Director: Ben Gregor
Writer: Simon Farnaby
Stars: Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Nonso Anozie
Synopsis: A modern family relocates to the countryside where the children discover a magical tree with eccentric residents. They’re transported to fantastical lands, rekindling their family bond through adventures.
Art often reflects the anxieties of our time in places we don’t expect. Many of us are concerned by disconnectedness, apathy, and technology stunting intelligence. Often it’s easier to understand that there is a worry when children are involved. It’s easier to see through the eyes and experiences of children that technology has absorbed and overtaken many aspects of life. Technology has fundamentally changed what we think of as childhood and how children interact with the world. Films like The Magic Faraway Tree can remind us of the magic of childhood amidst the noise of the modern world.
While The Magic Faraway Tree can impart wonderful lessons for children and adults, it is skewed heavily toward a younger audience. This is why it’s strange that the film has what feels like missing pieces. It certainly follows most of a formula, but it’s like they took out something and didn’t replace it. This feeling of something missing can make the story feel flat. Beth (Delilah Bennett-Cardy) and Silky (Nicola Coughlan) seem to be moving toward something like mutual respect, but as soon as their relationship begins, it seems to be over. Writer Simon Farnaby is no stranger to children’s literary adaptations having handled the scripts for all the Paddington films and Wonka, but The Magic Faraway Tree doesn’t feel as grand or even as grounded as those films. Most of it could be because the otherworldly antagonist is just not strong enough and the real world antagonist feels as if she doesn’t have a bite.
Having a big bad that propels the protagonists toward good is a staple of any film like this. The supposed antagonist of the fantasy portions of the film is meant to be Dame Snap (Rebecca Ferguson). Yet, her screentime is minimal and her participation in the overall plot is tepid. She’s less of a villain than a speed bump. It’s like she was forgotten about and then added to a later draft without any sort of actual plan to use her. She’s completely unnecessary. On the flip side in the reality portion of the story, Grandma (Jennifer Saunders) is necessary and intimidating, but her threats feel uninspired and toothless. We never see her menacing hand wringing or machinations. She’s just there to bluster, then she’s gone.
Instead of focusing too much on fantasy problems, the film would feel more interesting with more emphasis on the problems of the real world. Seeing these scenes of the family struggling to do something and build something together makes you wish the film had no fantasy elements at all, or that they were less involved and grandiose. There’s a dramatic and exciting story happening on this optimistic long shot of an idea.
The movie truly shines when Andrew Garfield is on screen. As Tim, Garfield takes the hapless, weird dad to new heights of adorkable. Tim’s a man with big dreams and a desperate need to keep his family from falling apart. He’s a man who makes things happen, sort of. Really he’s the idea man to his incredible engineer wife, Polly (Claire Foy), who takes his manic energy and turns it into reality. Garfield is so good at playing characters who understand the real world and its problems, but will do anything and everything to change that real world and make it better for those he loves. He plays Tim with an elfin sparkle that utterly charms us even as we cringe that Tim’s plan is incredibly risky and hard to like.
Though, if the story were just a simple family drama and that wonderful reality of the Magic Faraway Tree didn’t exist, we wouldn’t have a hand crafted feast for our eyes. The production design by Alexandra Walker is truly fantastic. She’s created multiple worlds with unique and intricate details. Her team has built a fabulous fantasy that you will make you wish you could visit. This goes double for costume designer Ann Maskrey who created some awe inspiring looks. Teamed with the tremendous hair and makeup crew, the characters all look so amazing and make each personality stand out so well, even with the mundane clothes of the Thompson family there is individuality and fun.
The Magic Faraway Tree has some very good ideas. It’s an adaptation of a children’s book series from the mid-twentieth century, so it’s obvious that the filmmakers took liberties with modernizing the story and this makes it for the better. The anxieties of now are similar, but starkly different than those in the time of the original novels. In order for it to reach into our hearts and our capacity to change, it needed to be modern. The story doesn’t always sing, but there are bright spots amongst the holes and it makes the journey worth it in the end.
