The Queen and I

This could have been so much better. The book written by the late Sue Townsend. I've read the book on numerous occasions over the last 20 years and it's not at all how I pictured it. Where was Prince Phillip? Why was he excluded? It seemed very rushed. Johnny Vegas casting as Spiggy was about the only decent thing.

Such a shame. Sorry Sue.

A movie that is intended for family entertainment, and it achieves that very well with a fun cast and a very British style of comedy.

This film is meant to be comedic and it achieves that! Yes there is an underlying political statement but previous reviews have taken it too seriously... Lighten up enjoy life!

The book was first published around 1992/3, so quite what the point is of filming it 25 years later, I fail to see, and I wish whoever was responsible hadn't bothered.

Puerile jokes about Charles's ears, the (late) Queen Mother's fondness for horse racing, the (late) Princess Margaret's fondness for cigarettes and gin & tonic - it's all here, and it really doesn't work.

Now top off the whole sorry confection with references to the Princess of Wales still being alive and living abroad somewhere with Dodi Fayed and you start to see how crushingly unfunny and indeed irrelevant this is. It is truly awful.

I've tried to imagine how, or indeed if this might actually have been funny at the time it was written, when some of the characters were still alive and would have meant something to the readers, but I just can't see it.

Not even the excellent cast can save it - it is the biggest turkey of this Christmas.

If you've read the book then you'll be dying to see the film. Well don't. Apart from the annoying David Walliams the films a big letdown. Quite short and the actors haven't really been made up to resemble the royals. The book had so much depth and humour. This was made for kids. So you can see how much of a wet fart the film is by comparison. Perhaps see the film first the read the book.