Jack_Yan

Strange that there are reviewers here who signed on just to give this film 1 out of 10 and never returned ... it's a cheerful enough comedy with nicely designed and animated characters, and if their kids are getting the adult jokes (there were not even that many of them), then they're not very well raised and dirty-minded little kids!

Main "top dog" Rex earns his stripes outside of the Palace, and it's a good story about standing up to bullies, earning your mana, and learning about priorities. You don't see anything graphic in the "fight club" scene, and the thrills are at Minions level: a few tense moments but you know good triumphs over evil.

There are caricatures of HM the Queen and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, and Donald and Melania Trump, none of which are particularly unreasonable, and it's hard to imagine anyone being offended at these unless they have exceptionally thin skins. (I rather like the way the Duke was written.) It portrays a London that is idealized and somewhat out of date-the streets are filled with FX4 cabs and an old Rolls-Royce Phantom VI is for official transport-but that all adds to the charm.

Great effort from an independent, and definitely not a 1 out of 10!

It might only be three minutes long, but Joshua Kahan's Japanese Doctor Who is incredibly humorous and, whether you are a Whovian or not, thoroughly enjoyable. (And surely, even the non-Whovians will know what a Dalek is, and how his version compares.) It parodies what occidentals might think a Japanese version of Doctor Who might look like, complete with martial arts and surprise weapons, and comes across as intended: a late 1970s or early 1980s (more likely the latter, given the wardrobe and colours used) video clip. It's simple to follow, and demonstrates that you don't need a big budget to produce something effective and worth a few repeat views. Kudos to Mr Kahan for bringing a smile to my face.

It's very easy to figure out why The New Professionals was a dud, at least in New Zealand: it didn't just follow in the footsteps of the original, it followed Bodyguards, which out-Professionaled the show considerably with its boss-and-two-agents formula. Cmdr McIntyre was a latter-day George Cowley: tough on his team, but one who would defend them to the death against others. The shadow the show cast was huge.

Well, not as huge as it should have been in the UK. Here, it was networked in prime-time. It was even marketed in the promos as, 'They are the professionals.' Someone else obviously noticed the difference. We were fortunate enough not to have this show released in different regions at different time slots.

It was the high production values that sealed the deal for me. As other reviewers have noted, it followed the great British tradition of the one-hour actioner, but blended in personal elements at the same time. There's a slight undercurrent of something developing between Liz and Ian, though that never distracted one from the real plot. Most episodes were based around inflammatory diplomatic incidents, the sort of thing that helps Spooks along from time to time.

Unlike many 2000s shows, the plot was not sacrificed at the expense of fancy-pants photography or over-stylish direction. Directors like Christopher Young kept the pace up and did their job. They made use of good locations, making Bodyguards slicker than if it had been shot on back roads and alleyways. It was contemporary, it would still stand up beautifully today, and it was one of the better examples of the British actioner in the 1990s, showing that the UK can still do them better than anyone else.

Maybe except for the Germans and their Cobra 11.