beautifully bland and everyone over 40 is a grotesque. If you want a film that evokes wet Saturday afternoons sat on the hearth rug in front of a black and white TV clutching your comic, this is it. It could have only been improved if Al Murray had been the village pub landlord!
My friends and I waited over an hour in line for tickets to this movie at the Edinburgh Film Festival as it was touted as one of the top 10 to see. The trouble was finding tickets as both screenings were sold out! The organisers added it to best of show on the last day of the festival – luckily. I absolutely loved it! Brilliant! Stan Steel how did you see the movie again in July??? EIFF ended June 26th and I was at the last screening. I know it definitely hasn't been released because I've been tracking its status online. The art direction and animation were mind-blowing! At points I even had to remind myself that these were in fact puppets! I definitely recommend seeing this whenever it's out in theatres. Tally ho!
Stan Steel, i have no clue what film YOU were watching, but i for one thoroughly enjoyed this flick… Winston Churchill? As a puppet? Oh my, genius! This film can't get a 10/10 from me personally, i mean, it's no Schindler's list, or Titanic, it's not about to become an instant classic — take it with a pinch of salt, what you get for your time is a hilarious take on WWII Britain, with a great cast of voice actors. I'm so glad this wasn't another hack at American humour. The film was well executed, admittedly the effects weren't Transformers style, but it just added to the humour of the film. Conclusion: an extremely cutesy British comedy… with puppets (: