Thunderpants (2002)

An 11-year-old boy's amazing ability to break wind leads him to fame as he fulfills his ambition of becoming an astronaut. System Requirements:Run Time: 87 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY UPC: 796019803458 Manufacturer No: 80345 Product Description

Odoriferous

One would think that just about all guys would love a good fart movie. Potty humor is one of the last bastions of male domination - it's where only men enjoy the subtle intricacies of a squeaker or an SBD. In Thunderpants, however, we are treated to a simply horrible movie that somehow makes fart humor uninteresting.

Essentially this movie has a hard to swallow plot about a young inventor named Alan (Rupert Grint) who uses his intestinal fortitude to help a schoolboy social leper named Patrick Smash (Bruce Cook) turn his intestinal issues into fuel for a hovercraft. When he cuts the cheese afterwards in an improved model, his dreams of being an astronaut are soon to be realized. There are twists and turns involving such nonsense as opera and government involvement, but it's really not all that important.

I suppose it could be a very cute movie for kids, and I suspect that's the target audience. For adults, however, it may as well have been named, "The ugly ginger kid from Harry Potter ruins fart humor".

Thunderpants has pungently done for fart humor what Gigli has done for comedies. I honestly know of no other way of ripping this movie. Unfortunately for all involved, this one cannot be covered up by moving a chair or blaming the dog. September 28, 2008

Seems like it was made on a dare

This film features Harry Potter's Rupert Grint in a supporting role as Alan A. Allen, a young inventor who helps bullied outcast classmate Patrick Smash (Bruce Cook) put his flatulance problem to good use by using it to power a hovercraft. This starts Patrick on a strange path to realizing his new dream of using his gas to become an astronaut. There are several amusing detours along the way, like when he is recruited by an opera singer to fart the high notes, before Alan and Patrick team up to create a gas powered rocket to save a marooned spacecraft from the (fictionalized) U.S. space program. What makes this film so entertaining are the strong performances (including straight-faced turns from Paul Giamatti and Ned Beatty) and high production values that display an odd, endearing respect for such silly material. September 25, 2008

Thunderpants

Finnaly, a movie that all boys can and will relate to! My entire family laughed hysterically while at the same time learning to look at diversity in a whole new light. This film should be required curriculum for all 5th, 6th and 7th grade boys. Lets hope that filmakers agree and produce more great films for our guys! August 31, 2007

It's a gas!

Best movie ever. Period. End of story. I was blown away by the production values and cast considering the puerile subject matter. And although he only has a supporting role, Rupert Grint absolutely deserves top billing. His delivery is so over-the-top it's like the rest of the cast is speaking in monotone. He doesn't just deserve an Oscar, but a Nobel Prize.

I don't own this release, but the version previously only available as a Canadian import. I noticed that the running time shown for this one is nine minutes shorter than what's listed for the import, but I believe this may be a semantic issue and that the film is likely intact. The actual feature length on the Canadian release matches the run time shown here and on IMDB.com, so I can only assume the import is including the supplemental material among the run time. Can anyone confirm? I do hope it's complete. This is a delightfully cheesy film, and it would be a crime to cut one, let alone nine, minutes. July 26, 2007

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