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A one-joke
film which somehow manages to hold your attention.
Nigel Bell
There's no getting
away from the fact that Thunderpants is about the art of letting
off wind, of trumping and let's be blunt about it - farting.
There's no way
of writing a review of Peter Hewitt's film without reference to
the F word because that's all this film is about.
The Plot
Patrick Smash (newcomer Cook) literally rockets into this world
and never stops trumping thereafter.
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| It's getting
smelly in here. Can I take my helmet off? |
It all becomes
too much for his dad who leaves home after nearly being blown up
by a bag of his son's collected gas.
Matters don't
improve at school where Patrick is bullied.
His one friend is brain-box Alan A. Allen (Grint).
Alan has no
sense of smell which is naturally an advantage.
It transpires
Patrick's problem is down to the fact he has two stomachs.
Alan uses the
power of flatulence to propel a flying machine and this brings him
to the attention of the US Space Centre.
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| Oh no,
Voldemort's transformed Ron Weasley! |
He's whisked
abroad leaving Patrick alone until he's asked to go on tour with
the second best opera singer in the world, Sir John Osgood (Callow).
Patrick's bottom
is able to reach notes no one else can and by skulduggery, Osgood
achieves his ambition of being the number one opera singer.
Things then
go wrong, Patrick's accused of murder but escapes death when Alan
returns to take him to America to help with a space rescue mission.
The Verdict
As you'll appreciate from the plot, this is no ordinary Johnny Fart-Pants
story.
Unlike the character
made famous by Viz magazine, our Thunderpants hero goes from happiness
to despair in a matter of seconds.
As Patrick Smash
likes to say "It was the best day of my life - ever",
closely followed by "It was the worst day of my life - ever."
Yes, the film
is crammed with obvious jokes, but those which it is aimed at (10
+) will lap up the jokes.
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| If it's
smelly it must be down to Baldrick, surely |
For the adults,
there's the bizarre scenario where Patrick helps Simon Callow reach
his operatic high notes only to find himself being prosecuted by
Stephen Fry.
Just how director
Peter Hewitt managed to get so many big British names to appear
in this "pump fest" is a mystery.
Even Leslie Phillips pops up.
Rupert Grint
follows up his role as Ron Weasley in "Harry Potter" with
a totally different performance as whiz-kidd Alan.
He's a bit like
Brains from the old children's TV series Double Deckers, only he
speaks like Prince Charles.
Indeed the whole
feel of the film is of a high class Children's Film Foundation movie.
As for the Thunderpants
of the title, it refers to an invention which stores all Patrick's
unwanted emissions until he can safely get rid of them at the end
of the day. Pooh.
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