Thunderbirds product reviews

Having watched the original marionation series, along with many of that era's similar shows (Joe 90, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Stingray, etc) I was very curious to see how a live-action movie would pan out. With today's almost-real virtual modelling technology, there was a lot of scope for creative adaptation.

The casting was pretty good, although some of them just didn't 'feel right' in places, especially the younger ones. However, Ben Kingsley was a brilliant match for The Hood, bad-guy superstar with an ace up his sleeve.

The machines stay mostly true to form, the only major difference was Thunderbird 2, the packhorse of the fleet. In the original series, it was only capable of carrying one pod at a time. In the movie, there is a lot more room inside, and the cargopod carries 3 or 4 mini-pallets, each with a special vehicle. The scale matches up better now, TB2 was always supposed to be a big cargo carrier.

The storyline also stays true to the old form, with rescues of amazing heroism, imminent danger everywhere, and ever a good ol' dose of the heroes being up the creek gathering no moss in the dark as well... just to add extra spice.

However, overall I found it a bit ho-hum... I guess somewhere in the back of my mind I was waiting for some really modern twist to bring it a bit more to life. The directors even got corny enough to have one scene with a marionet hand and a human hand in it. (Hint: Going to Full Throttle, F.A.B.) But alas, even the dinky bits did nothing to add some modern flavour to a golden classic of the puppet movie era. It's still fun, and our kids will enjoy it... but you might just find it a bit flatter than we remember it.