Jackboots on Whitehall

After seeing the tag line on the trailer "Team America meets Inglourious Basterds", I was eager to see this. And it didn't disappoint. Well not too much.

Some may bemoan the puppetry, you can see the rivets a mile away on the joints (imagine the elbow of an Action Man figure), but the non-stop action distracts you from this. It's funny too, delivering excellent caricatures of historical characters, as well as a huge amount of comical references to other films.

However, the nature of a puppetry film is that a lot of hard work goes into it, and as a consequence, the length of the film cannot be too long. This film was so good, that I almost forgot at some parts that it wasn't a live action film. So when it ended, I was left wanting more. I felt as if not enough had happened, and was slightly disappointed.

But not to worry, it's still worth a watch.

I was reading about alternate history outcomes of WW2 and wanted to enjoy a film about it. I had seen and really enjoyed "It Happened Here" and almost watched it again but decided to look for another title. Many were unavailable but this one was, I'm happy I decided to watch. A puppet war comedy film, in my opinion, will have a small target audience. I believe that this audience would mainly be males. Now the puppet aspect may limit it further as not many people will watch a full length puppet film. I know about Team America and its success, so I take it that it was the inspiration for making the film. Being a British film makes a lot of sense. The Brits are known for all of the Anderson's productions which I grew up on in the 1960s to present. I actually showed my wife an episode of Stingray last week by coincidence and she enjoyed it, it was not only cool to watch but fun to crack jokes to. I completely understand why so many hate this film, times have changed since the 1960s. Back then (in the USA) males would watch war shows that glorified heroics. Then the Korean War and Vietnam War happened and views about the military's status changed in USA society. To serve was glorified prior to the 1970s. Then gradually, military service was considered not glamorous and for people that could not cut it in the non-military economic world. In the UK which has had to use its military on its own soil, I suspect that today their is more "patriotism" for military service then in the USA, despairingly labeled as the world's policeman. I don't fit the USA mold as I am a veteran, and a proud citizen. Since I enjoy puppet films this is a natural choice for me, but I doubt my wife would want to watch it. This movie was made for males who love alternative history, puppets and escapism.

This film is a stop motion animation about a farmer's crucial role in helping Britain to defeat the Nazi Germans in the Second World War.

"Jackboots on Whitehall" is a comical rewrite of the British history. It has many R rated stuff, such as gory scenes and politically incorrect jokes. The jokes are at times offensive, but they are so funny that will make you laugh. Notice the map of Britain in the film, it is quite funny! The character designs are good, you can clearly see the difference between the British and the Germans. And the female characters are all so attractive! "Jackboots on Whitehall" is not for everyone. If you are in the mood for something different, you might want to watch this one.

The credits at the end said 'Many puppets were harmed during the making of this film' which is certainly true. It's hard to describe this film, a bit like a mix of Team America (but these aren't marionettes), and a whole bunch of war films, I loved spotting the references from everything from Zulu to Apocalypse Now. There's a love story, the Hollywood style inclusion of an American, Billy Fiske, taking a main part (Tom Cruise wanted to do this in a proposed film 'The Few' about the real Billy Fiske). I loved it and gave it 8 stars, but will it be you're cup of tea? I don't know but hopefully there'll be plenty more reviews to guide you and explain this film better than me before it's released.

I can see what they were going for with this film, a knock-about pastiche of the Victor, done comically badly with tabletop dioramas and Action Men and Barbie style dolls - and right there was the first swing- and-a-miss.

With the voice cast and budget, they could and should have licensed actual Action Man. And surely the distinctive looks of the British Sindy doll would have been more apropos than Barbie.

So the stylistic tone was flat from the beginning, and then we get to the sheer woodenness of the (non) animation. Yes, I get that they're just moving dolls around, but there was no personality in the movement, nor expression in the faces. It was freakish and creepy and that jars with the comic tone that they were striving for. Rather than appearing deliberately and charmingly awful, it feels like this is the best that they could achieve, and shoddy work can only receive pity praise.

On the comic tone, strive as they might, it mostly failed. There are a few, a very few, smile (or grimace) inducing lines, but no consistency either in writing or scripting, with scenes dribbling on to no good purpose or conclusion. The pacing is also erratic, and the editing lazy. I suspect that every second of footage ended up on screen.

All in all a dire, disappointing mess that blows both the premise and the stellar cast on a dull, pointless exercise.

The glaring obviousness of the shilling in the early reviews and review- ratings doesn't do it any favours either. This is not a film that can stand on its own merits, and instead needs to rely on the kind of propaganda and suppression of which Goebbels would have been proud.