14-6-09 Can't believe I haven't written a review for the whole of 2009, watch this space...
14-6-09 Can't believe I haven't written a review for the whole of 2009, watch this space...
Member since:02.06.2007
Reviews:180
Members who trust:82
There's something about Mr. Bean that is very family friendly, I suppose it could be down to the most violent thing he has ever done is slam his yellow mini door or cut off someones poney tail in a hairdressing mix-up, or it could just be that the silent character brings everyone together in a humerous fashion. I sat down to watch Mr Bean's Holiday the other weekend, and as I was much younger when I saw his first Hollywood outing I wasn't sure what to expect - I remember liking the first movie, and if the movie saw a combination of some of his greatest sketches then it should have been a big hit for me. With my mum coming in and out of the room every now and again, it was interesting to get a diverse view of how older viewers found the movie and how me, perhaps someone growing up too quickly, found the movie as someone in their late teens.
I'm not too cool for Mr Bean. Hell, I'm not too cool for Shrek, but I think when you reach a certain age you do view the whole concept of the character in a different light. To open up the movie Mr Bean (Rowan Atkinson) attends his local raffle, where he is disappointed that he doesn't win the top prize of a holiday away to Cannes.. only he has, and holding his ticket upside down opens up the whole 66/99 confusion. I
thought - PERFECT, the raffle ticket gets thrown away and finds itself floating around on a kids toy train, this could all add up to one spectacular skit but it really doesn't and from there you kind of get the feeling that the rest of the skits may end up just as disappointing. Of course, as the title of the film shows, Bean does get his ticket back and his holiday in Cannes. Getting there isn't going to be any walk in the park however, and we see Bean has to get the Eurostar first on one of his many forced stops. I was very surprised that the film ended up being all about him trying to get to his holiday destination, rather than being on holiday and just making a mess. To be honest, I can think of many more funny situations he could have had if we had seen the character on a foreign beach, although obviously the writers saw much more potential in a story of struggle for Mr Bean getting to holiday. I suppose these half-laugh situations make you feel for him even more as all he wants to do is get to his hotel and relax, but I think that's more on the basis of you just want to see what sort of chaos he could cause on holiday. In terms of realism, you can't really fault this movie except for the fact that a very small town has given away a holiday to 'sunny' Cannes and the other obvious faults in Mr Bean's character - that he never seems to work.
Another thing I didn't like about the movie (honestly, I'll get to the good bits soon) is the need for a supporting cast. I think he works brilliantly as a solo character with those extras, and a silent movie would have worked, but instead we get an annoying little kid in the form of Stepan (Max Baldry) as Mr Bean inadverdantly makes his father miss the train. Now I'm someone that stopped watching Neighbours because they brought in that new little kid 'Mickey', so watching Mr Bean have a feud with not a snotty nose kid-but now yet a teen character wasn't a joy. His relationship with Stepan gets kind of confusing as well, because after a while something quite strange has developed in what turns out to be the key storyline of the movie (well, if you don't count Bean travelling to Cannes). Sabine (Emma de Caunes) plays a love interest for Bean, and is a budding actress, so the fact that Bean carries around his personal video camera everywhere makes for some beautiful holiday film between the forced together family of the parents and their son. I wouldn't say she comes into the film that early on though, rather the opposite. One of the funniest moments of the movie is when Bean videos himself in a posh French restaurant, and gets himself in lots of trouble when he some how orders the fish platter... a lot of fish platters. That scene made me think of Naked Gun, and some other scenes made me think of previous Bean television episodes I've caught on Paramount, such as when he's trying to get on the train free of charge.
I wouldn't say Mr Bean's Holiday feels like you've watched it before, but I think it could have been put together better with more original content. If there was to be a third movie, I would without a doubt be interested, but probably not rush out to the cinema just as I haven't for the current two on DVD release. As a character Mr Bean is quite funny, but there are things that just no longer appeal to me such as how he walks in a straight line across Paris to the destination he needs to reach. Things were always going to be predictable, although it's times like this when you wish you were more innocent so you didn't have to push yourself to laugh at content in the movie. And how many of us are innocent in this day and age? I can't understand the PG certificate, as you could probably sit your kids down to watch this film and they'd stay there, although you'd have to watch for them hiding food in your handbag. 89 minutes in length you get your value for money, but Mr Bean's Holiday is exactly what I wasn't expecting.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Good review - clear with interesting points without being too long. I was pretty disappointed by the film, don't think it was nearly as good as the sketches or even the previous film.
jessjessjess 15.10.2007 00:45
great review. i saw this but i much prefered the first movie
becky_tredget 13.10.2007 13:11
Nice Review. Saw this at the cinema, was ok, but mr bean himself was great. :o)
Oct 10th, 2007
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