Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2768 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-03-21
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 85 minutes

DVD Description
The Psammead' - an ancient, extremely irritable, sand fairy - has the ability to make wishes come true.

Synopsis
A Psammead is 'It', an ancient, irritable, ugly sand fairy, which five children find one day in a gravel pit. As a reward for finding him, It grants the children one wish a day, the results of which will last until sunset. The children soon discover that making sensible wishes without any troublesome repercussions is more difficult than they first thought!

Customer Reviews

Very British and well worth a watch
This is a fairly faithful (in concept) retelling of Edith Nesbit's moralistic children's classic, although the story is reset in the first world war period. This film is very gentle and occasionally moving to watch, although it is more amusing than laugh out loud funny (at least when Eddie Izzard isn't about). It's more 'The railway children' or 'The secret garden' than 'Spy Kids' (hardly surprising as Nesbit also wrote The Railway Children).

The stalwart British adult actor's Zoe Wannamaker and Kenneth Branagh are in good form and all the children are excellent and likable leads, particularly the young Freddie Highmore [now the new Charlie in Charlie & the Chocolate factory] and his tubby 'nasty cousin' Horace (Alexander Pownall) - although perhaps it might have been a little less cliched if their roles had been reversed. The wise & witty old sand fairy naturally steals all his scenes (and Eddy Izzard is really great as his voice). The only downside is the rather naff static dinosaur sequence, more than made up for though by the breathtaking Zeppelin scene (best viewed on the big screen). There are some other famous UK faces as well, including Norman Wisdom in a micro cameo. The film hasn't got the depth or historical accuracy of the three hour BBC's TV adaptation of the book from 1991, and is far less faithful to the book's plotline set in the earlier late Victorian/Edwardian period. However the film is quite acceptable fun and has the advantage that it can easily be viewed as a sequel to the superb BBC adaptation. The actual sequel to the book though is BBCs later 'all star' serialisation 'The Phoenix and the carpet', at present only available highly edited as a region 1 import 'Disney film' from Amazon resellers (and this DVD is also highly recommended - until the proper BBC region 2 DVD set appears).

On release, my 10 y old daughter and I chose this 'Five Children and it' film over Sharks Tale and didn't regret it. My daughter was absorbed throughout it (and cried a bit). My 8 y old son and mum really enjoyed this DVD later. So well worth couple of viewings on quiet winter Sundays.

Good but not particularly faithful.
On its own this was a good film. The basic premise is there, five children, an it and some wishes which fade at sunset. This was a fun, funny movie with the appropriate lump in your throat moments. I enjoyed it but wasn't so keen on how estranged Robert seemed to be from his brothers and sisters. Kenneth Brannagh and Zoe Wannamaker were topnotch of course and Eddie Izzard provides much amusement as It. This film isn't particularly faithful to the book by E. Nesbit, only a few basic points correspond at all and if you're looking for something that will compliment the book then you might be better off going for the BBC mini series. If, however you're looking for a fun movie to watch with the kids then I would definitely recommend this one.

A fantastic family film that everyone will enjoy
This film is a masterpiece that puts together information on wartime britain with the mischievous lives of children. It is about a group of children who discover a secret that has been hidden in the ground for thousands of years to be awoken. It was funny in some bits although it does have a moral which is cleverly hidden in the story. A must se for the whole family.