Movie Info

RATING:

PG for intense action sequences and language (see note at bottom of the review)

RELEASE:

July 30, 2004

TIME:

1 hr., 27 min.

GENRE:

Sci-fi Adventure

STARRING:

Bill Paxton, Anthony Edwards, Sophia Myles, Ron Cook, Ben Kingsley

DIRECTOR:

Jonathan Frakes

WRITERS:

William Osborne, Michael McCullers

DISTRIBUTOR:

Universal Pictures

 

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MOVIE REVIEW

Thunderbirds Storm Theaters

By Phil Boatwright
The Movie Reporter

What's This?

CBN.com - SYNOPSIS: While his father, billionaire and former astronaut Jeff Tracy (Paxton), and his four elder brothers are busy saving the world from assorted bad guys, young Alan Tracy (Corbet) feels left out. His father and siblings are fearless adventurers while he is a below-average student at boarding school.

All that is about to change. Back home on Tracy Island -- a secret oasis in the South Pacific and headquarters to International Rescue -- Alan and his friends find themselves facing the villainous The Hood (Kingsley), nemesis of his father. The Hood has taken control of Tracy Island and the Thunderbirds, and it falls to Alan and his friends to come up with a plan to defeat the evil Hood and rescue his family -- and the world!

REVIEW: As a kid, I was enthralled by the puppet sci-fi adventure Thunderbirds. It was a creative TV series, perhaps a bit bizarre because the lead characters were made out of wood, but with the use of strong stories, fanciful sets and good voice characterizations, the show completely engrossed us kids. Now Universal Studios has recaptured that imaginative concept. Thunderbirds is full of futuristic eye-candy such as cool-looking gadgets, cars that fly, and an island retreat that would rival Disneyland's Tomorrowland. Aimed at a teen/preteen audience with themes of juvenile alienation and adolescent empowerment, this tongue-in-cheek action/adventure should be a successful summer release, and most likely the first of a successful franchise.

Lively, inventive, and campy, Thunderbirds is a blastoff for the whole family.

Note: The film is rated PG. There are a few minor expletives, but I caught no harsh or profane language. There is some teen attitude, but it becomes clear by film's end that they are a loving family and have learned life lessons about friendship, camaraderie and the importance of family; Both the villain and a young girl have superpowers that come from an unknown power source, a subplot that will no doubt be addressed in a sequel. There is a great deal of comic book adventure, with the villain causing havoc and trying to destroy the heroes, but there are no deaths, no blood, and the story is about good vs. evil. Much of the violence is cartoonish or slapstick, except for one scene where a villain is being attacked by a nest of wasps -- this may upset little ones, but the film avoids crudity and exploitive content.