Horrid? Henry's just goo-some

By James O'brien

Last updated at 12:18 AM on 29th July 2011

Horrid Henry: The Movie (U)

Verdict: Not big and not clever

For anyone whose life has not been touched by one of the 16?million Horrid Henry books sold in Britain alone, our eponymous hero is best regarded as a latterday Dennis the Menace.

The flatulent bogey-lover’s first foray into film boasts a mostly British cast of almost ludicrous pedigree, and has optimistically set it sights on cornering the post-Potter market.

Brothers at war: Perfect Peter (Ross Marron) Horrid Henry (Theo Stevenson) Moody Margaret (Scarlett Stitt)

The sub-Roald Dahl plot is initially promising, as we meet recidivist Henry (Theo Stevenson) and his parents (Mathew Horne and Siobhan Hayes) in a garish suburban world reluctantly shared with a hilariously supercilious younger brother Perfect Peter (Ross Marron) and blighted further by obnoxious neighbour and arch-enemy Moody Margaret (Scarlett Stitt).

It is when we get to school that things begin to unravel, both for Henry and, alas, the film itself.

As the star around which the Purple Hand Gang (Beefy Bert, Aerobic Al, Rude Ralph and sundry other cartoonish alliterations) revolves, Henry embarks upon a campaign of mischief which ultimately sees his teacher Miss Battleaxe (Anjelica Huston) sacked by headmistress Miss Oddbod (Rebecca Front).

Three decades fewer on the clock would doubtless lighten my perspective, but the slapstick here seems gauche, while the script fails to provide the game young cast with much in the way of character or comedy.

Not even a villainous masterclass from Richard E. Grant as rival headmaster Vic Van Wrinkle can lift the air of forced jollity.

It is Wrinkle’s evil designs upon Henry’s school that propel the rest of the plot and, after an avalanche of bodily-function jokes and goo, Henry and co. contrive to save it by appearing on a TV game show.

Younger viewers will no doubt be more impressed than parents, but a bona fide family film this, categorically, is not.

Neither, unfortunately, is it close to the quality that the combination of cast and source material should have delivered.

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