Whisky Galore!

Let's be honest; this is not made from the same stuff as the original which had an easy charm.

Nevertheless it's a credible remake even if the best lines are taken verbatim (or near enough) from the 1949 version.

Watch it for what it is and it's amusing and harmless enough.

If you haven't seen the 1949 original - do! it's wonderful and available in blu-ray. I'm afraid that this has none of the original charm. I have a love of western Scottish culture, and Patrick Doyle's music is Irish-flavoured, certainly not Scottish. There's plenty of Scottish music available - why didn't they use it? I didn't find the fake-Hebridean accents too annoying, as I thought they tried hard. Some rotten tomatoes. * How was the hold of the 'Cabinet Minister' fully illuminated, when the ship had been wrecked for a couple of days? *The church was clearly not an island church - it was in Fife. *The music at the wedding was a small orchestra, rather than the fiddle that would have been playing. I found the accompanying music to the whole irritating and out of context. I loved Doyle's music for Henry V, but this is not in the same league. *Why were all the cars and tractors straight out of concours motor shows? not a spot of mud on them! *Since the DVD cover tells me that much of this was shot on the East coast of Scotland, it explains why the land was all wrong for a Hebridean island.

Go back to the original!!

This lovely and humorous little production of a classic tale really made my Saturday night, I came out both invigorated and satisfied. I chuckled and tutted (at the characters) along with the whole audience, and I could feel others tapping their feet along, or really enjoying the music.

Gregor Fisher proves himself a masterful comedic character actor again, playing a grumpy but wily father and postmaster in the lead role. Eddie Izzard deserves commendation for given depth to a character screaming to be either played as an outright fool, or as a serious and glum two dimensional character. The rest of the cast are fantastic and skillfully directed.

Overall I would recommend this movie to any lovers of independent feel good movies, it definitely reminded me of how I felt upon leaving a screening of Amelie years ago. Very family friendly, and an ideal antithesis to the stream of ridiculous Hollywood action movies of the Fast and furious 8, triple x ilk.

And regarding people saying it didn't need to be remade, how preposterous to review a production this way. Stories are retold constantly, its the nature of the beast. One of the beautiful things about the cinema and theatre is the diversity in which a simple tale can be re-imagined, bring it to life in new ways. I can only assume this opinion come from purists who love the original so much they would hate to see anything even slightly different, so any real opinion on this production is unbelievably biased.

I never give 10/10, because I would reserve that for such amazing pieces of cinema like the Godfather and alike. So understand 9/10 is a very good score.

A lacklustre remake of the classic 1940s Ealing comedy which fails to achieve the whimsical charm for which it is clearly aiming despite the best efforts of Gregor Fisher and Eddie Izzard.

Remake of the classic Ealing comedy - a Scottish island runs out of whisky until a ship carrying thousands of bottles heading for America runs aground.

Whilst this lacks some of the mischief and whimsy of the original and is a bit slow to find its feet, this is nevertheless a rather charming take with a real sense of affection and community between the locals. Fisher is terrific, as is the always reliable James Cosmo as the fire and brimstone priest. Sweet with one great joke about a broken toilet door.