The Magic Faraway Tree is released at the perfect time of year……the same week that the new Super Mario film is out. Its not nice to see films that should be seen and enjoyed by a large crowd sent out to effectively die because this is a genuinely lovely and charming film. The set up of the film is that after quitting her job, Polly (Claire Foy) and her husband Tim (Andrew Garfield) take their three children Joe, Beth and Fran to the countryside so that they can recognise Tim’s dream of starting a business. Fran is invited to a fantastic world by Silky (Nicola Coughlan) and meets Moonface (Nonso Anozie), Saucepan Man (Dustin Demri-Burns) and Mr Watzisname (Oliver Chris). As the film progresses, the kids learn that there is more to life than technology and playing outside isn't the dangerous thing that it comes across in other films and television.
The different worlds are very well done. I don't know what the budget was but it can't have been very big but they still managed to pull off impressive set designs. They are bright, colourful and in the case of the sweet world, one I wish did exist. I though that Billie Gadsdon was very good as Fran. She is the one that we see these new worlds in and she is also the one that seems to be willing to give their new life a chance. Beth (Delilah Bennett-Cardy) is slightly annoying at first as she writes a letter to her grandmother and then when she sees the worlds that Fran has she changes her mind but its too late at this point. Joe is your typical (bording on cliche) kid who is tech obsessed and is more interested int heir being wifi than where they now find themselves. As the film progresses they all bond together and come together to make their parents business a success. As a family they are easy to like and you want them to succeed.
Being a grown up there are some issues which the target audience probably wouldn't think about or even care about. Such as the whole plot point that Grandma wants their plan to fail so they can come back to her and when her plan fails there is no scene where she is shown up. I think she appears in two shots and that is about it. Also there is the scene where Tim meets up again (sort of) with Moonface and it's over before it really begins. That aside, the reason why the film works is because it's charming. It’s not trying to be preachy or too childish but it just takes us into a world that harks back to a simpler time when technology wasn't as much of our lives as it is now.
The Magic Faraway Tree is a lovely film that will probably find an audience when it goes to streaming but seeing it on the big screen is where it should be seen. I don't think that it should have been released when The Super Mario Galaxy Movie was being released. Most people are going to go straight for that instead of this but if they get the chance to see another family film then this should be something to stick on cause it will definitely be worth their time.
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