Jacey Bedford's Journal

 I wrote this movie up once and then my computer locked up and I lost it. Bummer.

Anyhow... Did I enjoy it? Yes, mostly. I'm not a great fan of the book, but anyone who is will probably like this movie. They've added backstory for John Thornton's character. Storyline? Big dog is kidnapped from his easy family life and shipped to the Yukon to be sold as a sled dog during the Klondike gold rush of the 1890s. He passes through several hands before coming to a good place. Harrison Ford (Thornton) is delightfully grizzled, and basically saved the film for me. Omar Sy and Cara Gee are also excellent as the couple who cover the arduous mail route by dog sled and who give Buck his first taste of kindness and responsibility. Pity about Dan Stevens who portrays the main antagonist as a pantomime villain. The cinematography is lovely; It was actually filmed in the Yukon and British Columbia, which is a bonus.

What troubled me was the dog, Buck, who was played by several million pixels. He was totally CGI, and though mostly fine, was just a little bit too 'uncanny valley' for me. I do wish they'd had a real dog and integrated CGI rather than relying on it completely.

I had to check for Disney involvement (there wasn't any) because the dog was totally anthropomorphised, to the extent he could have been a cartoon character interacting with real people. The animators conferred too many human emotions on to the dog, and also too much understanding of human speech and intentions. How many dogs do you know who would give their dinner to a deprived pack-mate? I'm afraid that kind of altruism simply isn't in a dog's skill set. Maybe only those of us who have big dogs in the family would clock that. For me that made the whole thing feel just a little bit off.

I saw a few negative reviews about this, but to be honest I enjoyed it. Doctor Dolittle, having lost the love of his life to a shipwreck, has isolated himself in a manor house with only his animals for company. Polly the parrot (voiced by Emma Thompson) is his translator for ordinary humans. When Dolittle is summoned to the palace to attend the young Queen Victoria he tries to get out of it, but he gets drawn in, partly by his new self-appointed apprentice, Stubbins, and partly by his animals. They set out on a quest to find the cure-all for the young queen's malady. Expect a shady doctor, a duplicitous Lord, a battleship. a pirate king (an unrecognisable Antonio Banderas) and lots of CGI - naturally. You couldn't make a movie like this without on-screen magic. Robert Downey Jnr. is charming - if you can get over the cod Welsh accent that only scores slightly higher than Dick van Dyke's Cockney in the first Mary Poppins. That apart I thought this was fun.

What a good hearted movie! Every minute was a delight and the (completely colourblind) casting was perfect. Yes, Dev Patel was unexpectedly good as the title character, but the supporting cast was also brilliant: Tilda Swinton as the eccentric Aunt Trotwood, and Hugh Laurie as the utterly bonkers Mr Dick, with Peter Capaldi as Micawber, and Ben Wishaw as the suitably creepy Uriah Heep. Young David is well played by Jairaj Varsani. It's a visual delight, both for the settings and cinematography.

The story is well kown. From Copperfield's birth and a few good years, to his turn in fortunes when sent away by his new stepfather, to rebellion and an eventual upturn thanks to Aunt Trotwood. It's fresh and funny. And it has donkeys. I can't really say any more. Go and see it for yourself.

I don't know why so many people took against this so thoroughly. It's pretty much what I expected from the trailer. The music is well done and the dancing is superb. As for the story, well, there really isn't much of one. Just like the stage show it's a loose excuse to sling together some song and dance numbers based on Andrew Lloyd Webber's aettings of poems from T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.

Francesca Hayward, a Principal Ballerina at The Royal Ballet, is the lead female dancer, but the whole company is excellent. I particularly liked Robbie Fairchild's Munkustrap. Special mention for Judi Dench who steals every scene she's in as Old Deuteronomy, and Jennider Hudson as Grizabella.

The costuming is clever, and the only slightly weird thing was that the setting seemed disproportionatrely large (or the cats seemed disproportionately small).