Review of Thunderbirds (2004) by Scott S — 15 Oct 2008

I was a huge Thunderbirds fan as a kid, and this was the movie that my dad and I had been waiting to get made for years. Am now wondering if we coud have waited just bit longer.

Rather than go into a full review of the movie I thought I would point out the things they got right and the things they got wrong.

What they got Right:

- Lady Penelope and Parker - I thought the actors that portrayed them did a fantastic job, got the characters down pat.

- Ben Kingsley was good as The Hood, menacing yet funny, much like the series.

- The Thunderbirds Machines - modernised, yet faithful to the original, plus with a good sound system these things (especially T2) will shake the room.

- Casting of The Tracy family was fairly shoddy, but I thought they played the characters ok. Brady Corbet who plays Alan played him quite good, only thing being his downfall is that he is one of those guys you just want to beat up.

- The Music - the famous countdown is there (there would have been blood on the street if it wasnt), but that song by Busted that plays in the credits is awesome, that song alone improved the entire movie.

What they got wrong:

- A lot.

- Aimed at kids - considering those that loved the show as a kid would have to be at an average age of 40 why would you make it a kids movie? They should have gone the Spiderman route - aim it at adults, the kids will still love it.

- No rolls royce - fair enough on the producers, rolls royce wouldnt let them use the name, so they went the obvious 2nd choice - A Ford Thunderbird - which looked quite cool I must say, but why oh why was there a ford logo in nearly every shot? WAY TOO MUCH ADVERTISING!!!! For a moment I thought the thunderbird machines were gonna have Ford logos on them!

- The cast in general was shocking, a few notable exceptions (see above). They should have got someone with a bit more notoriety than Bill Paxton, nothing against Bill, I think he's a great actor, but someone a bit older would have been better, in fact the Tracy family in general was way to young.

- Big problems with that Fermat guy, whoever thought of him should be severly punished, he is without a doubt the biggest problem with this movie, if they wanted young heros they should have stuck with Tin Tin and Alan.

- Small problem - Brains' stutter is completely stuffed, he sounds like a retard instead of a genius, they should have kept the same stutter that they had in the series (if that makes sense).

There is a million other pros and cons about this movie, but I havent got the time or patience to write all of them.

In summary, Thunderbirds is an OK movie for kids, and would be a good way to introduce the series to a new generation, but for the true fans it is a let down.

I hope they do a Batman/James Bond and do another film in which this one is completely forgotten about, because it has the potential to be great and Im sure the fans will still want to see it.