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Wednesday, March 18, 2015

"Pretty Chitty...Bang Bang"

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang must be the worst "family film" ever. Ian Fleming wrote the book, Roald Dahl the screenplay, "Cubby" Broccoli produced it, Ken Adam was the production designer. Sound familiar? All James Bond, PARTICULARLY the star in the Connery crown You Only Live Twice.
So HOW did we wind up with a close-on to two-and-a-half-hour kid's movie? This film redefines "eternity". The Abyss seems shorter! ALL of the songs are precisely twice as long as they should be, except for "Toot Sweets". That one is four times the proper length. The process work for the flying scenes introduced children of all ages to the dread Blue Line, that artifact of bluescreen compositing.
The Magical Flying Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
I ran across this glittering jewel of fail at the convention last weekend, after hours on TV and could only stand 20 minutes or so.

The high point of the movie is that Dick van Dyke did not attempt another English accent.

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7 comments:

Michael W said...

And I know people (cough *Kez WIlson* cough) who roll over and play dead for the film.

I'll watch it for Gert Frobe and Anna Quayle, otherwise . . .

And you're right about the songs.

-Warren Zoell said...

Peter Jackson owns the road version of the car.

The Aardvark said...

Unka Mikey, did they dub over Frobe as they did in "Goldfinger?

@Warren- That is very cool to know.

Michael W said...

Aardvark --- I can't find nothing concerning Frobe being dubbed for CCBB. However, I DID learn that the "Toot Sweet" number took three weeks to film.

The Aardvark said...

Well that makes sense, since it took that long to watch.

Michael W said...

@Aardvark --- Sh-boom!

Jay! said...

Toooooot! ... Sweeeeeet! ... Tooooot! ... Sweeeeeet! ...

Sic 'em Willy Wonka! Sic 'em! Tear 'em up!