The Boy in the Dress

Out of all the books David Walliams has written, "The Boy In The Dress" is my favourite. However, some things work better on page than on screen.

The book had a lot great material that you can't cram into a one hour feature. Maybe in a two part mini series. That was the way it was done back in the good ol' 90's. And it worked perfectly.

There was so much of what made the book so great that didn't get into this feature. In the book we get to know more about Dennis coping with his parents' split, his love for dressing up in women's clothes and my fave character Mac, a boy who can't stop eating.

This feature had none of those and it just feels flat.

Also none of the jokes in this film were funny. All of the big names ad-lib and try their best but fail. Walliams himself has a cameo as a camp ref. Nothing that this character does is even the slightest bit funny.

The book is miles better and actually funnier too. Do yourself a favour and get a copy. Also get the audio book performed by Walliams and Matt Lucas. Their performances in that are better than the ones in this film.

Based on David Walliams children's book, The Boy in the Dress is a film with a subversive message about the celebration of diversity.

Young Dennis is an ordinary schoolboy in an ordinary house in an ordinary street. Apart from the fact that his mum left them leaving his dad to raise Dennis and his brother single handedly.

Dennis is good at football although the school captain does not appreciate his sporting skills. However Dennis likes fashion, haute couture. He buys fashion magazines as it brings colour to his life.

Helped by Lisa a fellow pupil who is always in trouble at school for breaching the uniform policy. Dennis transforms to a visiting french pupil, Denise as he shows up to school in a dress and turns head.

However it is not long before Denise is exposed at school, the strict headmaster is less than pleased with his shenanigans and gross breach of the school uniform policy.

The Boy in the Dress is a pleasant whimsical film, with many trademark plot points that we have now come to expect from David Walliams adaptations. Some grotesque characters such as the headmaster, Raj the shopkeeper and a father who is doing his best but all at sea being a single father.

Adaptations of the children's books by David Walliams have become a sort of fixture of the Christmas TV schedules, and this was the third of these.

I enjoyed the first one 'Mr Stink', but I found this one to be a little dull if I'm honest. It has its moments, and the message behind it is good, but I didn't find the cast to be as full of big names as previous adaptations, and crucially for only an hour film, it dragged.

The lad playing Dennis does well and he is ably supported by the always fun James Buckley as a PE teacher and Harish Patel as Raj. I didn't find Jennifer Saunders role particularly funny at all though.

It is a well made adaptation though, and well worth watching on DVD.