Lord Southmere escapes from China with a microfilm of the formula for the mysterious 'Lotus X' and is captured by Chinese spies who try to retrieve the microfilm. Escaping his captors, Lord Southmere hides the microfilm in the bones of a large dinosaur at the National History Museum. However, he has been followed into the museum by the spies, so Lord Southmere asks Hettie (his former nanny), to retrieve the microfilm before the spies find it. He is then promptly recaptured by the head spy, Hnup Wan. Hettie, and her friend Emily, devise a plan for a group of nannies to search for the microfilm, but they are unsuccessful in their endeavours. The spies decide to steal the dinosaur but are outmanoeuvred by Hettie and Emily, who, with young nanny Susan, take the dinosaur skeleton on an unforgettable journey around the countryside. I found the premise of this movie to be quite a funny concept putting old nannies against Chinese spies as they try to recover a piece of top-secret film attached to a dinosaur skeleton. I mean that whole plot sounds so bizarre but that's got to be why I loved it so much. I mean who doesn't want to see nannies fighting against highly trained spies and having a blast whilst doing it? Or seeing a dinosaur skeleton being stolen and driven through a foggy London causing chaos in a highspeed pursuit? Just some of the strange, yet wonderful goings-on to enjoy in this wacky adventure. I would watch this film on Boxing Day each year and it became a bit of a family tradition that we continue to do. The nannies are probably the coolest characters in the film, being so determined and up for a fight to help Lord Southmere. I love the trio of nannies: Hettie, Emily and Susan who have some superb banter and look like they are having a blast in every scene they are in. I especially like Hettie (played by Helen Hayes) who is calm and collected showing no fear, even making fun of Hnup Wan, the head spy after realising she was his nanny a long time ago. I love how scared he is of her, flinching whenever she is around. Hnup Wan (played by Peter Ustinov) is probably my favourite character in the whole film as he is just so funny in everything he says, the way he says it and even in the way he acts. He is just so enjoyable to watch and will always be the best part of the film in my opinion. One of the highlights of this film is the sequence where the nannies take the dinosaur skeleton through London because of all the hilarious encounters they come across. From a hunter trying to shoot the skeleton to be an ornament for his wall to some drunk Scotsmen mistaking it for 'Nessy' (the Loch Ness Monster) and even tailing after another car where one of the passengers is overcome with fright by the dinosaur confusing the driver, who keeps missing it. Such a brilliant group of skits that got a bunch of chuckles from me. I really enjoy the music in this movie, particularly the theme song, which is extremely catchy and has gotten stuck in my head countless times. More times than I care to mention, it's that good. The fighting and acrobatic choreography is phenomenal too, with so many flashing scenes with lots of action and even some slight use of slapstick. Seeing nannies and skilled Chinese spies fight it out in a bar will just never get old. I particularly found nannies using their umbrellas to trip people up in the commotion to be utterly fantastic as the spies start piling up. The comedy that's laced throughout the film is excellent and had me chuckling from start to finish. Even the final reveal of what 'Lotus X' really is is just so amusing and makes for a great finale to see what the fuss was all about, but I won't spoil that amazing reveal here. Overall, this is a great comedic film that features plenty of genres from the mystery of what is on the microfilm and why everyone is after it, to the adventure we go on to find out that very answer. So much fun is packed into this film that I can watch it again and again.
No comments:
Post a Comment