Thunderbirds (Widescreen Edition)
by Jonathan Frakes
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Anthony Edwards, Ben Kingsley, Bill Paxton, Brady Corbet, Debora WestonDirector: Jonathan Frakes
Brand: Universal Studios
Producer: Chris Clark
Producer: Debra Hayward
Writer: Gerry Anderson
Writer: Michael McCullers
Writer: Peter Hewitt
Writer: Sylvia Anderson
Writer: William Osborne
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 95 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-12-21
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Universal Studios
Movie Reviews of Thunderbirds (Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: Fun kids adaptation of a classic TV series
Summary: 5 Stars
Growing up in the UK I used to watch the show THUNDERBIRDS religiously, it was one of my must-watch TV shows for me in my pre-teen years.
So it was with a certain sense of equal trepidation mixed in with insatiable curiosity that I approached the big budget live action version of the Gerry Anderson original.
Director Jonathon Frakes (Riker on Star Trek) brings the same colorful look to THUNDERBIRDS as he brought to CLOCKSTOPPERS, he also brings some of the same qualities - chiefly a light and loosely structured narrative. Perhaps this is a right choice however given the light comic book-style subject matter
You may take from the above that I did not like THUNDERBIRDS. Not so. Apart from what I mention above the movie does have some bright moments of originality and conviction. Ben Kingsley is wonderfully over-the-top as the main villain The Hood and the film does sport some truly great special effects. Ron Cook also does a simply amazing impression of the original marionette Parker - I was very impressed.
For those unfamiliar with the television show, let me fill in some background. The Tracy family (all male) - with the help of Brains and secret agent Lady Penelope (who seems to be very much inspired by Emma Peel) - head an organization named International Rescue from a secret Island base in the Pacific. With several amazing aircraft, submarines, rockets and even a space station (called Thunderbirds) at their disposal they travel the globe rescuing people from harrowing situations.
As this movie opens International Rescue (IR) is at it again, rescuing the crew of a stricken oil rig as the youngest of the Tracy siblings Alan Tracy (played by Brady Corbet) watches on television from his schoolroom.
However all is not as it seems, one of the rescued oil workers manages to tag one of the ships with a tracking substance that (undetected by the International Rescue team) allows The Hood, a character capable of mind control, to discover the secret location of the IR base.
Before long The Hood is in control of Tracy Island, the older siblings and father Jeff Tracy are trapped on a severely damaged space station and Lady Penelope, Parker and Brains are prisoners of The Hood. Its up to the younger members of the Tracy household (Alan, Fermat and Tintin) to rescue their parents and stop The Hood's plan to rob the world's banks using IR equipment.
Herein lies my chief gripe with the movie, but luckily its not something the sinks the whole movie.
Sure the series was made with children in mind, but that's no reason to make our chief protagonists children in the big-screen version. It's not needed, the cast of characters was already good enough without hindering the production with this often used (and now clichéd) plot device. How many times have we now seen this Harry-Potter inspired formula of young kids taking on adult roles? We have already had SPY KIDS and CODY BANKS, with the adventures of teen spy Alex Rider to arrive at movie theaters soon, basically its been overdone and it always has the same effect of weakening the production. Just ask George Lucas about his misgivings over THE PHANTOM MENACE.
The action in the movie is primarily well handled and the acting suitably wooden (this was after all based on a marionette based television show). I enjoyed myself with this movie, but it certainly wasn't what I had expected growing up with the classic Gerry Anderson television show.
Summary of Thunderbirds (Widescreen Edition)
Features include:
?MPAA Rating: PG
?Format: DVD
?Runtime: 95 minutes
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