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Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

List Price: $14.95
Your Price: $11.21
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is a (toot) sweet movie!
Review: The best movie ever made for kids and adults. This is about an inventor and his family. They buy an old racecar and fix it up so it runs like "magic". They meet a young woman named Truly Scrumptious and then go off on an adventure to Vulgaria with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, their magic car. Their adventure includes an evil Baron, a Child Catcher, a helpful toymaker, and many other interesting characters. There are some great songs, such as "Me Ole Bamboo", "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", "Truly Scrumptious," and "Toot Sweets". This is a great family movie to share with your kids.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: After all these years, i still enjoy this one.
Review: This picture is just plain fun and the older i get the more i like it and discover new things about it. My favorite character is the "child catcher with the net." Why can't there be someone like that in real life especailly with todays kids. But i digress.Even though i find the kids voice somewhat annoying, the sound that is on this DVD is really great. The THX 5.1 sound catches everything that was originally recorded for the highest highs to the lowest lows. The picture quality is excellent and the film is in it's Roadshow presentation with the Intermission.This film is a total JOY for all ages. And with the ever so talented Dick Van Dyke you simply can not get any better. Sally Ann Howes is a broadway gem of a star as well as the entire cast and somehow you get a found appreciation for Benny Hill who is really totally out of character in this movie. He's wonderful. This film is a classic and if you a bit down or sad, put this movie on for a great uplifting feeling.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good movie for children
Review: A comment from Hong Kong :
My children, even English is not their Mother tongue, love the film. They enjoy the funny and warm feeling come with the film. And, the music is wonderful.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Roses of disaster
Review: Roald Dahl wrote the screenplay for this 1960's British children's film with director Ken Hughes from Ian Fleming's story. My main focus in seeing the film, besides having grown up with Dahl's Wonka film, was the famed "child catcher" character played by Richard Helpmann, which is justifiably creepy. However, the rest of this epic two-and-a-half-hour head trip, despite its lavish sets and whirlwind gadgetry, is mostly unsuccessful.

The film's many plot twists and flippant, boorish adult characters pledge a distinct enthusiasm for the power of the imagination-- a nobler theme for children there may not be. Yet the concoction does not so much flow juicily as ebb and waver. The film is unsteady and unfocused; it leaves too much to chance and leaves too many questions unanswered. Where is inventor Potts' wife? How have his children coped heretofore by not attending school? Why does Caractacus not have an accent? Who is the grandpa character? Is the car alive? If the group dispatched to steal the car want it so badly why are they firing cannon shells at it? What do the Bombursts have against children? Why haven't the Vulgarians rebelled against the baron and baroness if they do not agree with the anti-children sentiment? Is the midsection of the movie only a fanciful story being told to the children by Potts while on the shore in the car? You could argue these questions deepen the film's mystery, but I found them annoying.

That said, the film does have its moments. Benny Hill's toymaker character is gentle and believable. Many of the musical numbers-- the toot sweets, the wind-up dolls and the baron trying to off the baronness, for example-- are well-crafted. And Helpmann's child catcher is a hoot, even if it did give a generation of "kiddie-winkies" nightmares. The most valuable acheivement is the setting in motion of a critique of adulthood, a portrayal of grown-ups as having lost their romance and idealism, a "playtime" that comes right back to them when they are given a flying car or a collection of toy soldiers. Perhaps it is that playful recklessness that distresses the rulers of Vulgaria, so eager to keep kids out of the lives of the people. In the saving of the "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" from the scrapheap we see a reaping of the wealth of (childhood) dreams in a film that is a subtle indictment of insensitivity.

Musicals like this one aren't done anymore, and one must admire the craft and committment put into the film, even if it does manage to be overlong and misdirected. I'd recommend this as a one-off film for a lazy afternoon or evening you feel like something odd and sugary.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Liked it even though my friends made fun of me for liking it
Review: I liked this movie when I was little and would watch it when I could but one day when I was at my friend's house playing I told her and our other friends that Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was on TV and I was going home to watch it and they made fun of me and called me a baby etc, but I didn't care because I liked the movie and liked the songs etc, and I thought Dick Van Dyke was awesome and I liked the kids who played his son and daughter and the actress who played his girlfriend was good too. There is a soundtrack too, I rented it a few times from the library and enjoyed listening to the cute songs.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great movie (but not widescreen)
Review: As other reviewers say, this is a great movie for both kids and adults. My only
complaint is that this DVD is not widescreen but in a 4:3 pan-and-scan
format; you miss 40% of the original widescreen (2.2:1) view. I'll wait for the
widescreen version.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: still a classic
Review: This movie may be old, but it is still a classic. I bought it for my five-year old son, and he intently watched it while recuperating from the flu. The songs are catchy, and the story is captivating. Should be a part of any child's movie collection.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A memorable movie to cherish
Review: Kids no longer get the fascination of movies like CCBB! My memory drifts back to yester ole days of my childhood when I was thrilled to see CCBB in the school Hall watching in awe the unique Car that can float n fly! The songs esp. 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang..' is a great number to sing along. Dick Van Dyke proves a marvellous inventor and Sally is cool. Ian Flemming's novel is out of an imaginative world with scripts co-written by Raold Dahl, the kids fav'. In comes the twist n turn when Dick n the kids sweep off to the forbidden kingdom and encounters the 'child catcher' like an evil bad man and its thrill to watch in awe as he's sent to prison. The movie is a sure pick for kids but the only drawback is it's a bit long. However, CCBB is a family freak to watch with enthusiasm. Enjoy!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Regrettably Sticky
Review: Ian Flemming's interesting childrens novel receives a regrettable makeover from Hollywood in this lavish but distastefully cutesy and overlong musical fantasy starring Dick Van Dyke. Everything about the film is over-done: the film has a tooth-rotting sweetness to it; the songs are not greatly memorable; the performances are merely adequate.

Very young children will likely enjoy the film--but parents forced to sit through repeated viewings will probably clench their jaws over one viewing, not to mention a dozen or so more. There are many excellent films for children available on the market; you would do better to select any one of them instead.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Great movie - disappointing DVD
Review: This is one of my family's favorite movies -- the low rating is for the pan and scan version. Why do so many studios insist on altering the creative content of their family films? A simple solution is to offer both versions of the film on the same DVD. It's a shame that a film like this - originally presented in Panavision - suffers from a poor DVD release. Otherwise, the wonderful and original Sherman Brothers score - plus the charm of the film's actors and the beauty of the location filming - are as much fun now as they were 30 years ago.


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