Masterpiece Theatre: My Family and Other Animals
by Sheree Folkson
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Eugene Simon; Imelda Staunton; Tamzin Merchant; Russell Tovey; Matthew Goode; Kostas Tziotakis; Michael Yannatos; Omid Djalili; Olga Tournaki; Dimitris Kaberidis; David Armand; Antonis Antoniou; Chris Langham; George Couyas; Efi Papatheodorou; Yorgos Kotanidis; Jason Watkins; Mark Caven; Miranda Hart; Meredith MacNeillDirector: Sheree Folkson
Brand: WGBH BOSTON VIDEO
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-06-27
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: WGBH BOSTON
Movie Reviews of Masterpiece Theatre: My Family and Other Animals
Movie Review: Fun With Animals
Summary: 5 Stars
What a romp. For apperantly no sane reason a British Family moves to Geece just before World War II. The rather isolated and run down home they move into is obviously an invitation to disaster. While the Older sister is bringing home strange boy friends and an older brother is going crazy with guns the young boy in the family starts collecting live animals which drive everybody to distraction. He loves the animals more I think than his sister loves her gentleman friends. Then suddenly the War breaks out and Greece is no longer safe. They have to go back to England where the boy grows up to be a World famouse Animal scientist.
Summary of Masterpiece Theatre: My Family and Other Animals
When the dreary English weather of 1935 gets to be too much for the eccentric Durrell family, they set off for the rustic, sun-drenched Greek island of Corfu, and the unknown. The lively clan is headed by Mrs. Durrell, a middle-aged widow who gives in to the whims of her children and who patiently tolerates their adventures. Her eldest son Larry, a budding avant-garde writer with wild friends, has no regard for his mother, while her second son, Leslie, is a gun-obsessed sportsman who shoots at everything in sight. Her only daughter, Margot, is a teen beauty who changes boyfriends as quickly as she does bathing suits. But her youngest son, 12-year-old Gerald, is the heart and soul of this lively saga. Filling his family??s villa with an impressive menagerie of animals and insects, Gerald discovers his life??s vocation in nature and animals, as well as his own voice as an author. Based on Gerald Durrell??s childhood memoir, Academy Award-nominee Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake), Matthew Goode (Match Point), and Eugene Simon (Casanova) bring My Family and Other Animals humorously to life."Why do we put up with this bloody climate?" moans Larry Durrell during the rainy prelude to this Masterpiece Theater presentation. It's 1935 and 12-year-old Gerald (Eugene Simon, Casanova) is living with his family in Bournemouth. His father passed away years ago. Much like Judi Dench in Mrs. Henderson Presents, his mother (Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake) sees widowhood as a chance to make a fresh start. On Larry's advice, she decides to relocate the brood to sunny Corfu (now Kerkira), so off to Greece they go: Mother, nature-obsessed Gerry, boy-crazy Margot (Tamzin Merchant), gun-happy Leslie (Russell Tovey), and literature-loving Larry (Matthew Goode, Match Point). Minutes after their arrival, a burly fellow named Spiro (Iranian comedian Omid Djalili, Gladiator) takes the quintet under his wing and finds them a roomy villa. Soon Gerald is collecting every manner of animal: turtles, rose beetles, rabbits. The other Durrells embark on adventures of their own, brassy jazz-pop punctuating their every move. Previously produced as a 1987 miniseries by the BBC, this fanciful film boils Durrell's enduring memoir down to a brisk 90 minutes. The structure may be episodic, but the attention to detail--the exotic fauna, the evocative costumes--is praiseworthy. As Gerry notes about his creatures, "They're just like us, aren't they--families. I want to know how they all work. Imagine if they weren't there?" While Gerald would go on to become a naturalist, brother Lawrence would find also fame with The Alexandria Quartet. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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