Swallows And Amazons [DVD] [2016]

I was flicking through my Amazon Prime on the TV the other day looking at some of the new download movies. I always like British orientated movies. Being a Brit, I'm a little biased on that front. However, that does not mean that I don't enjoy other nation's movies. I do.On this day, I was looking for something retro and British. Something from the good old days. Then to my delight Swallows and Amazons came up. It is a famous old retro Brit story, but I had never got around to reading or watching the older presentations of this story on TV before. So with great aplomb, I decided it was time to strike this story off of my bucket list.It is set in 1935 when a group of four children are about to go on their summer vacation to the Lake District of England's Cumbria county. There are four children all brothers and sisters and two of each. (Boys and Girls)Their father is a naval officer and is away at sea and that is all we know of the children's Dad. Their Mother, who is in charge of the holiday venture is Scottish and from the Highlands, so she has some understanding of what a wonderful place the Lake district can be for the children.The story becomes exciting straight away when the children witness a daring encounter between to groups of secret agent spies. A chase and an outrageous getaway upon the moving steam train going to the Lake District.Once established in the idyllic Lake District, the children get their boat called Swallows and head for an island in the middle of the lake. In the childish imagination, they are pirates with treasure and the island in the lake is their secret hideout.However, there is another group of pirate fantasising children called Amazons. From here on the former secret agents from the train mix the real adult world up with their childish pirate world and a grand adventure begins. Splendid stuff and loved the 1930s feel of the entire movie. Very enjoyable and well worth watching.C. A. PowellThe Last Days of Thunder Child: Victorian Britain in Chaos!

Great fun.

The DVD is well presented, but you have to skip through trailers to get to the main menu. Initially I only watched the first half hour and was quite disappointed by the surly attitude of the children much of the time, and John not taking responsibility for breaking a window. I then had a look at some of the Amazon reviews and was prepared for the worst! However, on completing the film I must say it was enjoyable and the added Russian spy sub-plot worked quite well for me. Both the child and adult characters are somewhat different in temperament than the earlier film and how they may typically be imagined from the books, the adults are more hostile, the children get angry with one another and can be cruel. However, in the latter case I don't think this is as overstated as portrayed in many of the other reviews. Their faults are tempered by kindness at other times, e.g. John telling Roger that his coping with going OB was more heroic than stopping the spies, and lending him his knife as a token gesture was a nice touch at the end of the film. The Blackett girls I have always found scary, I'm sure if I had met them as a child I'd have run a mile, not treated it as game / challenge. The picnic hamper going OB and getting hit on the head by the boom are again believable touches to me, not just signs of gross incompetence. Some aspects are a bit unbelievable, John threatening to shoot the spies and trying to stop the sea-plane with a rope tied between two dinghies for example. Plus Roger, while you are custodian of the knife please learn how to sharpen it and teach John; it takes him so long to hack through that rope when they are in danger from the sea-plane! All in all, an enjoyable story but don't expect it to stick firmly to the original story, and expect a slightly more gritty take than the earlier films of the Ransome series (Coot Club / Big Six / Swallows and Amazons).

I have never read the book so although the plot is changed by adding a bit of spy intrigue, that didn't spoil the movie for me, in fact it added a bit of excitement to the plot. This is a beautifully filmed, magical family film. It's a time machine back to the days before computer games and iPads when children ran free outside to play, creating magical worlds with their imaginations. An immersive, escapist experience, more films like this please! I loved it.

Such a beautiful film. My 5, 7 and 9 year olds all adored it. Some slightly scary moments but with everything right in the end no one was particularly bothered.

My kids asked for this and tell me it’s good.

Alles gut danke

If you are unfamiliar with Arthur Ransome's classic book series, you should find this film a lighthearted adventure. But if you have read all of Ransome's books, that's where the criticism and deeper meanings come into play. Yes, this film is not exactly like the book. But is that so bad? To me it makes the film "stand on its own" and makes itself unique. The plot is pretty much the same, apart from a great Russian-spy-subplot. Some of the characters have been adjusted, for example Titty has been renamed to Tatty, and the film makers have added a bit of Dorothea Callum's author habits to Tatty's personality. Roger has been adjusted to a more scared demeanor, which was swapped for his good humored, sometimes cocky attitude in the books. John, who was very sensible in the books, is almost an idiot at times. Susan, who was very in control and was a great cook in the books, is now unable to cook at all. Nancy and Peggy are perhaps the truest characters in the film - they are accurately portrayed and were very fun to watch. The 1935 setting is realistically pictured. The movie is beautifully filmed in the lake district, and I find the movie's "adjustments" from the books not offensive, especially the Russian spy add-on which not only adds drama, but is a tip of the hat to Arthur Ransome himself, who had an interesting history dealing in these elements. Overall, a great movie worth seeing whether you're new to Swallows and Amazons, or if you're a devoted fan. Highly recommended!

映像は綺麗で美しい仕上がりと思います。が、ジョンが石を投げて逃げてしまうこと（ウォーカー家では考えられない）、ロシアのスパイ？、ジョンやナンシイが大人など、アクション映画にして衆目を集めたかったと理解しました。アーサーランサムは大人が一定の距離置き子供たちに冒険をさせるという、古き良きイギリスの子弟教育を取り上げています。BBCが原作の根底にあるものを鑑みなかったのは少々残念でした。実はこの後、古い方のDVDを購入し、深く感銘を受けた次第です。映画として面白みを出すのであれば、全く違う題名とストーリーで新たに製作した方が良かったかも…。とはいえ、美しい映像は心ときめくものが有りました。

Beautifully produced movie with real live actors; a refreshing change from computer graphics.