by John Tillyard, Contributing Writer
After losing her job at a tech firm, Polly Thompson (Claire Foy) moves her family to the countryside, where her husband Tim (Andrew Garfield) plans to earn enough money to get by, growing tomatoes to make pasta sauce. While they are living there, their three children, Beth, Joe, and Fran (Delilah Benett-Cardy, Phoenix Laroche, and Billie Gadsdon respectively) discover a magical tree in the woods. This tree is inhabited by a group of mythical people, including Silky (Nicola Coughlan), Moonface (Nonso Anozie) and Saucepan Man (Dustin Demri-Burns), with a ladder at the top that takes them to many different fantasy worlds. As the family works to rebuild their lives in the countryside, the three children use the tree’s worlds to figure out what they can do to help Tim’s tomato business.
Loosely based on a book series by Enid Blyton of the same name, this is a modern-day reimaging of the world and characters from the books. While the books were written between 1939 and 1951, this version is set in the present day. The kids are all reluctant to go outside and explore and are more interested in playing on their phones. The parents play a much larger role here, having been nothing more than background characters in the books, as the language and tone of the story are updated to fit the present-day setting. The most striking change, however, is the presence of an ongoing story. While the books had very little plot outside of the episodic style adventures the three children hava inside the tree, here there is a clear narrative that covers the entire film, which takes place both inside and outside the tree.
Essentially, they have taken the world of the books and written a new story around it. Which, in this case, I feel was absolutely the right direction to take things. Blyton’s writing style and storytelling do not translate well to modern audiences; the world and characters she created in the books are what made them interesting. What I particularly liked about the movie is how the world and characters are introduced. With the number of fantasy stories that have been adapted to film, there was a danger that this world might have come across as somewhat cliched and jarringly out of place, especially in a modern setting. However, by starting the family in a more contemporary setting and slowly introducing the simpler life they lead in the countryside, while at the same time making you dislike the children’s obsession with modern technology, the fantasy world feels like a welcome and interesting change.
Once the story enters the world of the Faraway Tree, things start to feel much more like the books. Many lands from the books, such as The Land of Goodie and The Land of Dreams, are shown here exactly as they are described. Another fun moment taken right out of the book is the slide the children use to exit the tree called the Slippery-Slip, which fans of the book will likely enjoy. However, while everything in the tree feels appropriately whimsical, the tone still comes across as slightly juvenile. This is possibly why Beth’s character has been changed to a cynical, more modern figure. The more modern gags and language added to the movie adaptation work okay, although others, such as Beth using the word “feminism” at one point, felt very forced. There is a bit too much obvious modern commentary here on a world created in the 1940s, which at times adds a good level of humour but also comes across as a little desperate.
The only change from the books here that doesn’t make sense is the redesign of Moonface. In the books, he is so called because he has a large, round, white head that looks like the moon. By casting Anozie to play him they made the choice to give him hair that looks like the moon instead. What I find funny is that Silky explains the reason for her own name (her hair) multiple times, but at no point does anyone explain Moonface’s name, because it now makes no sense.
Visually, the whole experience is stunning. Even when the children are not in the tree, they are at the barn where they live, enjoying the beautiful British countryside. The tree itself and the land are a marvel to look at, and I wanted to visit every single one of them myself. The overarching story is relatively generic: kids go on an adventure to save the day, but I did like that their reason for going on the adventure is to help out their father’s tomato business rather than defeating a villain. It was nice to see an adventure story where the heroes are helping themselves for once, not for “fate of the world” reasons.
Garfield is a real standout as a father doing what he can for his family in a difficult situation, while also trying to stay positive about what they are facing. He masterfully sells every scene he is in and the kids do a solid job as well. I was particularly impressed by Gadsdon, who is taking the lead in many scenes as the children work out what to do. Mark Heap was also quite enjoyable in a supporting role as an overly angry, loud character.
Overall, The Magic Faraway Tree isn’t going to push the boundaries of what you can do with family entertainment, but it is a perfectly adequate way to keep the kids occupied for an hour and a half. As an adult, there isn’t much to dig your teeth into, though; it’s a kids’ film through and through. It does a good job of modernizing a fairly outdated story and giving it an overarching narrative, while also maintaining the core elements that made it whimsical. While the kids seem overly obsessed with modern tech in the first act, it never felt like it was trying to force any message or agenda about technology taking over our lives. It’s a story we’ve all seen told many times before, but it is at least told well.
Rating: High Side of Just Okay
The Magic Faraway Tree is currently playing in Theaters internationally, U.S.release date still pending.
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