Horrid Henry: The Movie Reviews

I love the books and the TV series, and although I was very dubious of seeing Horrid Henry:The Movie, especially after hearing it had 3D and Dick and Dom, part of me was eager to see it. So I did, expecting an entertaining enough movie on its own terms.

What I got was a real disappointment. It wasn't horrid, but overall it was the weakest films I've seen so far this year and one of the most disappointing. The only good things for me were Theo Stevenson's spirited performance and the jaunty soundtrack.

Firstly I didn't like how the film looked. It was certainly colourful but also in a sense over-saturated. Horrid Henry:The Movie was quite badly edited as well, constantly it felt very awkward and rushed.

The costumes are also rather cartoony in style. I wasn't happy that Horrid Henry:The Movie would have 3D effects, I frankly didn't think it needed it, and after seeing I still wasn't happy. I still think they were unnecessary, and the lack of clarity and sharpness in the effects themselves cheapened the film for me.

The story was another minus, overall I found it very rushed and predictable with little of the charm and simplicity that the books and TV series had. The only thing I liked about the story was the lack of the over-sentimental(or it can be) "I love you son" sort of ending.

The writing was messy, the dialogue is often weak and the laughs feel forced. When I saw it the closest the audience came to laughing were a couple of barely audible giggles. Kids either had a sort of amused expression or a sense they weren't sure whether they were supposed to laugh but a lot of adults looked as though they wished they had a triple detention instead.

The cast are talented, but at least to me the film just seemed like an excuse to bring in as many British or TV personalities as possible. Many of them try hard and overdo it, Richard E.Grant definitely applies here, or are wasted, Jo Brand, or don't try, Matthew Horne.

I know they deliberately exaggerated Miss Lovely's character, or so it seemed, but the characterisation was a little too over-eager and sugary for my tastes. Anjelica Huston fares better, she is a wonderful actress and while she overdoes the accent she clearly seems to be enjoying herself. If I had to ask myself what was the most painful bit about this movie? I'd say aside from the poor writing and the unnecessary 3D, it has to be the abysmally unfunny appearance of Dick and Dom.

All in all, a real disappointment. 3/10 Bethany Cox

I attended the premiere of ‘Horrid Henry: The Movie’ hoping to enjoy it, I actually did enjoy it…when I was 10! Now here’s my REAL opinion of it

‘Horrid Henry: The Movie’ is a stupid, awful looking pile of waste, it wasn’t really a good idea to make a live-action movie based on this cartoon anyway

But what a silly plot; A rival school of Ashton Primary known as Brick House School has its headmaster Vic Van Wrinkle, played by Richard E Grant, who has heard of Henry (Theo Stevenson)’s horridness and tries to get school inspectors to help him make Henry’s horridness increase! This gets Ashton Primary shut down and even though Henry hates school…he still wants to save it?! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT ABOUT???????????

Kids (12 and under) who loved the books and the TV series will probably love this too, teens and adults will be very, very bored! Be bored teens and adults! Be very, very, very bored! I really enjoy reading the books and even though the TV series (eventually) jumped the shark, it wasn’t bad at all!

But what serious miscasting! In real life, ‘Horrid Henry’ looks nothing like the cartoon! Not at all! They got some of the costumes right but Theo Stevenson was definitely the wrong choice for the title character! Scarlett Stitt doesn’t look like Moody Margaret and they were that lazy to not dye her hair the right colour! Stuck-Up Steve? Tyger-Drew Honey (Outnumbered) was definitely the wrong casting! And what was the big idea of casting Dick and Dom? That’s where the show ‘Too Cool For School’ came in!

How ‘Horrid Henry: The Movie’ got in the cinemas is a mystery to me, it should’ve gone straight to video, in fact, it’s worse than many of the direct to DVD movies I’ve seen

The only good thing about this movie is how they show all the rooms in Henry’s house at the same time, it’s not a great effect but it’s somewhat clever and it’s better than all the other effects in the movie! But did they really have to make Henry run towards the screen and splat his famous Purple Hand logo – and just plainly running out the house?