Dad's Army

Lets face it, everyone involved in this was on a hiding to nothing from the start. If this film had too many nods to the original (and beloved) TV series, it would be criticised. If it tried to be its own beast, it would be criticised.

In the end it fails as a film because a) it tries to be a bit of both, and b) it just simply isn't funny.

There are some talented people involved, all doing very respectful takes on the original characters, but they are working with a weak (and often historically inaccurate) script that means they are lumbered doing imitations, rather than putting their own spin on the roles.

It's a shame this isn't good, but I can't say I'm surprised.

When news first emerged of a Dad's Army film early last year, the main cry from the fans and general public alike was 'but why?'. Unfortunately, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the end product does absolutely nothing to alter this.

Beautiful German spy Rose Winters (Zeta-Jones) comes into a small town to gather information for the Nazis, blinds everyone with her looks, manipulates them to her bidding while everyone runs around suspecting everyone else but her of undercover nefariousness. Yes, it really is that derivative. It's a plot that could have been lifted lock, stock from a hundred TV movies produced from 1960 until 1980, but tellingly probably none since.

It's obvious that a lot of thought has been put in to casting as every character is perfectly shaped to match his respective character from the original series, and every one really tries to do as good a job as possible. Admittedly Bill Nighy is incapable of playing anyone other than Bill Nighy but it works as bumbling Oxford boy Sergeant Wilson, Toby Jones is almost indistinguishable from Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring, Tom Courtenay does a fair Clive Dunn impression and Gambon was born to play Godfrey. But casting alone does not a film make.

At its core, the original Dad's Army series was little more than a bunch of men in a church hall bickering with each other, the different character's unique and exaggerated qualities carefully weaving a different angle into the argument and comedy as a whole. That can, and very successfully did, work for thirty minutes, but clearly it's another thing entirely to treble the running time and expect it to still function at the desired level. So the writers, as is customary, took the whole thing out of its comfort zone with a more (supposedly) extensive plot. The problem is that the plot, script and dialogue are all utterly dreadful. It is simply not funny, nor is it interesting. At no point do you care one jot what happens to the characters or the storyline. Stir in a complete lack of humour and you're left with a hollow shell of a movie that drags along and leaves you feeling utterly cheated. It manages to lack fun, pace, spirit and perhaps most surprisingly of all, nostalgia.

It's good that the home front's respective wives get some screen- time, particularly Mrs Mainwaring who was never more than a sullen passing reference in the series, but it still doesn't help.

The film is littered with tired innuendos that are seemingly delivered at times with embarrassment, and the occasional poorly timed moments of slapstick are cringe worthy. It's telling that the outtakes at the end of the movie are far funnier than anything in the film itself, although most of the audience will have rapidly headed for the exit by then like home fans fleeing a drubbing from a local rival.

Is Dad's Army a missed opportunity or an inevitable disappointment? It's difficult to care. Either way it's badly written, dull and simply not funny.

I'm sorry, but with the best will in the world I wanted to like this movie. I've probably watched all the original series when they were first televised and thought that they were so, so funny. I watched the DVD's of the series several years ago and still found them highly amusing, not as funny as when I originally saw them but that, to a certain extent, is understandable. However, this remake!! It is so not funny! The dialogue and interaction between the characters is woefully weak. If I were to see that sort of interaction in a school play rehearsal I would seriously consider canceling the show! Why do producers think it is good value to remake classics without the original actors? Could you imagine a remake of Steptoe and Son without Wilfred Brambell and Harry H Corbett? Perish the thought! Sorry, but this movie is a no-no for me and I would advise anyone who has a 'soft spot' for the original 'Army' to stick to your good memories of that show and not to spoil those memories with this poor attempt at an alternative version.

This is a film version of a famous and funny TV series of the same name. In the last war the home guard consisted of mainly older men protecting Britain's shores: the series and now this movie portrays their comical adventures.

Unfortunately most of the characters in the movie version are inferior clones of the series. The making of this movie seems to have been rushed. A script that is mostly poor and unfunny and I could not wait for the picture to end.

In the TV series what made it so amusing was the strong interplay between the main male players. The lead actors wife was talked about but never seen nor were female recruits visible if at all. The film makers have ruined the picture by failing to give us a picture that does justice to the original series.

2 and a half, rounded up =

3/10

I have waited with baited breath to see this, I hate to say I was one of the people that slated this and wrote it off beforehand, but I must admit it was a bit of a pleasant surprise. The TV show was magical, and watched in this household quite often, the catchphrases are iconic and still used to this day.

The old charms of the sitcom were lacking I guess, not really much in the way of slapstick humour, it was nicely funny, in a kind of quaint, slightly dated way, I enjoyed it more so for the nostalgia, it didn't have me belly laughing at any point, but I kept on thinking it's DAD's ARMY, just enjoy it.

Largely well acted, Toby Jones and Bill Nighy were both great, they bounced off each other well and were a funny, effective duo. Tom Courtenay was OK, just felt a little miscast, I'm sure if another film is made he could get further into the role. One of my favourite showings from the ever lovely Catherine Zeta Jones too, she's definitely still got it.

The plot was a little on the thin side some will argue, overall it was just a nice, easy to watch film. 7/10