78. The Smeds And The Smoos + Superworm; movie review

 

THE SMEDS AND THE SMOOS + SUPERWORM

Cert U

52 mins

BBFC advice: No material likely to harm or offend

"I can't wait to watch the likes of The Smeds And The Smoos with our granddaughter," I mused to Mrs W.

We are due to be grandparents in the summer so, finally, after years of watching kids' movies without a child, we will have accompaniment.

No more sneaking down to the front of the auditorium out of the way of families wondering what the hell we are doing there.

The Julia Donaldson adaptations are aimed at the youngest children and I have to confess I caught up with these on BBC iPlayer because I did not want to go to the cinema for the reasons expressed.

Anyway, Samantha Cutler and Daniel Snaddon's film is narrated by Sally Hawkins and set on a faraway planet where the chilled-out red Smeds keep away from the more adventurous blue Smoos.

Because the people have fundamental physical differences, the elders insist the children should not socialise with each other.

Indeed, the tribes have a border of stones between them.

However, love seeks no boundaries and a young Smed (Ashna Rabheru) and a young blue (Daniel Ezra) fall in love, causing huge consternation among their respective families.

This is a clear anti-discrimination parable - basically, those who see a barrier to love in the colour of someone's skin and their culture are seen as narrow-minded.

And, in true Donaldson style, the story is wonderfully easy to digest.

It has been playing in a double bill at cinemas with Jack Hamman and Sarah Scrimgeour's Superworm.

Narrated by Olivia Colman, it stars Matt Smith as the voice of the longest and strongest worm the forest has ever seen. 

He and his pal, the butterfly (Patricia Allison) have joyous lives until the worm is kidnapped by a giant crow for his master, the wizard lizard (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith). 

The worm is under the lizard's spell and is set for a miserable life digging for treasure on his behalf until the butterfly leads a rescue attempt.

It is another engaging introduction to cinema for little ones.

Reasons to watch: Will engage little ones

Reasons to avoid: Not really movies

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None 

Overall rating: 7/10

Did you know? Before releasing her first book, Julia Donaldson was a singer-songwriter for children’s television. She was inspired to turn her song, A Squash and a Squeeze, into a story book with pictures. She collaborated with illustrator Axel Scheffler, & the tale was published in 1993, six years before The Gruffalo was released.

The final word. Executive producer Michael Rose: "Michael Rose: I think it (The Semds And The Smoos) was just a beautiful book. When it came out, in 2019, we immediately thought “this is something that could make a really lovely film”, because there’s this great story and characters at its heart, underpinned by a wonderful message that is appropriate for our times." Skwigly

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