Love the UK setting, The bird is a bit disconcerting. Also, how could they miss something so obvious, regarding Helga? No swearing exccept the words "Kick azz".
The Phoenix and the Magic Carpet
1995
Adventure / Family / Fantasy
The Phoenix and the Magic Carpet
1995
Adventure / Family / Fantasy
Plot summary
Stuck in their late Grandfather's (Sir Peter Ustinov's) country cottage with no television, Anthea (Laura Kamrath),Robert (Nick Klein),and Chris (Timothy Hegeman) are resigned to a boring week until they find a moldy old carpet and a strange golden egg. But when the egg accidentally falls into the bonfire, it hatches into the mythical firebird, the Golden Phoenix. So begins an amazing journey and the adventure of a lifetime, as the Phoenix takes them to a land of enchantment, magic, and fantasy, via a magic flying carpet.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEBMovie Reviews
Yong kids might like it, but modern kids will probably not think so.
This movie has it all!
A new classic, in the genre of kid's movies with horrible puppets. Not since Pet Shop has there been such a repulsive puppet star, as stiff and awkward as the script in which it reads. Butter up the popcorn, dim the lights, and get ready to fast-forward through the human actors, cause this bird really knows how to fly!
My score: 2
Changed for the worse
THE PHOENIX AND THE MAGIC CARPET is a British film adaptation of the popular Edith Nesbit novel, but when they spell the author's name wrong in the credits then you know that there's not much hope for it. Much better is the BBC adaptation of the story made a couple of years later; it has better puppets and includes the wonderful Psammead to great effect.
As for this film, it's obnoxiously Americanised, with the British children of the book replaced with annoying brats with no affinity for culture or history. What follows is a very loose adaptation of the book, so you get a pre-TRAINSPOTTING Ewen Bremner as the thief and some exotic island stuff. Peter Ustinov does a good job voicing the Phoenix, but the puppet is awfully stiff, a stiffness matched only by the performances of the child actors. Give this one a miss.