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Thunderbirds [DVD] [2004]
 
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Thunderbirds [DVD] [2004]

DVD ~ Bill Paxton
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
RRP: £19.99
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Frequently Bought Together

Thunderbirds [DVD] [2004] + Thunderbirds Are Go / Thunderbird Six [DVD] [1966] + Thunderbirds Are Go - The Movie [DVD] [1966]
Total RRP: £55.97
Price For All Three: £11.94

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Thunderbirds [DVD] [2004]
85% buy the item featured on this page:
Thunderbirds [DVD] [2004] 3.0 out of 5 stars (47)
£3.98
Thunderbirds Are Go / Thunderbird Six [DVD] [1966]
5% buy
Thunderbirds Are Go / Thunderbird Six [DVD] [1966] 4.3 out of 5 stars (7)
£4.98
Thunderbirds Are Go - The Movie [DVD] [1966]
4% buy
Thunderbirds Are Go - The Movie [DVD] [1966] 4.6 out of 5 stars (9)
£2.98
Thunderbirds: Volume 1 [DVD] [1965]
3% buy
Thunderbirds: Volume 1 [DVD] [1965] 4.8 out of 5 stars (4)
£11.98
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Product details

Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

The deep love that young boys feel for planes, cars, and gadgets is the driving energy of Thunderbirds, a live-action movie based on the British puppet TV show of the 1960s. Bill Paxton (Near Dark, One False Move) plays Jeff Tracy, billionaire ex-astronaut, who's turned his family of heroic sons into a crack rescue squad, zooming to danger and saving people using super-sophisticated vehicles. The youngest boy (Brady Corbet) hasn't yet joined the team and resents every moment he's not in uniform---but he gets his chance when a malevolent villain called the Hood (Ben Kingsley, slumming a bit from Gandhi and Sexy Beast) traps the rest of the family on a crippled space station and turns the Thunderbird vehicles to his evil purposes. Expect bright colors, clumsy dialogue, and a less-than-thrilling plot, but many kids will enjoy the fantasy of a secret island, rocket ships, and flying cars. --Bret Fetzer


Synopsis

Based on the cult British television show from the 1960s, Thunderbirds explodes into the 21st Century with this thrilling live-action version of the franchise. Drawing on similar themes and familiar characters, director Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek: First Contact) sticks closely to the spirit of the original show while making use of the new technology available to him 40 years after the program first aired to give the film a modern look. The International Rescue organization a team of highly organized law enforcers is the focal point for the movie. International Rescue is based on a remote desert island location, and is called into action whenever the world's sinister masterminds threaten to disturb the balance of society. Jeff Tracy (Bill Paxton) heads up the team, and employs his sons to help him out. Teenager Alan Tracy (Brady Corbet) is a little too young to join, and is constantly frustrated by his lack of opportunity to join the brothers on their missions. But when the evil villain known as The Hood (Ben Kingsley) traps the International Rescue team in outer space, it seems Alan's time has come. The Hood steals one of the many spacecrafts designed by International Rescue, and executes an outlandish scheme to rob the Bank of England. Alan and his pal Fermat (Soren Fulton) attempt the double-whammy of rescuing the trapped family and stopping The Hood, by drawing on help from the sultry detective Lady Penelope (Sophia Myles), her butler Parker (Ron Cook), and a few gadgets and vehicles courtesy of International Rescue. With comic references to the original show scattered liberally throughout the movie, and a sense of fun and adventure, this is a film that should appeal to both old and new fans of these popular crime-fighting characters.

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Customer Reviews

47 Reviews
5 star:
 (10)
4 star:
 (13)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (7)
1 star:
 (14)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.0 out of 5 stars (47 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars not as bad as I thought it would be, 27 Dec 2008
By Susan Belcher "Su B" (St Helens, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)      
I had dreaded watching this, especially after all the really bad reviews, but found that I couldn't resist any more.

I hope that you will excuse me while I give you some background.

In 1965 a genious called Gerry Anderson began production on a children's show called Thunderbirds - THUNDERBIRDS - Complete collection of 32 episodes incl extras - dig. remastered - 8 disc DVD Box set. Over the two years 32 episodes were made - 26 episodes in 1965 and 6 in 1966 - before production politics interferred and Mr Anderson decided to stop production of the show. Forty plus years later the puppet series is cult amongst adults, and popular with the young again.

In 2004 this Thunderbirds film was released. I'll be honest - I can live with an americanised Tracey family. With all the American money involved, I wouldn't have expected anything else.

Unfortunately the film makers (according to Director Jonathan Frakes's commentary and interviews in related articles and books) changed the script the day before filming started from the kidnapping and rescue of one of the Tracy boys to the current story. It would have had a more mature Alan Tracy rather than stroppy teenager. A second version of the script would have seen the Tracy family trying to recover important items of national security (sort of like Spy Kids [2001]). All alternative version were abandoned for this one, unfortunately.

At the start of the film we see a daydreaming Alan Tracy (Brady Corbet) wishing he was a member of the Thunderbirds, aka International Rescue, over the next 5 or so minutes it is established that he is the youngest son of Thunderbirds leader Jeff Tracy (Bill Paxton). Jeff Tracy has 5 sons, each one is named after an astronaut from Mercury Seven, Scott Glenn(Philip Winchester), John Carpenter (Lex Shrapnel), Virgil Grissom (Dominic Colenso), Gordon Cooper (Ben Torgersen) and Alan.

The main thing that ticked me off was the replacement of Lady Penelope's iconic pink Rolls Royce for a naff Ford bubble car, that turns into a plane and a boat - at least the director admits it was nothing more than product placement. Lady Penelope is played by Sophia Myles and Parker by Ron Cook.

Brains (Anthony Edwards) has gained a son called Fermat (Soren Fulton) who is about the same age as Alan Tracy.

The eternal enemy of the Thunderbirds, The Hood (Sir Ben Kingsley) is kept on as the enemy of choice for the film, thankfully. However, Tintin played by Vanessa Hudgens of High School Musical (Encore Edition) [2006] fame (who I found the most annoying child of the entire film) has inherited some of her Uncles special powers.

One I stopped looking at the film as Thunderbirds, and started looking at it as an American adventure film, I really enjoyed it. I do the same with the Geraldine McEwan versions of the Miss Marple stories - I try to forget that they are supposed to be Agatha Christies Jane Marple and think of them as the old lady investigates.

It has some good young actors playing the Tracy boys, in fact I believe that the entire film was let down by the wholesale changes that were made to the script.

Tracy Island was a wonder to behold and TB1, TB2, TB3, TB4 and TB5 were great representations of the machines which I had grown up with. For that I thank Mr Frakes. It is a shame that such considerations were not made for the script or for FAB1.

On the good side this was apparently meant to be a vehicle for the Baldwin brothers - thank goodness that idea fell by the wayside.

It is a great shame that this film was not handled better, but it is still a good piece of switch off the brain, sit back and enjoy entertainment. There are a good number of extras, many about the TB vehicles and far too short with the actors who played the characters in tiny little boxes. There are a number of short featurettes about Lady P but not a single one about the Tracy family. No outtakes, and no cast commentary.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Much better than the reviews suggest, 22 Nov 2004
By Keith Joseph (West Berkshire, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)      
Me and my son (8) really enjoyed this kids film - enough to buy the DVD. My son didn't want to see it at first, as he thought the original puppet series was 'young kids stuff'. My only dissappointed was that Joanna Lumley wasn't Lady Ponelope (although I was very relieved that her unbadged pink 'Rolls' wasn't a Ford - somethings are sacred). The plot was just escapist kids fun, helped by the more that adaquate special effects (not top notch but pretty good). Probably not quite up to Spy Kids 1 and Harry Potter standards I suppose, but it certainly makes 'Solaris' seem a bit long and boring.
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13 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Thunderbirds are still go!!!, 31 Dec 2004
By Matt Crane (London, UK) - See all my reviews
Thunderbirds 2004! This is the film that critics are calling an abomination - a disgusting live action film destroying the very basis of the ideas that the original Thunderbirds was based on, but not me. People always seem to forget that first and foremost Thunderbirds is a kids program, and as such should (and has!) been made into a film that appeals to kids. Jonathan Frakes has succeeded in updating Thunderbirds for the 21st century, another generation of children, and the redesigned craft are fabulous, and the special effects are faultless, the best I have ever seen in a film before.

Many people criticise the acting - but Brady Corbet as Alan Tracy down to Vanessa Anne Hudgeson as Tintin are faultless. Sure, perhaps Brain's stutter is a bit exaggerated, but that is what films are about. If there is one criticism it is the shameless self-advertising Ford have slotted into the film, but even this is a minor niggle. Sir Ben Kingsley, Bill Paxton, Ron Cook and Sophia Miles have all captured the essence of the original series
perfectly.

So if you want a fun family film, with bright locations, fantastic characters and acting, cool special effects and a new kind of plot then this is the film for you. However if all you want is more of the original series, steer clear, as you will probably be dissapointed. All that is left to say is that Thunderbirds Are Go in the 21st century!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Thunderbirds are ??????????
This has got to be the worst film remake of a classic TV series ever. I watched Thunderbirds as a kid and it was brilliant, goodness knows what they were trying to do with this... Read more
Published 14 months ago by I. D. Scott

1.0 out of 5 stars Thunderbird Stink
This film is without doubt the most nauseating, nasty, horrible, cheap, tatty, trashy, mindless, soul destroying 90 minutes I have ever sat through. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Simon F.

4.0 out of 5 stars It's fun and your son will love it!
I grew up on Thunderbirds during the 1960s. This film does not have the puppets but it has plenty of special effects. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Musicfan

2.0 out of 5 stars THUNDERBIRDS ARE ............ NO????!!
What I have realised from watching this film is that any movie that is a remake of a popular television series will NEVER be able to live up to its predecessor. Read more
Published on 30 Oct 2007 by Mrs. J. C. Harker

3.0 out of 5 stars My 4 year old loves it
My 4 year old loves this film. Given the chance, it would be on the DVD player 2-3 times daily. Sadly, this means that on occasions I have to watch it. Read more
Published on 23 Sep 2007 by A. S. Davies

1.0 out of 5 stars THEY WEAR BLUE SUITS NOT SILVER!!!
I grew up with Thunderbirds this film was a joke and insult to a classic TV series and for there not to be any blue suits what is going on. Read more
Published on 8 Sep 2007 by Jason Thorne

2.0 out of 5 stars a satisfactory sighting
i grew up with the puppet thunderbirds and bought the dvd boxset about a year ago. i have to say i was horrified by this film. Read more
Published on 27 Aug 2007 by Nicola Newman

1.0 out of 5 stars What a load of rubbish
I grew up with Thunderbirds and for me at least Thunderbirds was about the machines and the rescue *not* the people and it was a *serious* business. Read more
Published on 13 Aug 2007 by Mr. S. Crook

1.0 out of 5 stars Probably the worst film I have ever seen!
As a fan of the Thunderbirds series in their original form, I was looking forward to the release of this film. I have to say I was bitterly disappointed. Read more
Published on 16 April 2007 by AW

1.0 out of 5 stars Get me a bucket, no make that two !!
What were they thinking? OK I realise it is intended for children, but there's enough sugar coating in this film, to worry dentists silly, and more than enough to keep a bucket... Read more
Published on 17 Mar 2007 by Chris Johnson

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