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August 30, 2002
Thunderpants
Roald Dahl style kids film Patrick Smash is born with two stomachs, which causes him to break wind almost constantly. This drives his parents apart, and makes him very unpopular with all the pupils and teachers at school. He only has one friend, the socially inept, but scientifically brilliant Alan Alan, who has no sense of smell. Alan designs a pair of thunderpants for Patrick, which are special trousers to store and dispose of his foul stenching wind; these work for a while until the school bully destroys them. Then Alan invents a flying machine, powered by Patrick, and the CIA take him away to work on a secret project in America. Patrick is discovered by an opera singer who uses him to 'sing' the highest note in a special opera. He stands at the back of the stage and uses his bottom to produce the note, and goes on a world tour. After an unfortunately loud note dislodges a ceiling fixture and kills someone, Partick is arrested and sentenced to death. Patrick has one dream, to become an astronaut, and this is where his dream starts to come true. The CIA rescue him, and take him to see Alan. Alan is working with other genius children on a rocket to rescue some astronauts stranded on a space station; Patrick's wind is the only possible way to fuel the rescue craft. In an act of extreme selflessness Patrick flys into space, and becomes a hero. Now everyone loves him, and pretends they really liked him all along. The writer has been strongly influenced by the tales of Roald Dahl. Schoolkids (and parents) everywhere will not be able to resist giggling at the amusing bottom noises that permeate the film, thank goodness we don't have smell-o-vision yet. Along with this hilarious gruesomness is the signature Dahl cruelty; Patrick's father leaves him, he is bullied incessantly, and he is nearly hanged when falsely accused of murder, so this could be quite disturbing for the very young. Slightly older children will take this in their stride though, and the hartwarming finale makes you forget the horrible things that have happened to him. In the wrong hands this could have been an amazingly crass film, but it has been done with a light touch, and is very enjoyable. AE0Posted by se71 at August 30, 2002 02:20 PM
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