#46: THE CANTERVILLE GHOST

 

Starring the voice talents of Stephen Fry,  Hugh Laurie, Freddie Highmore, Miranda Hart, Imelda Staunton, Toby Jones, Meera Syal, David Harewood, Emily Carey, Jules de Jongh and Keiron Self. Written by Cory Edwards, Giles New and Keiron Self. Directed by Kim Burdon and Robert Chandler. Music by Craig Stuart Garfinkle and Eimear Noone. Running time 89 minutes.

A new retelling of Oscar Wilde's classic humourous short story from 1887, his first ever published story. This version, sticking rather closely to the original, sees an American family move into an ancient gothic castle of Canterville only to run into its irate and rather peevish ghost, Sir Simon Canterville (Stephen Fry), who ends up getting 'haunted' by the family, that is until he forms an unlikely friendship with the family's oldest daughter, Virgina (Emily Carey) who helps him to free him from a 300 year-old curse.

There's a lot to like about this new version, first off it doesn't feature wise-cracking animals, aliens or superheroes, sure it has sassy wise-cracking kids, but oddly enough so did the original 1887 story. Visually there's a lot to like about this film, the design of Sir Simon Canterville is a delight, he looks terrific and his costume design is excellent. And considering the budget of this is limited it looks good, bar the odd overused texture map, the grounds of the house are rich and there's a lovely moment where two characters walk through a dappled canopy of trees. Plus the voice acting is spot on and well cast. And the soundtrack was very enjoyable.

The film itself starts well with a creepy establishing prologue, but the arrival of the American family is less successful, they're the classic animated family, annoying twin boys, fiesty teenage girl, ditzy father and caring mum. They feel trite and a tad too formulaic and conform to type right from the off. The introduction of two new characters, the vicar (Toby Jones) and his ghost obsessed wife (Miranda Hart) feels jarring especially when the later whips out her range of steam-punk designed anti ghost weaponry to try and capture the ghost and some of the very modern gags and quips feel very awkward. 

When this tries to stick closely to the source material it works well, the ghost himself and Stephen Fry are the real stars of the show and Sir Simon is a great creation. Sadly when the film breaks out of the ghostly gothic vibe of the original and the pratfalls and anachronistic characters begin it becomes a tad generic, plus there's a real sense that we're racing through the film, there's no time to relax into the story. There's a impressive scene when Sir Simon disrupts a dinner party that is very dramatic and the showdown with death himself in the final act is satisfying. 

It's a film that you wished had been allowed to be scarier than it is, kids are far more resilient that are given credit for and this film feels as if its teeth haven't so much been pulled, but most certainly filed down to remove any sharp points.

Most certainly not up there with Pixar or Blue Sky, but still a valiant attempt at something more down-to-earth and better still a homegrown film. 

6/10