Callow, Stephen Fry, Paul Giamatti and Celia Imrie all clearly have fun with their characters, but Ned Beatty stands out as a jovial, Bible-bashing space chief. In other respects, though, Thunderpants is a very handsome package, with two very game central performances and a classy supporting cast.
Beneath its surface vulgarity, Thunderpants conveys the entirely inoffensive messages that everyone has something, however humble, which makes them unique, and that, with ingenuity and determination, handicaps can be transformed into assets.Ī little more work on the script - by first-time writer Phil Hughes - might have refined this slightly banal homily and made the film less dependent on farting jokes. Like Bill and Ted in Hewitt's 1991 debut film, Bill And Ted's Bogus Journey, Patrick is one of life's cheerful underachievers who has greatness thrust upon him. Called upon to rescue an imperilled space mission, Patrick's cherished dream of becoming an astronaut looks set to come true. NASA gets wind (as it were) of the invention and recruits the youngsters for the American space programme, which turns out to be run entirely by a team of child boffins. Meanwhile, Alan succeeds in harnessing them as a potent energy source, and together he and Patrick win a competition to create a man-powered flying machine.
The world's second best opera singer (Simon Callow) realises their ability to simulate the high C which his own voice is unable to reach.
It turns out that the farts have, after all, certain uses. An eccentric boy genius with no sense of smell, Alan designs the film's eponymous thunderpants, a garment redolent of Wallace & Gromit's wrong trousers, which helps contain Patrick's emissions. Bullied by his schoolmates, he has just one friend, Alan A Allen. Not anchored to a passing gimmick or fashion, its very timelessness should secure it a fragrant, lingering career in ancillary markets.Ī pudgy boy with a pudding basin haircut, Patrick Smash was born with two stomachs, leaving him plagued by uncontrollable flatulence. But Americans should enjoy its NASA sequences, with their gentle parody of such films as Apollo 13 and The Right Stuff, and Thunderpants' old-fashioned quality could prove its trump card in the longer term. Released in the UK on 24 May (with the cheeky cod Star Wars copyline "May the farts be with you"), the film is likely to carve a modest theatrical profile and its whimsical, distinctively British humour may puzzle audience in certain territories. But, once dragged along for the ride, reluctant adults will also find unexpected pleasures in Pete Hewitt's slight, but irresistibly charming comedy. Our hero's peer group will, of course, love this premise. The big selling point of Thunderpants for its target audience will also be the main deterrent for their chaperones: the idea of a nondescript, none-too-bright 10-year-old boy with a single extraordinary talent for farting.
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