The Thunderbirds [2004]

The story centers around Alan Tracy and his friends Fermat and TinTin. The Hood, played excellently by Sir Ben Kingsley, sends a missile to cause damage to Thunderbird 5. Alan's father, Jeff, and his brothers go up to rescue John Tracy and try to repair the damage. This allows The Hood and his sidekicks, Mullion and Transom to take over the compound.

What they don't realize is that Alan, Fermat, and TinTin are left behind. They do everything to spoil The Hood's complete takeover, even following him to London.

As I've said, this is definitely one to add to your collection.


A film for young kids but Lady Penelope rocks for everybody   July 20, 2005
Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

When I decided to watch "Thunderbirds" I was expecting something more along the lines of "Team America: World Police," at least in looks, than what I got. Instead what I found was more like one of the "Spy Kids" movies, which is fine if you like that sort of thing, but my Tom Swift days are long ago and far away. Undoubtedly I am hampered by have a less than sufficient knowledge of the 1960s British television series created by Gerry Anderson and employing "Supermarionation," which is when you have marionettes with control wires connected to interior mechanisms that can control facial features and other things. Since these puppets do not walk in anything close to a realistic manner, they tended to get around in great look vehicles depicting that wonderful future science fiction was promising us way back when.

The story here is that the Thunderbirds are the heroes of the world, flying here and there in their fleet of rocket ships to do good deeds. Their secret identities are the Tracy family, headed by the billionaire former astronaut Jeff Tracy (Bill Paxton), who has build a secret headquarters on an island in South Pacific. His kids are named Scott (Philip Winchester), John, Virgil, Gordon, and Alan (Brady Corbet). At this point all of the Baby Boomers in the audience should recognize the significance of those name (and think that Virgil should be called "Gus") while the Generation-X and younger set will be at a lost unless they have seen "The Right Stuff." Anyhow, Alan wants to join the family business but he is still in school with his best friend, Fermat (Soren Fulton), the son of Brains (Anthony Edwards), the Thunderbirds's gadget expert. There is also Tin Tin (Vanessa Anne Hudgens), Kyrano's daughter, who is of the age to notice Alan when he comes home for a visit and hope that maybe he will notice her in return.

Jeff Tracy's insistence that Alan cannot take any shortcuts to joining the team becomes a moot point when the Hood (Ben Kingsley) shows up to take over the world and destroy the Thunderbirds as an appetizer. Dad and the rest of the kids are off to save their space station, which means it is up to Alan, Fermat and Tin Tin to save the world. Fortunately they get a helping hand and foot, respectively, from Parker (Ron Cook), the butler-chauffeur for Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, and Lady Penelope (Sophia Myles) herself. Lady Penelope, who takes the idea of a pink fetish to hitherto unexplored levels, is the best thing in this movie with Myles playing the role on perfect pitch. This is especially true for anyone who had Emma Peel imprinted on their young psyches as the idealized manifestation of beauty and kick-boxing ability. Lady Penelope is stylish, elegant and poised. She is a true English lady who loves danger but remains a cool-headed top secret agent who redefines the idea of pretty in pink for this century.

The rest of the movie is kid's stuff and that is who is going to enjoy this film. Alan and Tin Tin are certainly younger than they were in the classic "Thunderbirds" series, which is the best indication you have that director Jonathan Frakes's film is not aimed at the baby boomers who would actually recognize these characters and remember them with some sort of fondness. Then again, if Lady Penelope is the best part of this movie I have to say that Tin Tin comes in second. Paxton is trying to play parental blandness, Edwards is having a second childhood as a grown up nerd, and Kingsley is hopefully having fun playing a remarkably restrained and dry witted cartoon villain. Only younger kids who can look forward to hitting puberty are really going to have any good reason to like this 2004 film..


Benji's best ever video   September 6, 2005
k m turner
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I borrowed this video from the local library to see if my three-year-old grandson would enjoy it. He did. So I took it out again when he next visited. And then I received a telephone request from him: would I bring it with me when I visited him. He watched it over and over and over again and was so upset when I had to bring it home with me that I'm now buying a copy from Amazon. I've watched bits and pieces of the movie but had no idea what it was all about until I read one of the on-line reviews here today. My son was a great fan of the puppets but although my grandson has the complete set he won't watch them - he prefers the live actors.