POSTMAN PAT: THE MOVIE
UK, 2014, 88 minutes, Colour.
Voices of: Stephen Mangan, Roman Keating, Jim Broadbent, Robin Atkin Downes, Susan Duerden, Rupert Grint, David Tennant, Peter Woodward.
Directed by Mike Disa.
Postman Pat has been very popular the decadence on British television and beyond. It catered for the release littlies. Unfortunately, this movie length presentation of Postman Pat does not engage the littlies except in a few of the light scenes with Pat delivering the mail, rescuing the sheep from trees, being genial to everyone. And Jess the cat, accompanying Pat, is also a great attraction.
However, the screenplay of the film seems to be catering more to the older children and to the adults. While Pat is very good, a loving husband and father, and diligent in collecting and delivering the mail, a good word for and with everyone, the delivery company has one of those humourless, intense officials who wants to robot ties the delivery of the mail. And then he would take over the company (voiced by Peter Woodward). Is busy about firing everyone, let alone not giving them any bonus. Pat was relying on this to take his wife on a honeymoon trip to Italy, which she instantly likes, buys brochures, does Italian cooking – with a bad Italian chef moustache. Pat Sun also wants him to kick the football with him before or weekend.
When Pat sees that there or is a reality television competition, Your the One, which has a prize of a trip to Italy, he goes along, thinking there would be few people there, to sing the love song for his wife. The place is crowded and the compere, Simon Cowell Bell (a very amusing satire for adults on compared Simon Carlisle and his attitudes and remarks) finds that Pat should go into the finals. There had been a previous episode where a young boy who preferred playing computer games, to the upset of his agent, is also in the finals.
In the meantime, robots of Postman Pat have been doing the rounds in the town of Greendale, getting a lot of complaints. Eventually, one of the workers realises that all the Pats are robots, including one who has been drafted into singing in the competition, with the sinister official acting as a kind of ventriloquist. There is also a robot cat for Jess.
When the townspeople realise what has happened, and Pat’s wife has realise that the official was trying to put her off for pats happiness, everyone goes to the reality show where the robot is performing. Pat gets out of a locked room, and in company with Jess, is pursued by the robots who all crash into each other, with Pat going on stage, singing, applauded by the townspeople, with love from his wife and son, and the prospect of a trip to Italy.
Capital one of those bright animation films, or bright colours, which, eventually, parents might enjoy with the issues of technology, labour problems, hire and fire, reality shows and their style, which will go over the head of the initially intended audience.
