Three Enid Blyton novels are covered in ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’ and they take place in an enchanted forest where a huge magical tree grows, which titles the film. Source: Australian Catholics.
The tree’s huge branches reach to the sky and tiny houses are carved into its trunk. Both the woods and the house are discovered by three children – Joe, Beth and Ben – who have moved into a house near The Enchanted Wood with their loving father and mother. The children befriend the multiple magical people inhabiting the fantastical lands within the Enchanted Forest with them. In doing so, they learn how to rekindle their own bonds with their parents through active fantasy adventuring.
The three Enid Blyton series covered by the movie are: The Magic Faraway Tree, The Folk of the Faraway Tree, and Up the Faraway Tree.
Nicola Coughlan, Foy and Garfield star with Nonso Anozie, Dustin Demi-Burns, Rebecca Ferguson, and others in screen writer Simon Farnaby’s take on Blyton’s classic work. Foy and Garfield play the parents of the children who discover the Magic Faraway Tree.
Garfield, in particular, is a parent who constantly behaves in the best interests of his children. He is the model of a “good” family man.
The film stays faithful to the detail of Enid Blyton’s Enchanted Wood series, and provides an adventure tale that captures the spirit of childhood enjoyment. The stories it covers are unnatural, but the movie provides whimsical distraction that slots amiably into youthful enjoyment. The film aims for, and achieves, positive family appeal, and engages in adult viewing of childhood imagination that wins over adult logic. Through all the whimsy, the film provides a highly creative film adaptation of Blyton’s original work.
This is an impressive fantasy series that actively fosters childhood involvement that has adult, family appeal. The movie itself modernises Blyton’s books. Dark events and surprising twists abound, but good children survive them all with the help of loving, positive parents.
Excellent production design and special effects render The Magic Faraway Tree in vivid detail, where the magic of childhood-play shapes outcomes that yield cohesive family togetherness. Through it all, Gregor delivers events in a creative way that preserves the positive appeal of Blyton’s work and shows that entering into, and embracing, a child’s fantasy life will yield lasting rewards.
Review by Peter Sheehan, Jesuit Media
The Magic Faraway Tree Starring: Claire Foy, Andrew Garfield, Delilah Bennett-Cardy, Phoenix Laroche, Billie Gadsdon, and many others. Directed by Ben Gregor. 104 minutes. Rated G (very mild slapstick violence and some scenes may scare very young children).
FULL REVIEW
The Magical Faraway Tree (Australian Catholics)
