Review of Thunderbirds (2004) by Stuart M — 22 Apr 2015

Grade: High kind of 2/10 if that makes it any better.

Thunderbirds is an adventure remake of the original TV series of the same name and one that destroys it's legacy and systematically kills it dead. It is an awful reworking and one that is just awful, it is worse than bad and who this was made for I will never know. This movie is obviously aimed at kids and even looking at it that way doesn't make sense, it is offending to the kids as well it is just so terrible.

The plot is really crazy and kind of a bit haywire, it just jumps a little too much ahead and never slows down to consider what it is doing, that includes the various changes the film has between camera shots with certain clothing changing constantly. Now of course it is a good old adventure, but the case is it is executed terribly, some could find bits here and there where it could be improved but for me this was a lost case within the first 5 minutes and one I will not remember fondly.

The acting if it even possible is even worse than the story and even the best actors and most experienced can't escape this quagmire of a movie. Brady Corbet our main character Alan Tracy is just awful and is progressively really really annoying to the senses. Big actors like Ben Kingsley and Bill Paxton aren't terrible but still poor and no depth or expertise can they give the roles, not that they can as it is just so badly made. The rest of the cast don't do much to stand out and again I felt with the people involved, it is impossible to impress in such a drab plot.

What can I say positively about this, well, the effects used are not so bad for 2004 the year this came out and sometimes you can kind of think very nice. But even with the effects I have a problem as although they are nice, they are way overused at moments and then put in really silly times, it is as if strategic effects are used to then create some kind of disaster waiting to come.

One lasting hateful thing this movie does is ruin the massive legacy of the old puppet and strings TV series of the 1960's and really shows kids of this day the wrong message, one of silly jokes and silly characters(some of which are completely made up for this movie). I think if you want to respect an old legendary thing then please don't change it because this is altered actually quite a little bit and it could be said too much, the future revamp didn't work and the vehicles are highlights of the randomness this movie brings.

I guess I could say it is well choreographed in the fighting and sometimes it can seem nice, even though some fighting seems overly choreographed so it can be blatantly seen it has just taught to the actor. The title sequence is very nice I'll give it that and the soundtrack from the band Busted is really a big song and one that if played actually in the film as things go on could have drastically improved the kick-ass like factor it sorely needs.

Overall it is terrible and is really really far from being positive, I am equally just as glad this didn't spawn any sequel or with a horrible thought, a franchise. Yes Thunderbirds(2004) is not a good movie and one that although I hope will be remade in the future well, may have to stick to animation to get proper results.