We've seen it all before - a once-brilliant actor is trying to re-boost his career using a previously unheard of woman whom he falls in love with. Only this time the woman just happens to be a witch - exactly what she has been cast as. What are the odds? Kidman whispers her way through what seems like four hours of corny jokes and tacky romantic lines, whilst Ferrel is just himself - a complete moron. The plot is more obvious that a kid's cartoon, and no amount of magical spells could disguise the lack of skill that has been put into making this film. Before I saw the film, I thought it might have potential. Bewitched was a good show, and it might have been good to give it a makeover. It looks like they've totally messed that up, though, as the new, unoriginal, tacky "rom-com" (if it could ever be called a comedy)'s only connections with the original are its name and the characters that seem to have been tangled up with each.
Reviews
3 Reviews
The Magic Roundabout
(2005)
If you can push the original out of your mind, you'll love it.
5 February 2005
On entering the cinema, I did have my doubts. I'd watched the original Magic Roundabout from a very young age, and one false step could have ruined both versions for good.
However, the filmmakers managed to make a perfect balance of "old" and "new" to bring out a whole new film, featuring characters that reminded me of the originals, but didn't try to take their places.
The storyline was fun, bearing in mind that it was aimed at young children, and included the token jokes (aimed at both children and adults), teary moments and interesting yet predictable twists. The graphics were excellent, and most of the older viewers were "Ahhh"ing throughout at the sight of the big, sweet eyes. Looking around, I could tell that the young 'uns were enjoying it too, and that's what really matters in a film like this.
Overall, a brilliant transition from a simple, sweet television show to an enormous, exciting movie.
However, the filmmakers managed to make a perfect balance of "old" and "new" to bring out a whole new film, featuring characters that reminded me of the originals, but didn't try to take their places.
The storyline was fun, bearing in mind that it was aimed at young children, and included the token jokes (aimed at both children and adults), teary moments and interesting yet predictable twists. The graphics were excellent, and most of the older viewers were "Ahhh"ing throughout at the sight of the big, sweet eyes. Looking around, I could tell that the young 'uns were enjoying it too, and that's what really matters in a film like this.
Overall, a brilliant transition from a simple, sweet television show to an enormous, exciting movie.
Absolutely Terrible
18 December 2004
I knew right from the beginning that this film would not be very good. For a start, the books just don't seem like the sort that should be turned into a film. I don't think Mr Snicket adapted it himself, either. There was so much sentiment and emotion in this film that I almost threw up. The same things would be said over and over again and I just didn't feel sorry for them. I was bored of their moaning. Does that make me heartless and cruel? Also, there was not enough explanation of anything. They just kept coming up with things from nowhere. Having read the books, I knew roughly how they ended up in the places that they did, but I still felt a little in the dark about it all. Speaking of which, the plot seemed to have come from a completely different book. So many brilliant and clever ideas were missed out, and whole new things were put in altogether. They might as well have given the film a completely different name. It seemed unnecessary to have compressed 3 books into one film because they were getting each guardian over and done with in about 2 days. They were out of Olaf's care within 10 minutes. Everything seemed very rushed and pointless. I expected something awful, and that's what I got. I was cringing all the way through. And telling Mr Carrey to get off the screen (even though he can't here me) because his interpretation of Count Olaf was dire. He's just too Jim Carrey-ish.
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