Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7426 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-03-10
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 91 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The deep love that young boys feel for planes, cars, and gadgets is the driving energy of Thunderbirds, a live-action movie based on the British puppet TV show of the 1960s. Bill Paxton (Near Dark, One False Move) plays Jeff Tracy, billionaire ex-astronaut, who's turned his family of heroic sons into a crack rescue squad, zooming to danger and saving people using super-sophisticated vehicles. The youngest boy (Brady Corbet) hasn't yet joined the team and resents every moment he's not in uniform---but he gets his chance when a malevolent villain called the Hood (Ben Kingsley, slumming a bit from Gandhi and Sexy Beast) traps the rest of the family on a crippled space station and turns the Thunderbird vehicles to his evil purposes. Expect bright colors, clumsy dialogue, and a less-than-thrilling plot, but many kids will enjoy the fantasy of a secret island, rocket ships, and flying cars. --Bret Fetzer

Synopsis
Based on the cult British television show from the 1960s, Thunderbirds explodes into the 21st Century with this thrilling live-action version of the franchise. Drawing on similar themes and familiar characters, director Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek: First Contact) sticks closely to the spirit of the original show while making use of the new technology available to him 40 years after the program first aired to give the film a modern look. The International Rescue organization a team of highly organized law enforcers is the focal point for the movie. International Rescue is based on a remote desert island location, and is called into action whenever the world's sinister masterminds threaten to disturb the balance of society. Jeff Tracy (Bill Paxton) heads up the team, and employs his sons to help him out. Teenager Alan Tracy (Brady Corbet) is a little too young to join, and is constantly frustrated by his lack of opportunity to join the brothers on their missions. But when the evil villain known as The Hood (Ben Kingsley) traps the International Rescue team in outer space, it seems Alan's time has come. The Hood steals one of the many spacecrafts designed by International Rescue, and executes an outlandish scheme to rob the Bank of England. Alan and his pal Fermat (Soren Fulton) attempt the double-whammy of rescuing the trapped family and stopping The Hood, by drawing on help from the sultry detective Lady Penelope (Sophia Myles), her butler Parker (Ron Cook), and a few gadgets and vehicles courtesy of International Rescue. With comic references to the original show scattered liberally throughout the movie, and a sense of fun and adventure, this is a film that should appeal to both old and new fans of these popular crime-fighting characters.

Customer Reviews

not as bad as I thought it would be
I had dreaded watching this, especially after all the really bad reviews, but found that I couldn't resist any more.

I hope that you will excuse me while I give you some background.

In 1965 a genious called Gerry Anderson began production on a children's show called Thunderbirds - THUNDERBIRDS - Complete collection of 32 episodes incl extras - dig. remastered - 8 disc DVD Box set. Over the two years 32 episodes were made - 26 episodes in 1965 and 6 in 1966 - before production politics interferred and Mr Anderson decided to stop production of the show. Forty plus years later the puppet series is cult amongst adults, and popular with the young again.

In 2004 this Thunderbirds film was released. I'll be honest - I can live with an americanised Tracey family. With all the American money involved, I wouldn't have expected anything else.

Unfortunately the film makers (according to Director Jonathan Frakes's commentary and interviews in related articles and books) changed the script the day before filming started from the kidnapping and rescue of one of the Tracy boys to the current story. It would have had a more mature Alan Tracy rather than stroppy teenager. A second version of the script would have seen the Tracy family trying to recover important items of national security (sort of like Spy Kids [2001]). All alternative version were abandoned for this one, unfortunately.

At the start of the film we see a daydreaming Alan Tracy (Brady Corbet) wishing he was a member of the Thunderbirds, aka International Rescue, over the next 5 or so minutes it is established that he is the youngest son of Thunderbirds leader Jeff Tracy (Bill Paxton). Jeff Tracy has 5 sons, each one is named after an astronaut from Mercury Seven, Scott Glenn(Philip Winchester), John Carpenter (Lex Shrapnel), Virgil Grissom (Dominic Colenso), Gordon Cooper (Ben Torgersen) and Alan.

The main thing that ticked me off was the replacement of Lady Penelope's iconic pink Rolls Royce for a naff Ford bubble car, that turns into a plane and a boat - at least the director admits it was nothing more than product placement. Lady Penelope is played by Sophia Myles and Parker by Ron Cook.

Brains (Anthony Edwards) has gained a son called Fermat (Soren Fulton) who is about the same age as Alan Tracy.

The eternal enemy of the Thunderbirds, The Hood (Sir Ben Kingsley) is kept on as the enemy of choice for the film, thankfully. However, Tintin played by Vanessa Hudgens of High School Musical (Encore Edition) [2006] fame (who I found the most annoying child of the entire film) has inherited some of her Uncles special powers.

One I stopped looking at the film as Thunderbirds, and started looking at it as an American adventure film, I really enjoyed it. I do the same with the Geraldine McEwan versions of the Miss Marple stories - I try to forget that they are supposed to be Agatha Christies Jane Marple and think of them as the old lady investigates.

It has some good young actors playing the Tracy boys, in fact I believe that the entire film was let down by the wholesale changes that were made to the script.

Tracy Island was a wonder to behold and TB1, TB2, TB3, TB4 and TB5 were great representations of the machines which I had grown up with. For that I thank Mr Frakes. It is a shame that such considerations were not made for the script or for FAB1.

On the good side this was apparently meant to be a vehicle for the Baldwin brothers - thank goodness that idea fell by the wayside.

It is a great shame that this film was not handled better, but it is still a good piece of switch off the brain, sit back and enjoy entertainment. There are a good number of extras, many about the TB vehicles and far too short with the actors who played the characters in tiny little boxes. There are a number of short featurettes about Lady P but not a single one about the Tracy family. No outtakes, and no cast commentary.

Much better than the reviews suggest
Me and my son (8) really enjoyed this kids film - enough to buy the DVD. My son didn't want to see it at first, as he thought the original puppet series was 'young kids stuff'. My only dissappointed was that Joanna Lumley wasn't Lady Ponelope (although I was very relieved that her unbadged pink 'Rolls' wasn't a Ford - somethings are sacred). The plot was just escapist kids fun, helped by the more that adaquate special effects (not top notch but pretty good). Probably not quite up to Spy Kids 1 and Harry Potter standards I suppose, but it certainly makes 'Solaris' seem a bit long and boring.

Thunderbirds are still go!!!
Thunderbirds 2004! This is the film that critics are calling an abomination - a disgusting live action film destroying the very basis of the ideas that the original Thunderbirds was based on, but not me. People always seem to forget that first and foremost Thunderbirds is a kids program, and as such should (and has!) been made into a film that appeals to kids. Jonathan Frakes has succeeded in updating Thunderbirds for the 21st century, another generation of children, and the redesigned craft are fabulous, and the special effects are faultless, the best I have ever seen in a film before.

Many people criticise the acting - but Brady Corbet as Alan Tracy down to Vanessa Anne Hudgeson as Tintin are faultless. Sure, perhaps Brain's stutter is a bit exaggerated, but that is what films are about. If there is one criticism it is the shameless self-advertising Ford have slotted into the film, but even this is a minor niggle. Sir Ben Kingsley, Bill Paxton, Ron Cook and Sophia Miles have all captured the essence of the original series
perfectly.

So if you want a fun family film, with bright locations, fantastic characters and acting, cool special effects and a new kind of plot then this is the film for you. However if all you want is more of the original series, steer clear, as you will probably be dissapointed. All that is left to say is that Thunderbirds Are Go in the 21st century!