t-mclean1

The first season moves far too quickly and should have been stretched out massively to do the story justice. The second season is the best, in my opinion. The third managed to maintain it but the fourth and fifth are real let-downs.

Don't get me wrong, the last two will appeal to a certain demographic but that demographic is not those who are interested in realism or history. They are a bizarre attempt to gain the comicon/Witcher type of fans.

Brida is the worst character in the show and she's been given such a prominent role that it ruins almost every one of the later episodes. She is just completely unconvincing. No warrior would follow such a character and yet they all do, for no real reason and without question.

Aethelflaed and Alfred are the best characters by a long way. Even Uhtred is dull, predictable and without charm.

The fight scenes are generally unrealistic (although a couple are all right) and bare little resemblance to actual battlefield tactics of the period. The costumes are ludicrous. The armour is absolutely pointless. Why even bother wearing mail if a sword can just slash through it? It's just silly. For instance, Alfred's wife doesn't age throughout the entire show and is clearly the same age as her daughter. In fact, her daughter looks older than her!

If you accept it as silly then that's fine. I gave it 6/10 because it is watchable, but it definitely isn't great. Why can't production companies just use the source material properly?

The filmmaking is quite innovative but definitely not groundbreaking. If you like Creepshow, Tales from the Crypt or other anthology films then this might be for you, especially if you also like Troma style silliness.

I have a feeling people will either love or hate this. For me, it's just good enough to have rewatch value, but it's far from my favourite movie.

There's also a cool soundtrack.

The plot is pretty standard stuff in most respects and the jokes tend to be on-point and genuinely comical. The thing that lets the film down a bit is the silliness. Now, obviously you expect the movie to be fairly absurd when talking animals are concerned but some of the plot points and action sequences are just too much. This could have been a solid 8 but 6 is the fairest assessment I can give.

The voice acting is superb throughout, especially Eric Bana.

My kids love it. They've asked for it to be on again and again.