The estimable Simon Farnaby got hall-of-famer status for co-creating the film Paddington 2, an achievement which by common consent is basically up there with the moon landing and the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Now this screenwriting powerhouse of British movie entertainment has adapted and modernised Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree books from the late 1930s and 40s – all about a huge enchanted tree whose branches are a canopy of magical wonder. The result is a thoroughly likable and sweet-natured family fantasy film for the Easter holidays, with acres of innocent jollity and eccentric quirkiness.
This film distils the Blytonesque spirit of adventure and outdoorsy fun – it comes from that lost time in which climbing trees was something that children all naturally did – and transfers it to a new world in which all generations are longing to escape electronic devices and AI. But Farnaby and the director Ben Gregor graft in a new dimension of comedy and flights of fancy with black-belt character turns from a terrific cast (including Farnaby himself as a comedy farmer) and some grade-A gags. I laughed out loud when Nonso Anozie’s conceited character Moonface irritably tells the hard-of-hearing Saucepan Man (Dustin Demri-Burns) to “get help” – with catastrophic results. And Mark Heap’s appearance as the loud-voiced Mr Oom Boom Boom is a kitemark of broad comedy quality. The film alsi has touches of Narnia and the Shire – and with its love of sweets and silly contraptions, there is a happy memory of Ian Fleming’s Caractacus Pott in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Certain silver-haired generations may even remember BBC TV’s The Goodies and the Beanstalk.
