Paul Macmillan

To be honest I felt that the film pales in comparison to the book. It is not so much the changes that I didn't like but the pacing and the acting, even though there are some of the best actors in the movie. PC De Freitas seemed quite hopeless in the film whereas in the book she comes across as a lot more capable and so ditzy. Pierce Brosnan just didn't seem like Ron. Helen Mirren as Elizabeth was seemed similar to the book. Celia Imrie didn't seem like Joyce to me and Bogdan also seemed totally different. It was all over so quickly and I felt that if I hadn't read the books then I wouldn't have been interested at all.

I am on 8 episodes in at the moment so I may change my mind later on. My review so far is that it had a very strong start but has gone flat since the very start. The suspense/horror side is very good and by far the show's strength but it has got a bit light on that and concentrating too much on internal drama of the charachters. To put it politely the script and acting is not Game of Thrones like. It is more akin to that of a soap and therefore this not the shows strong point. Despite so much attention being placed on this aspect there is still not a single likeable charachter. Most conversations are so droll, boring and pointless that I often find myself yawning through most of the episodes. Hopefully it picks up soon. Maybe some of the younger weaker actors will be killed off? I hope so but doubt it.

If you have seen and liked the first one then I'm sure that you will really enjoy this one. Great family film, lile the first. There are very very few new films these days that are thoroughly enjoyed by a 4 and 42 year old. Very funny and touching too in places. Not as good as the first one. Towards the end I was looking forward to it finishing and could see that my youngest was getting restless. There was a little bit of filler to the story towards the end to pad it out. The wokeness isn't too extreme and heavy going. There is obviously some and that is unavoidable these days and especially with a Disney/Pixar production but doesn't distract from the story and suitable for children, although I started to worry at one point if it would be.

The first episode was spent mostly on hitting all of the diversity markers that has become very repetetative over the last few years. Diversity and inclusivity is more important than story of course and this leaves us in no doubt about that. There were a few episodes from the second where it started to get quite good, thought but then it tailed off in the last few episodes. A few of the charachters are very irritating and you just know that they won't be killed off. Overall it is not a bad show IMO but nowhere near as good as it could have been. If there is a second season i might watch it. If they don't make one then I won't be fussed.

I'm rating this as a 2 star which is very generous for an adult. The reason I rate it 2 and not 1 is because my 8 year old son really likes it. He would probably vote it as a 5. So, for parents, children of approx 8 and older might really like this. My 4 year old is too young to find anything in it enjoyable. If it was just me watching I would not have even got half way through the 1st episode. The actors are young, bless them but they are not very good. The adult actors are also very mediocre. The costumes, scenery and special effects seem high quality but the dialogue and script is very poor and is comparable to Power Rangers or Neighbours. Nothing in this for an adult to enjoy.