Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse

We watched this Boxing Day. I missed it on Christmas Eve. Absolutely wonderful. Beautifully filmed. The only programme that really made it feel Christmas. Great cast and John Hannah narrating. What else could you possibly want.

Roald Dahl actually didn't mean anything to me until this film, but his works like "Mathilda", "The BFG" or "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" did, after all they are among the most famous film adaptations of his works.

The film itself shows him in his childhood and how he felt the fascination of his favorite works of Beatrix Potter. For the fact that it was mainly supposed to portray him, we learned quite little about him. Only that he had four siblings, one of whom died of a ruptured appendix and shortly thereafter his father also passed away. I would have liked a deeper insight into Roald Dahl, but the film is a children's film and is primarily aimed at this audience. Adults can still watch documentaries or read his autobiographies.

It is very well acted, and it looks beautiful. It was a perfectly lovely film, but it felt like there was something missing or that more should have been happening. If you want something sweet to watch with the family, watch this. Though it might not be exciting or fun enough to keep younger viewers interested.

This is the second of two films about the life of Beatrix Potter to have appeared in recent years. The first, "Miss Potter", dealt with the early part of her career as a writer and with her romance with her publisher, Norman Warne, a romance tragically cut short by his early death. In "Roald and Beatrix" she is now in her fifties, a successful children's writer living on a Lakeland farm with her lawyer husband William Heelis.

The "Roald" of the title is another famous children's writer, Roald Dahl, although in 1922 when the film is set he was still only a child of six years old himself. The story (apparently a true one) tells of how Dahl, grieving over the recent deaths of his father and sister and rebelling against his mother's plan to send him to boarding school, ran away from the family home in Cardiff intending to make his way to the Lake District to visit his favourite author. His mother followed him, but instead of preventing him from making the journey agreed to accompany him. The film tells the story of what happened when the two met.

Potter is played by Dawn French as a formidable if rather absent-minded old lady, surprisingly unsentimental for someone who made a living writing stories about talking bunny-rabbits; there is a thread running throughout the narrative about her attempts to kill a goose for dinner. (The story takes place over the Christmas holidays). Another plot thread deals with a young woman whom Potter's publishers have sent in order to pass on some suggestions as to how Potter might "improve" her literary style, suggestions that she treats with disdain. The full title, "Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse", refers to this emissary's suggestion that Potter should rewrite the scene in the nursery-rhyme in which the farmer's wife cuts off the tails of the three blind mice, which she claims is excessively cruel. (Did, I wonder this scene actually take place in 1922, a less sentimental period than our own, or was it the scriptwriter's joke at the expense of 21st century political correctness?)

I must admit that, although Roald Dahl was a favourite of mine, I never liked Potter's books as a child. They always struck me (and still do) as the sort of children's books that appeal to adults far more than they do to children. (Some of my friends claimed to like them, but I wondered if they were just saying that to please their parents and teachers). I think that, in my case, the problem was that Miss Potter's language is much more adult than her subject-matter. As a young child I struggled with her unfamiliar vocabulary, and when I was older and could understand her language, her tales of cutesy animals struck me as twee and babyish.

Despite this prejudice, however, I enjoyed "Miss Potter" greatly. "Roald and Beatrix" is perhaps not quite as good, but I nevertheless liked it. French makes Potter a likeably eccentric heroine, even if a did keep hearing echoes of the Vicar of Dibley, and young Harry Tayler is excellent as the young Roald. At nine he is rather older than Dahl would have been in 1922, but I don't think that matters, as it is easier to envisage a nine-year-old than a six-year-old running away from home in this manner. The period is lovingly recreated in best British "heritage cinema" style, and the visual look of the film is very attractive. This was one of British television's better offerings over this year's festive season. 7/10

Absolutely delightful, and should be taken for what it is - A beautifully scripted and scenic cinematic festive tale. The lead actors were all wonderful - Dawn french is a gem as the older and well renowned more grouchy Miss P, the young boy playing Roald is a delight and Jessica Hynes as his mother is simply lovely. I also adored the cameo roles of the wonderful Alison steadman, Bill Bailey and Rob Bryden. True fans will have noticed the delightful subtlety of Mr Twit appearing in the rude bearded man at the funeral and the BFG in the strange talking, big eared friendly train driver and even possibly the Witch of The Witches in Miss P herself. I think it was lovely that the actual interaction between the two writers was so brief at the end of the film so as to be faithful to what probably actually happened in real life. Thank you Sky, I've thoroughly enjoyed this festive treat!