Horrid Henry: The Movie

Firstly, Angelica Houston is in this film. Just let that fact permeate your mind, then watch as your sense of reality untangles itself and pours out of your ears and onto the floor in a pool of brain soup.

Angelica Houston is in this film. How on earth did that happen?

Now for the film: A group of reactionary and psychologically abusive adults spend 90 minutes shouting at their children until they morph into a clichéd group of personality disorders.

The kids are either good or bad, horrid or perfect. And they've learned to shout and scream at each other because they find certain behaviours unacceptable. It's a Freudian car crash.

No doubt these poor kids are destined for a life of depression, alcoholism, and dysfunctional relationships. At least one of them will be arrested; another sectioned under the Mental Health Act; several will go onto psychologically torture their own children.

It's not my cup of tea, but I'm not the intended audience. I'd rather watch Koyaanisqatsi. So I'll be fair and score it 5/10.

I seem to have found myself reading a lot of other reviews for Horrid Henry the Movie and the general consensus is that it's only an 'okay' film at best.

Much of the criticism comes from the fact that (apparently) the child actors portraying the characters in the original Horrid Henry books/TV cartoons, don't look anything like the source material. My argument to that is - this is a film, with REAL people. If real children looked like the caricature-like drawings in the books and cartoons then I would be seriously worried about which freak show they were drafted in from! Then much has been said about how (apparently) it doesn't stay true to the 'spirit' of the original source material. My argument would be that this is a FILM. If you like the books - great - they're books. If you like the cartoons - great - they're cartoons. Keep on reading and watching them. A film cannot be like a book and, unless it's a cartoon-film, not much like the cartoon either. The film takes many of the ideas and inspirations from the book and cartoon and expands on it. It has to. How else would it be able to stretch it out to an hour and a half? Also, people have said that the plot/story isn't up to scratch. I feel I have to spell it out - it's a KIDS' MOVIE. If you want plot twists and character development followed by shocks and surprises, watch the DaVinci Code. This film is aimed at children. Therefore, it has a story that they can understand.

Did I like it? No. But then I'm nearly thirty-five. However, my six year old daughter dragged me to the cinema twice to watch it (the second time I even fell asleep). Now Horrid Henry the Movie is on my television screen at home and my daughter is demanding it for her birthday. In short, let the kids be the judge of it.

Note: special kudos to Anjelica Huston for her great performance as Miss Battle-Axe.

Horrid Henry: The Movie is a bad movie, but to be honest, I kinda like it?

It's predictable, looks more direct-to-video-worthy than something theatrical, has some downright bizarre moments and contains some of the worst CGI I've ever seen, but at the same time, it's got a charm to it that makes it hard to hate. Most of the characters are actually pretty likeable, mainly Henry and his friends with their comradery, the acting itself is actually not that bad, the soundtrack is alright and most of all, it's really faithful to the source material. You can tell that the people working on this film understood the source material really well.

Overall, I kinda have a soft spot for this movie. It's no masterpiece for sure, but rewatching it has given me some nostalgic vibes. There's much worse stuff out there.

Without laughing out loud at any time, actually two barely audible giggles, I enjoyed this film. Not least because there is something like a story at the heart of it.

Stuffed with top notch British acting talent all of whom have a good time exaggerating their own stereotype, 'Horrid Henry: the movie' is a pleasure to watch. All the adult roles are drawn as cartoon caricatures and faintly repulsive with it, even the delightful Miss Lovely is an overdrawn figure of loveliness. Personally I found the Dick and Dom take on scary syncopated kids TV presenters a little too close to the spooky for comfort, but they're a bit like that anyway.

The children in the story get on with sorting out the adult mess in the usual manner of child drama, and because there is a story proceedings move along nicely. The 'fantasy' scenes are well done, with a couple of nice jokes at the expense of CGI trickery.

All in all good stuff and I recommend it for fans of Horrid Henry whether they come by book, audio book or the TV cartoon series.

While the kids in the audience enjoyed it, you may feel as I did that all this good time fun doesn't quite get into the wow territory the film is clearly striving for. But don't let that worry you, we don't need another blockbuster just yet. Na na ne na na na.

It cracks me up when adults review films aimed at children and give them a battering. This does pretty much what it says on the tin - my 3 and 6 year olds have watched this many times and it's pretty bearable even as an adult. I am happy to be a little (!) older than the target audience. A decent effort with CGIs too to be fair. And can anyone tell me of a film where the 3D effects HAVEN'T been a gratuitous waste of time!?

In short, my six year old daughter now wants to be a rock star and considers herself to be too cool for school.

Oh, err, hold on a sec.... :-)