Dick Van Dyke plays Caractacus Potts an inventor with a Englishy accent (thankfully not the American-Cockney accent he used in Mary Poppins) even though everyone else performs in posh south England accents. Potts has invented a flying car called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, called this because of the noise it makes.

Potts falls for super rich lady of leisure Truly Scrumptious (her father runs the Scrumptious Sweet Company) played by Sally Ann Howes. Add in a couplea lovable kiddies, played by Heather Ripley (Jemima) and Adrian Hall (Jeremy) and songs a whole generation learnt by heart and you hit nostalgia jackpot.

"The kiddies in this movie didn't make my skin crawl like most children do in movies."

"Is it me or... that bit just after van Dyke starts Scrumptious's car and says 'women' it looks like Scrumptious sticks two fingers up under the guise of holding her hat on! A disgrace for a PG movie! or maybe I need a new pair of specs..."

"I was always told not to sing, dance and blow sweets when I was a child. I do hope our heroes in this movie were not sent to their room without supper!"

"I suppose the child catcher would have been more horrible had he waved knives or a cork screw in his hands. However, flat multicoloured lollipops were evil enough for me. EEEEEkkkk!"

Caractacus fails to get Truly's father to make the toot sweets, despite a catchy song.

Caractacus' father goes AWOL and our heroes go to rescue him. They end up in Bulgaria where the Baroness of the place hates children so much that they have all been arrested...

Our kiddy heroes are kidnapped by an evil child catcher, but Caractacus, on discovering a whole underclass of hidden children who live underground, gets them to revolt against their tyrannical rulers... In the ensuing commotion our kiddy heroes are discovered in the dungeon and they all run back together to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (GEN 11) to escape...

But it all turns out fine in the end, with our heroes flying off into the air... in fact that bit was all just a pirate story... ahhh... Truly and Caractacus fall in love and are married.

Ian Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has horror and whimsy all skillfully liquidised into one movie. A delightful journey without being sugary sweet in a super-colored nursery rhyme type environment. You will be singing along with most of the songs whilst enjoying the English countryside and Europeville. However short children may find the child catcher the stuff of nightmares.

Dick Van Dyke was the Cary Grant of musical comedy and he is utterly pricelessly superb in the role. Thankfully his accent has improved since Mary Poppins, although it's still not clear what he is aiming for. Some words and phrases are definitely Hollywood working class English, but there are some definite US accent in there too.

"The toot of a flute with the taste of fruit..."

"Me old bamboo, me old bamboo..."

The child catcher is truly horrible for kids - the stuff of nightmares.

December 24 , 2004