The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm

I adore Professor Branestawm. One of my favourite books as a kid.

So when I heard Harry Hill was to play the professor I had huge doubts. I've never found Hill funny, even though I appreciate his talents. He's just not my style of humorist. I thought he'd be too broad and overplay the character, like his comic persona.

I couldn't have been more wrong. Hill is excellent. He's not necessarily playing the character in the books, but brings his own slant which is rounded, believable, funny and entertaining.

Just a damn shame about everyone else involved in the production.

With the exception of Ben Miller and the young girl, everyone else is overacting. Even David Mitchell, who should know better. Adrian Scarborough pulling silly faces as the vicar when the role was screaming for Mark Williams to offer some nuanced comedy.

Ben Miller does of course require special praise. The man is not only one of the funniest actors in Britain, he's one of the finest full stop and if he moved into drama, he could play any role with distinction. Worth the entrance fee alone. Just watch the town hall scene. He's the only one to get any traction out of the munitions factory joke and does so without even trying.

So unfortunately, much of this is sub panto mugging to a rather smug script (The Tardis? Really?), the kind that the BBC does insufferably well nowadays. There are gems and laughs to be had from some of the performers but really it's only half way to the Professor Branestawm I hoped for and wanted.

Professor Branestawm is based on a character created by author Norman Hunter in the 1930s who wrote a series of books featuring him over the years. As I knew little of Professor Branestawm I thought the infamous Leeds footballer of the 1970s, Norman 'bites yer legs' Hunter had carved another career post-retirement!

Branestawm is what might be termed the original absent minded professor, whose strange inventions tend to go disastrously wrong. His housekeeper Mrs Flittersnoop and his dim but loyal comrade Colonel Dedshott are usually on hand to come to his rescue.

Some of the local dignitaries have had enough of the zany Professor and one of the rogue Councillor's is in cahoots with a bullyboy corporate mogul who wants to build a munitions factory in the village and destroy its way of life and get shot of the professor at the same time.

Its up to a school girl Connie already fed up with her teacher at school who is hell bent on holding girls back from learning science to stop the bully boys from pulling the plug on the Professor and his contraptions.

Harry Hill takes the starring role as the very bespectacled Professor Branestawm who fits well with the zaniness as well as being the social outsider, finding hard to communicate with people but for his few friends.

The film is certainly charming, its adapted by comedy actor and noted author Charlie Higson who also appears in the film. However it felt a little too aimed at the kids rather than a family audience and it also felt rather cumbersome with its humour. Still I would like to see more of the televised adventures featuring the Professor.

Having sat through the truly awful Gangsta Granny last year, I hoped this time the BBC would have made a better Christmas TV movie. After all Gangsta Granny was so bad, surely it couldn't be hard to make something better. Boy was I wrong. This is possibly the worst TV movie/film I have ever seen. It's so bad I feel compelled to write this review and rate it 1 Star multiple times based on how terrible this utter garbage really is. Seriously how did someone at the BBC watch this and allow it to be aired? This is so bad it makes me angry. The actors in this are good actors; with the likes of Ben Miller and David Mitchell, two of my favourite people on television so why the hell did they agree to do this? One can only assume it was for the money.

There is not ONE funny moment in the story. It's so ridiculously stupid. All the "jokes" are so childish and pathetic, it's just not funny at all, you won't laugh once. The story didn't make sense, the characters were all unlikable, I found myself routing for the bad guy and wishing all the good characters would get killed off. It must have been edited together by a monkey I can only assume as any sane person would know this story doesn't make the remote bit sense. Even the CGI was terrible, the flames looked so fake and weren't even properly in place. The actors we know are good, but because the directing and script was so terrible it makes them look poor. Their lines are so cheesy. How many times is that stupid colonel going to say that same line about Mitchell's character? It's not funny.

What's with the black policeman always crashing his bike and being ignored by everyone? Felt like kind of subtle racism to me and wasn't in the least bit funny. The worst bit however is the deal with the robot at the end hitting David Mitchell's character with people laughing as he's attacked? Wow that is assault! This film is actually encouraging and supporting assault and saying it's OK? Yeah what a great message for kids. This movie has a perfect moral message for children!

Please don't watch this utter vile unfunny trash. The people I feel sorry for the most are the actors. They will forever be shamed with having starred in this terrible mess. Especially the child actor. I wonder what she'll think when she looks back at this in ten years time? It will tragically end her career I fear and she'll feel ashamed for ever having agreed to be in this. Shame on the director and anyone else involved in the making of this mess, hang your heads in shame at wasting a lot of time and money on something so terribly bad.

I enjoyed this. A good watch; entertaining and light. Harry Hill and the rest of the cast play up to the paradigms of their characters to good effect. Nothing much new or ground breaking but what is there is good and enjoyable. Best for kids who like to giggle at slapstick humor along with their grandparents. It has been shown lots recently on CBBC and that's the right place for this. I'd like to see more of these made as there is plenty of room to expand these characters and I would also like to see more of Harry Hill, David Mitchel and the rest of the cast in comedic character roles. So if you like to have a giggle on switch of for an hour or so watch this.If you want challenging sharp witty comedy, don't.

A lovely adaption of Norman Hunter's books.

An excellent cast including lot's of faces from other British TV shows. Harry Hill is excellent as the nutty Professor, Ben Miller as the evil factory and Vicky Pepperdine just to name a few.

This has lot's of funny moments, it is a book for Children so don't expect subtle adult humour or contrivances.

I saw another review describe this as vile. I cannot for the life of me understand where this comment could have come from. This has all the elements that appeal to children of a certain age. Adults behaving badly,a bit of slapstick, simple jokes and a happy ending.

It may not appeal to the Ipad generation but other's will enjoy it.