Thunderbirds (2004)

The deep love that young boys feel for planes, cars, and gadgets is the driving energy of Thunderbirds, a live-action movie based on the British puppet TV show of the 1960s. Bill Paxton (Near Dark, One False Move) plays Jeff Tracy, billionaire ex-astronaut, who's turned his family of heroic sons into a crack rescue squad, zooming to danger and saving people using super-sophisticated vehicles. The youngest boy (Brady Corbet) hasn't yet joined the team and resents every moment he's not in uniform--but he gets his chance when a malevolent villain called the Hood (Ben Kingsley, slumming a bit from Gandhi and Sexy Beast) traps the rest of the family on a crippled space station and turns the Thunderbird vehicles to his evil purposes. Expect bright colors, clumsy dialogue, and a less-than-thrilling plot, but many kids will enjoy the fantasy of a secret island, rocket ships, and flying cars. --Bret Fetzer Amazon.com

Thunderbirds are slow, I mean go!

This is a reasonably decent movie for the family to enjoy but some of it felt strained and perhaps I felt that alone. The young man that can't seem to get his families trust hasn't done anything to warrant such a cold shoulder. Another thing is I don't like acronyms flying around that I have no clue what they mean. So if I say SOP you should expect me to say somewhere that it means Standard Operating Procedure and not leave you in the dark. It has been to long since the original puppet show so cut me some slack. Overall this is fun and watchable. Good quality DVD with decent replayability. If you enjoyed this catch "Speed Racer" and "Zoom: Academy for Superheroes".

CA Luster September 24, 2008

A good family movie

This movie is good for a family that has some teenagers in the house and is something great to have in the library and it is directed by Johnathan Fraekis "Commander Riker from Star Trek" September 4, 2008

Love the movie

This is a pretty decent movie. I'm surprised it didn't do that well in the theatres. May 23, 2008

THUNDERIFIC?

I've watched kids who rent videos and who go to theaters to watch movies. Most are entertained with the simplest of stories, finding more enchantment in the special effects that are offered as opposed to the deep storylines or high level of acting involved. It is the rare occasion when something of the quality of HARRY POTTER or THE POLAR EXPRESS comes along that pulls in kids with its story and not solely on the visuals.

A few years ago the films SPY KIDS came out and created an almost new genre of films for children. It carried somewhat adult themes at its root but surrounded that with images that dazzled the eye and gadgets that amazed. It was followed by not only two sequels but other films like AGENT CODY BANKS that continued the genre. And now this film is added to their ranks.

Based on the Gerry Anderson hit series from the sixties, the original story involved a risk taking group of adventurers who flew around the world in their specialized vehicles to save the day when needed. Done in what was called Supermarionation, it involved mechanized puppets who acted out the entire show. The originals are available for sale now as was the movies made from them. And Trey Parker and Matt Stone of SOUTH PARK fame used the style when they came up with TEAM AMERICA (rumor has it they did so in response to hearing that this film would involve none of it). All of that is abandoned for this movie.

This time around our adventurers are a family led by ex-astronaut Jeff Tracy (underused Bill Paxton) and his sons along with a few friends of the family, most notably Anthony Edwards as Brains, the inventor of gadgets for the Tracy family. Each son has his own vehicle to man and they do indeed travel the world in the worst of situations to save the day.

But the film chooses not to focus on them but on the youngest son, Alan Tracy (Brady Corbet). He dreams of the day when he can join his family in their adventures. He dreams of it so much that his studies are lacking and the chance to do so seem further off than ever. But chance never checks out the grades you have when it comes knocking.

The Tracy family hideaway, a remote and electronically hidden location, is taken over by and evil man known only as The Hood (Ben Kingsley). The Hood has trapped the Tracy family in their orbiting space station with little air left to survive. Why? Because he hates them. That's what bad guys do to good guys, isn't it?

The only members left behind to put a stop to these dastardly deeds are of course Alan and his young friends as well as Brains. They do their best along with a helpful hand from Lady Penelope (Sophia Myles) and her butler Parker (Ron Cook), both of whom make this film more enjoyable with every scene they have. Alan and his friends not only have to outwit The Hood, but break themselves of the evil mind control that he can inflict upon them. Only they can save not just the world but the Tracy family as well.

The movie offers up a slim plot but who cares? It's not rocket science here...er...well its not trying to educate you in rocket science even if the movie does have the family careening around the globe in rocket ships. The fact is that it's a made for family film that is more interested in entertaining than in teaching, although a few morals make there way in. The movie is more glitz than substance but that's okay as kid size spectacle is seen instead of thought provoking drama.

The movie is a welcome addition to this new genre that exists. It is well made, well shot and offers a few good laughs for us old folks in the audience as well. With talks of a sequel, perhaps we will have the opportunity to see more of the other members of the Tracy family in the next film. But for now, we can settle for the youngest as its main offering. This one is fun the whole family can enjoy, something that is unfortunately rare these days.
March 15, 2008

A movie for the kids to enjoy

Thunderbirds got badly panned by critics as a campy children's movie and a bad 'spy kids' rip off, but to be fair the original serries was a children's show and this is an upgraded version of that.
The idea is in the near future Jeff Tracy and his sons are "International Rescue" a secret emergency response team who's technolowgy is far ahead of anything the rest of the world has so they keep their identity a secret.

In the movie, well directed by Jonathan Frakes who really can direct a good action movie, 3rd son Alan in the original serries is now the youngest and desperately wants to be free of school and join his brothers on the team. The film also makes younger Alan's love interest, Tintin, played by a pre-HSTM Vanessa Hudgens, and added a son for resident geek 'Brains." When the rest of the family is lured off and trapped by the evil Ben Kingsley, it falls to these three younger members to save the day.

For all that as a kids' show, it works. Modern kids' stories do not involve kids watching the adults act as they did when this came out in 1964. They want to be in the action now. The opening scenes tells you that is just what Alan wants as he doodles spaceships on his school note books. People who panned Thunderbirds are, I suspect, people like me who loved the original as a child and hoped it had grown up as we had. these panners forgot it was a children's TV show and Frakes brings that same era to life in a way they will apeal to kids in the 21st century.
October 15, 2007

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