The Wylds

Deceptively marketing itself as an honest low-budget alternative to Harry Potter and Percy Watson, AoCF is nothing more and nothing less than badly acted, horribly paced, amateurishly shot, laughably put-together Christian propaganda. And not even subtle Christian propaganda, a la Narnia; no, this is the type of movie where the two female leads are called Faith and Hope, and where every other sentence reminds us to "keep following what the book tells you", because "it is a good one". No prizes for guessing what book this is...

But even without the sickeningly unsubtle Christian brainwashing (erm, I mean message), Chris Fable would still be a painful viewing experience. How bad is it, you ask? It is worse than the worst movie you can think of. It is worse than Norbit. It is worse than Eraserhead. It makes Batman and Robin look like The Godfather. It out-sucks anything The Asylum ever put out. Heck, it is worse than Plan 9 From Outer Space - and, as movie buffs will certainly know, that is, indeed, saying something.

The overall look and feel of this pathetic excuse for a feature film is that of a glorified high-school play. Imagine someone took that slightly embarrassing taping your Mum made, added some crummy special effects on AfterEffects, then posted it on YouTube for everyone to have a laugh over. Look! There's Mr. Davies the Science teacher in a goofy costume! And Coach Ryan doing a goofy accent! And ha-ha, it's Shawn's little brother in a park ranger costume! Sounds funny, right? Well, yes...until you realise that this is not your high school play, and that someone is actually marketing it as a serious family fantasy film.

The whole thing looks like it was directed by a sixteen-year-old with only the vaguest idea of how to make a movie (you make sure the camera's in focus and, uh, you point it at things, right?). Elements like pacing, narrative cohesion and character development are entirely non-existent, and one doubts the director even knows what "subtlety" and "nuances" mean. Characters are introduced, then literally dropped one scene later, never to resurface (I guess, like good Christians, they wanted to include everybody...) Villains have "BAD GUY" written on their forehead. And not a word from anybody but the protagonist sounds even remotely like something a real person would say in normal conversation - even within a fantasy universe. The 'high-school play' analogy is further helped along by 'actors' who look like they may actually be high-school teachers putting on sub-carnival-kiddie-show performances, each and every one hamming it up for all they are worth for extra cringe points. And the least said about the (not so) 'special' effects, the better - just wait until you see 'Electracity', or the lead villain's 'destroyer robot' (otherwise known as a sub-1950's "metal' suit, with a cardboard box for a head, which shoots bad AfterEffects flames). Somewhere, Chris Bores is using this as evidence to sustain that he is a legitimate film-maker.

All of this would of course be fine, if this movie was explicitly aimed at eight-year-old children, or if it was played for laughs, as a straight out spoof. The problem is, eight-year-old children will be bored to tears with a story where half the time is literally spent watching a teenager walk around some fields, and the whole thing is played with cringe-worthy,morose seriousness. As a result, the movie ends up appealing to absolutely no-one, other than Christians - and, as Sunday School Musical abundantly proved, Christians will watch anything (last Christian joke, Scouts' honour!)

What's even more frustrating is that Chris Fable could have been so much more. Based on a 17th century text, and here and there hinting at something broader and more interesting (Chris does not know what a book is, indicating some sort of apocalyptic future), the film does have a reasonably likable and believable lead, and could, with a little work, be made into an unassuming, watchable family movie. Unfortunately, the ineptitude of all involved ensures that this is never anything but a laughing stock for serious film fans, and an embarrassment for anyone associated with it (including the poor leading kid, which can only dream of an acting career after this). Unless this turns out to actually be an accidentally released Church camp film project, it firmly deserves the title of worst movie of all time.

I put this on for my family based on a "friend's" recommendation. This movie cleared the room faster than a farting lion! If I could have given it zero stars I would have. Anyone giving this a good review is either a Christian with an agenda, someone involved in the making of it, or someone prancing you in to watching it. The special effects were awful. I should have known something was up when the DVD started and my stereo switched automatically to Dolby Pro Logic. Really? In 2010! Since this is IMDb and this should be a legitimate review, I will add that we watch a lot of eclectic movies and enjoy everything from Hollywood blockbusters to early Guy Richie films and foreign features. I appreciate irony, allegory, movies being deliberately camp, etc. This is not that! It is simply an awful movie that, if not for the Christian slant and backing, would never have made it to basic cable let alone to a theater or on to DVD.

This film is known as 'Adventures of Chris Fable' here in the UK - available only through Tesco but can i just say do not bother paying the £3.

I have seen some really poor films - husband and son love all those really poor B-films - yet this is the really the worst. I realise its based on pilgrims progress but the acting, storyline, effects in fact everything is really poor.

I cannot agree with ANY of the previous reviews, maybe i'm not 'christian' enough!! Earlier reviewer said something along lines of 'developing pilgrim progress into action packed film, which is not an easy thing to do - but they've managed!!!' NO THEY HAVEN'T. It actually feels like it was made with a Sunday school, 1 camera and some kid doing special effects on his laptop!!

I like to think that I am quite open minded when it comes to films, so when my fiancé bought me this title for Christmas, stating that he thought it looked a little like Harry Potter from the cover (as I am a massive Harry Potter fan)I was willing to give it a go. On watching the film though, we found that the only similarities between it and Harry Potter were the fonts on the DVD cover. To call this a film is a gross exaggeration as from what I saw a rank amateur has got his/her hands on a camera and thought "I know, I'll film my mate running around the woods for 85 minutes, that'll be great entertainment". The acting, scenery, music and storyline were diabolical and the highlight for me was when I realised it was over. Comparing it to Narnia as it does on the box is nothing short of heinous. After watching about 20 minutes my fiancé and I found the most entertainment reading reviews of the film on here, so for these reasons if you have bought this DVD without reading the reviews here are a few uses for the disc, because under NO circumstances should you put it in your DVD player: 1. It serves as a good coaster (as pointed out by a previous review). 2. Put it in the microwave and watch the pretty colours. 3. Use it as a Frisbee. 4. Use under a wobbly table or chair leg to stabilise it, the disc is a good size for this. 5. Use as a handy compact mirror. In conclusion do not watch this film EVER, I have been cheated out of 85 minutes of my life that I will never get back, so I hope everyone else learns from my mistake and either does not buy it or if they have finds an alternative use for the disc.

I didn't pay a huge amount for this DVD but still think I was ripped off. Yes, I grant that trying to make a modern film version of the Pilgrim's Progress, which after all is over 400 years old, was never going to be easy. However, sadly the message that should have been conveyed was beaten into submission by the truly appalling acting. And as for the "breathtaking" special effects - no one in my family saw any. On the plus side, I went to sleep for about 40 minutes in the middle of the film, thereby wasting less time than the rest of my family. My 6 year old didn't mind it too much, but my 11 year old said it was rubbish. Don't waste your time.