But from a storytelling perspective, I think it's pretty safe to say that this feature will make fans of the books pretty angry.
The introduction was perfectly fine. The opening gives you an interesting concept that when done well, it can be a solid watch.
But as the film went on, you begin to realise how little of a story we are actually going to have. There's no journey and no adventure of any kind. It's honestly just a prolonged action sequence. It doesn't gain any momentum and never brings this world to life.
Also, there is an annoying amount of over-exposition. This is a device in films that I usually gloss over and it is sometimes necessary and it is usually executed really well that you don't even notice it. But this one did it in such an lazy and obvious way that did not make it entertaining whatsoever.
The only things going for it was the action and the visual effects. The former was not a big positive. It was just perfectly fine to not make this a total waste of time. Plus, the visual effects were solid and never took me out of the film.
The casting was disappointing on the whole. The youngsters of Ferdia Shaw and Lara McDonnell did a solid job with what they had. But the way their characters were written and developed never made them engaging.
The way the titular character is hyped, you expect so much. In the end, you get a kid who lacks charisma and seems to be quick at obtaining information and staying alive for 90mins.
I didn't see the need for Judi Dench or Colin Farrell in this. Especially Farrell, who is basically doing what Chris Pine did in A Wrinkle In Time. Said film is actually a perfect example of what has happened to this film. But at least A Wrinkle In Time showed more interesting imagery.
I have to mention Josh Gadd, as he was more annoying then funny. I understand the hate for Gadd. But I rarely jump on that bandwagon as I don't often see him in that way. Sadly, I saw that in this and couldn't care less for his character.
So while I have never read the book, anyone can see that something was missing. It felt too safe, inoffensive, sterile and lacking that magic, risk and edge. It just looked like another middle of the road Disney feature that they just wheel out as filler.
These are the type of films that actually annoy me more then the films that are actually rubbish. While I felt there's nothing really bad about it from a film-making perspective, there's just nothing good about it. Apart from maybe the visual effects and the interesting concept.
I'll leave the hateful reviews to people who have read the books and know how good the film can be. But from me, I'll say that there's many worse family fantasy films out there. But I cannot recommend this unremarkable feature with source material that shows us the potential of what this could be.
Rating: 6/10
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