Horrible Henry, le film

It's odd reading all the reviews critiquing this film in terms of editing, plot etc and marking it down.

There is one golden rule when watching children's movies - take children, leave your adult experience in the foyer.

My two girls - 5 and 8 - loved it. I didn't but that really doesn't matter.

I've given it an average rating taking into account my score - 3 - and the girls' score - 9. The girls' score is the only one that matters.

So far they've watched it about 5 times, and keep yelling at me from the other room to come in quick because "this bit is really funny".

That's enough for me.

Bad acting, bad script, bad everything. Don't waste your time. I fail to see how anyone could like this film a good reason I hate it is because it was the favourite film of someone I hated and how pathetic was that, if you want to see something that doesn't suck then watch Wonder or Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children.

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.

I took my 8 and 6 year old children. My 8 year old is usually quite forgiving of a bad film if she has popcorn. We watch and enjoy a lot of children's films - this was the worst for a long time, since Space Chimps probably, and made worse by that it could have been so much better with a little craft to its direction. And from a director with so much experience as an Editor, it was really badly edited.

My 6 year old thought it was OK, but there lies the problem - the film is obviously aimed, in its semi-high-school American 'teen rock' music pretensions, at a much older audience. A porous plot, even to an 8 year old, and the embarrassing potential of the cast falls extremely flat. Mathew Horne seems only to have two expressions in his repertoire and is in extreme danger of having a bit part comedy career fade fast. Anjelica Huston's Scottish accent was insulting and embarrassing - like a sheltered American impersonating Mrs Doubtfire. Horrid Henry clean cut and Americanised, really wasn't very menacing at all. I was surprised we were spared the sentimental 'son, I got it all wrong but I will always love you' ending: it would have completed the American airbrushing.

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.