The Magic Faraway Tree movie, omg finally!

[MarchionessVonSausage]

I just caught the trailer for this on youtube, it looks wonderful! They've clearly spent millions.

I'm in Australia, it's out in cinemas 26 March, 27th in the UK.

But damn, I live in a small town and our local cinema is closed for renovations for months, I won't get to see it (sobs).

God I adore those books. Please if anyone sees the movie please come and give a review, please pretty please X

Dick was their cousin who came to stay once. They also had another cousin or possibly family friend called Connie who came. She was very naughty!
Looking forward to seeing it! God I wanted to be in that tree so bad when I was kid. To eat toffee shocks and go down the slippery slip on a coloured cushion!

I think Connie put two or three toffee shocks in her mouth as she was spoiled and greedy.

Yes, he became ‘Rick’ in the reissues. I think Connie stayed Connie.

My kids (now teen/tween) used to listen to these in the car (I enjoyed them too, having read them when I was a kid) - and the wishing chair ones (am I making up that there was a brief crossover once?)

I wonder if I can persuade them to come and see it with me.. I reckon I probably could - we went to see Puss in Boots and Barbie together

The fact that so many people read them, loved them and remembered them meant they were written well for small children.

I remember absolutely devouring them at a fairly young age and the imagery lived vividly in my imagination.

Any of the Enid Blyton writing looked at now through a modern lens looks horribly classist and stilted but her legacy has endured so she must’ve had some magic.

At her best, she’s good enough to deal with the classism, racism rigid ideas about gender roles. At her worst, she’s really isn’t. I think the Faraway Tree books suffer from being a brilliant concept but having no actual characters.

the film is more closely based on Jaqueline Wilson’s book, a new story based on the faraway tree stories.

Ah, I didn’t know she’d done that.

I liked the trailer. I liked the fact that the children were banging on about trees being boring rather than being worthy Enid blyton ‘let’s go off on a hike’ stereotypes. I’d forgotten about Saucepan Man being deaf and how much that made me laugh as a young child.

We took the Gdcs (10, 9, 6) on Sunday. They really enjoyed it.

Dame Snap did actually say that she used to be called Dame Slap but the school inspectors had informed her that she wasn’t allowed to slap children any more!

IMO Jennifer Saunders was brilliant as Nasty Granny!

Yeah I agree. I also didn’t like how long the ladder was. And the set number of worlds on the spinning wheel.

oh is it? I havent read hers. Are they good?

I used to think that but reading it now, I think it’s brilliant because of its simplicity. So, so easy to read and enjoy.

My 18 year old dd is also begging to go with me because she has such fond memories of me reading the books to her and I do of my mum reading them to me. I will pass on your advice because we were confused by the trailers being set in modern times

Saw it today. I know it’s a kids film but I was very disappointed! The script was terrible, the characters were very unlikeable, the acting was wooden, the plot was flimsy.

The Dad and eldest daughter were truly awful characters.

Anyway my 11 yr old enjoyed it so I guess that’s all that matters. I think it could have been SO much better though.

Went to see it yesterday with 19 year old DN, we both enjoyed it.

We’d both read the books as kids, and both had a general feeling that the film captures the feeling of the book, its been too long ago for either of us to remember the exact stories but we both enjoyed the way it brought it to life.

I thought bringing it up to date as being stuck in the sticks with no WiFi etc really worked with the story, too often these adaptations make the families too posh and unrelatable. The link back to the dad having visited as a child was sweet, and explained the modern take too.

Enjoyed the various famous faces popping up, and I can gloss over some of the silly plot points that didn’t really add up, kinda minor when overall it’s just a kids magical fantasy film, it was entertaining and sweet.

I thought the girl who played the eldest daughter was brilliant - so sulky and petulant initially, totally changed by the end, and she had both off to a T.

I agree I thought she was great, and loved her friends being there at the end and embracing handing their phones over.

We saw it yesterday. It was funny in places and I liked the family reconnecting element. Also the twist with moon face and Timmy.

but,

the original books were all about friendship and adventure, the children discovering the enchanted wood together and tea with silky/moonface, the animals etc.

Beth’s character was written to be almost entirely negative and the cause of all their problems with barely any redeeming features until near the end. It struck me as a very adult view of a teenager without any exploration of why she is so unhappy. Fran was the golden child, taking a bit of a Lucy in narnia role, and Jo barely got a look in with character development at all. Moon face was mardy throughout most of it.

It felt a bit like a children’s film made to please adults rather than a thrilling adventure for children. My kids thought it was ok but it didn’t delight them. They commented that no one heard the trees saying wisha wisha.

obviously open ended for sequels.

I really enjoyed the movie! It brought me happy memories of the books but I only vaguely remember them, just that I loved them.

Moonface should have had a moon face! That was weird not to do.

I loved Dame Snap saying she used to slap but had to stop after the school inspectors stopped her 😂

Oh no how could you not like the dad? I agree it couldve been a lot better though.

And like an easy one hit wonder to me as opposed to preparing a wonderful series.

Also did anyone else get the comment about wishing Joe had been a girl? I thought that was a bit off.

The tree definitely did wisha wisha in the film. When Fran saw it for the first time and again when they all went. It was just the faraway tree though, not all the trees