The Great Ghost Rescue

Not many children reviewing films aimed at children in this Database, so targeted programming is probably getting a bit of a tough review from adults. If I was a kid I'd probably of given it an 8. It's like an under developed Ghosts (BBC 2019- ) by the Horrible Histories crew. It is entertaining, love the central characters, but would love a bit more backstory on them beyond that in the titles. George the flying, flaming skull is a bit annoying however he is an important "character".

THE GREAT GHOST RESCUE is a pitifully poor British children's fantasy film that mars a long and great tradition. Ghosts have long been a standby of British children's entertainment, with stuff like MOONDIAL and THE GHOST OF GREVILLE LODGE getting up to all kinds of effective spooky shenanigans. Whereas this recent film merely copies the Hollywood look and style without having character of its own. It doesn't even feel British.

The storyline is about a group of ghosts who are evicted from their stately home and focused to go wandering the country, seeking refuge. A squad of ghostbusters are hot on their tail. This is merely a CGI fuelled adventure which obviously riffs on the likes of HARRY POTTER and copies the style of the ghosts from those films. The addition of a bad CGI belching skull is probably the nadir of the movie. It would seem to me that the target audience of this film is roughly five years of age.

Indeed, below-average CGI appears to be the order of the day in this film, because otherwise the jokes are very weak and the plot non-existent. I felt particularly sorry for Kevin McKidd, having seen him waste his considerable talents in the likes of this and PERCY JACKSON; anyone who's seen ROME will know he's capable of much, much more. Otherwise, THE GREAT GHOST RESCUE is saddled with an insufferable child lead, cameos from familiar faces, and a whole lot of seen-it-all-before tiredness going on.

There is nothing that really stands out as horribly bad in this movie. It feels like a Made-for-TV piece. The acting is average, the story has about 5 minutes of plot in it and they do it in about 3 minutes. This is very U.K./Europe centric with various accents from around the Kingdom and Italy. For American audiences or other countries, I think that it will miss more than it hits. Nothing stood out as good or bad and that is the problem. Basically, it was not outstanding.

It seems to drag a lot. Lots of exposition and wandering around. Some almost nice shots outside the Tower of London but they only shot on the grounds outside the wall, not inside. Some nice shots of a few castles, some of which were only real inside a computer.

I just found it rather dreary. Once the 3 minutes of plot finally happens, it is boring again. Really contrived and boring. Maybe good for kids but not recommended for anyone over about 10.

It is OK, I guess for a very rainy evening but I would not stay home from, say, root canal work to watch this movie. The root canal would be more interesting.

I Loved this book as a child, but apart from some of the main characters, this bears little resemblance to that book. I can understand the desire to update the story, but this just doesn't really engage. Kids might like it, though. But not fans of the original book.

The movie could have been something funny for family and kids to watch. it has been instead a lost opportunity. There are some wasted actors but the film do not really give them the chance to make it work. To say that is boring is an understatement. The film is dull. Even for a kid it must be uninteresting. The material and the ideas are utterly wasted and I had to skip it now and then to be able to watch till the credits. Do not waste time to watch it or to take your kids to watch. There are much better and funnier (even for adults)family films. Comedy ghost films have a long and well established tradition and new uptakes shouldn't be difficult to add. Instead we have a rehash of previous uptakes on the subject from "Ghost Busters" to Casper minus the humour. Do not encourage this kind of waste.