Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Macerat It's Difficult NOT To Enjoy This Movie

Skunkyrate Gripping story with well-crafted characters

ChampDavSlim The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

jacobs-greenwood If a movie could be comfort food, this is it. It's delightful and beautiful to look at, it's funny, it has Dick Van Dyke, laughs, lots of eccentric characters, and a Sherman brothers (aka Walt Disney) soundtrack. They don't make 'em like this anymore, but they certainly made of lot of these in the 1960's.From an Ian Fleming (James Bond) novel with a screenplay treatment from Roald Dahl (Willy Wonka) and director Ken Hughes, it's a marvelous musical adventure, kids movie, 'love' story with "good guys" and comical "bad guys" (including Goldfinger Gert Fröbe) that runs a tad long with its 15+ songs, several of which are reprised including the Academy Award nominated title song.Besides the indomitable Van Dyke as a "Rube Goldberg" inventor Caractacus Potts, there are so many enduring characters including Sally Ann Howes as Truly Scrumptious, Lionel Jeffries as the elder Potts, Anna Quayle as Baron Fröbe's Baroness, Benny Hill as the Toymaker, James Robertson Justice as Truly's wealthy industrialist father, Robert Helpmann as the scary villain Child Catcher, and Heather Ripley and Adrian Hall as Caractacus's adorable children Jemima and Jeremy. respectively.Van Dyke plays one of the big screen's most endearing single fathers, which draws Truly to him as much as his children do. They have imaginations cultivated by their father who, although he may spoil them a bit, is very emotionally "connected" to them, putting them to bed with songs and regales them with stories he seemingly makes up spontaneously.

Wuchak RELEASED IN 1968 and directed by Ken Hughes, "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" chronicles events when an unsuccessful inventor (Dick Van Dyke) turns a dilapidated Grand Prix car into a fancy vehicle for his kids in England during the 1910s. With an upper-class woman (Sally Ann Howes), they go on a picnic which morphs into an amazing adventure to save their eccentric grandfather (Lionel Jeffries) in a kingdom on mainland Europe. Gert Fröbe & Anna Quayle play the ee-vil baron and baroness while Robert Helpmann and Benny Hill play the Child Catcher and Toymaker.This is a family-friendly adventure/fantasy/musical in the mold of "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), "Mary Poppins" (1964), "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" (1971), "A Series of Unfortunate Events" (2004) and "Into the Woods" (2014). I remember loving "Chitty" when I was a kid and was wondering how it would hold up as an adult and it's entertaining when you're in the mood for something fun, innocent and non-dismal/horrific. However, like those other flicks, there are dashes of dark, adult-oriented stuff, like the grotesque Child Catcher, the hottie (but inwardly hideous) baroness prancing around in her undergarments and the kids throwing soldiers off a cliff.There are also some spectacular European locations, like the breathtaking Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany. The only problem is that the movie's overlong by 30-45 minutes; they shoulda cut some of the unnecessary songs. But the title tune is a classic.THE FILM RUNS 144 minutes and was shot in England, France and Germany. WRITERS: Roald Dahl & Hughes from Ian Fleming's book (with additional dialogue by Richard Maibaum).GRADE: B+

SimonJack As an older "kid," I can still enjoy the fun of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." This is one of those early movies made for children with a little bit of adult humor. By that, I don't mean R-rated or toilet humor. I mean stuff written above the heads of most kids' understanding. There weren't as many such films back then, but there were some. It's a precursor to the modern-day group of films – mostly animated, that seem to be written as much for adults as for the young crowd. I enjoy some of these films myself ("Ice Age," "Madagascar," "Shrek"). The modern film adult humor is usually in dialog that accompanies visuals. In "Chitty Chitty" and other early movies for kids, the adult reach most often is in the dialog that can stand by itself. The kids are watching a funny scene while we older viewers are chuckling at what we just heard while watching the same scene. It's still humorous to me that this movie was based on a book by Ian Fleming. But, when I think about some of the gimmicks that the M15 spy group comes up with for James Bond, I can see a connection. Dick Van Dyke's character in this film, Caractacus Potts, is an inventor and tinker who has some strange and funny inventions. This movie resembles a fairytale in two ways – the fantasy portion itself, and that part as a story within a story. The cast are all very good. This is mostly Van Dyke's show, though, with his inventions and dance scenes. The candy factory song and dance routine is an excellent job of choreography. I watched a bonus video with my DVD in which Van Dyke says he pulled a muscle doing the whirling kitchen cart number. Sally Ann Howes adds a nice voice to song and is a good romantic match for Van Dyke. Gert Frobe is especially good as Baron Bomburst. The movie did receive an Oscar nomination for the title song. But unlike other films they composed and wrote lyrics for, the Sherman Brothers (Richard and Robert) didn't score any hits or memorable songs in this movie. Still, it's a fun movie to watch with youngsters, who will enjoy it most.

nick-shorthouse Agree with a lot of the comments above. It is,indeed, an ionic children's film from the sixties, building on Mary Poppins, and almost as good. The storyline tails off a little bit but the scenery, songs and enthusiasm of everyone involved make it wonderful entertainment for little ones for two hours - not to mention adults too! Some of the songs are very memorable - like the title song, me ole bamboo (great dance scene at the funfair) and, of course, (Sally Anne Howe as) Truly Scrumptious, filmed on a summer's day near St. Tropez. I saw this when it first came out and have seen it several times since. My children used to love it. Anything with cars fascinates boys and the romantic link appeals to the girls. I know it's been panned by critics but it's good, clean fun. A really enjoyable family film.