Fairytale: A True Story [DVD]

Lovely "true story" great family film

Watched it over Christmas with mother (i bought it for her as a present).. none of us had seen it before but we were all familier with the real life story as its in many books. really enjoyed the good acting .. maybe oToole not the best fit for C Doyle but with everything else in the film & the good scripting its all ok. Keitel is amazing as Houdini. Watched it again last night with my brother - who is a sort of fan of Paul Mcgan; just a really good happy film with a good message about life struggles. &the end cameo by mel gibson lol

This is a purely magical experience, from start to finish. The amazing imagery is totally captivating and just as magical as it was when I first saw it at the cinema over 15 years. This striking movie is so well written and acted, and the enchanting scenery is to be commended, not to mention the Fairies are just beautiful and magical to watch. My two adore this movie and I have to say that the whole family enjoys watching it together, lots of messages and lessons to be learnt throughout the movie, yet they are not being rammed down your throat and an idealistic manner, rather a gentle understanding of what consequences can bring with decisions that are made. Exploring possible outcomes from ones actions in a way that children can understand but also relate to. Without all the lessons to be learnt I would highly recommend this movie as a family classic, along with The Secret Garden [DVD] [1993 ] and A Little Princess [DVD] [1995 ] as lovely, high quality children's movies the whole family can enjoy. P.S. We purchased our copy from PurpleBix DVD's and although it's region 4 on the box it worked perfectly in our DVD player as the seller said it would. (we have a normal Region 2 DVD player not a multi-region player)

What a lovely magical film. Loved every minuite of it and laugh out loud when Hodini offered the girl a pear, knife and plate and then a table ha ha Clearly a family film for Christmas and hope they will show it again and again .....

FIrstly, I just have to indulge myself by addressing a comment made by one reviewer that they objected to a man with a disfigured face being in the film because of her 7 year old daughter being frightened by it. I have to say I find that incredibly offensive. It is probably the attitude of the parent that gave the child a sensitivity to other peoples disfigurements in the first place, because as you see in the film the children just naturally took to the injured soldier without any reaction to the poor man's injuries. As a kid growing up after the war we saw some very severely injured soldiers and bomb victims but never feared it, we glanced with curiosity and then carried on playing. I grew up with a mother who nursed burns victims (soldiers post war) and she never flinched when she saw people with any kind of injury. Rather she would say 'see that man/woman, that's what a hero looks like.' Whether the person was a soldier or not she would treat them all as heroes because she knew the ignorance that these people, already dealing with the pain and misery of an injury, had to put up with. It is really ignorant for people to react negatively to any injury and I would encourage anyone to accept people for who they are and not what they look like. This film is an unusual one and in that difficult to rate. I want to give it a 5 star because of the incredible Yorkshire scenery, shot sympathetically and artistically by the camera crew. Also it felt like I was dipping into the Victorian age, with the magnificent sets and costume. The two little girls in their Victorian dress were charming and I enjoyed their relaxed and talented acting. They really believed in their roles in a way that some Hollywood actors can only dream of. Peter O'Toole was delightful as Arthur Conan Doyle, it's always a treat to see such an elite actor in a film like this, he raises the level in any film that he is in and I bet his co-stars were inspred by his presence. Phoebe Nicholls is such a strong solid actress. She never gives a bad performance and if I were a casting director for a period drama in particular I would have trouble choosing anyone else for female lead. Paul McGann was the stand out actor for me. My grandfather was a Yorkshireman and he looked and played the part so believably in an incredibly convincing performance. Ok so now for the downside. I didn't like the fairies in this. There should have been some of course, as the story is largely about them, but the viewer in this case was almost forced to believe the story. It would have been so much better if they had looked more like dragon flies with just little touches so that they could either be flying insects or fairies. It would have been more realistic. One scene where the fairies are crossing a road made me feel almost embarrassed for the film crew. There was a scene at the end which was silly and I thought these scenes cheapened an otherwise well balanced film. Lastly to include Mel Gibson in this was extremely annoying. He is an incredibly anti-English person a racist in fact. (I am mixed race - a quarter English but I am entirely irritated). He produced this wonderful film, so I'll give him that. But to include himself in the cast was self indulgent especially given his feelings towards the English. Overall a fabulous film, brilliantly acted especially by Paul McGann in a part he was born to play and I heartily recommend it.

Good

This film is packed with magical moments, Joy and wonder. Though the story has these lovely elements, the backdrop is the First World War and some of the realistic themes of the war are carefully shown in a way that does not shelter the viewers from the reality. There are some hilarious moments as well as the start of the Industrial changes that will begin to change the working lives of local people. The fairies themselves add such magic to all aspects of the story and soften some of the harsh realities of life. The scenery is gorgeous and it is easy to loose all sense of time. A really enjoyable family film - though some dads might slip out for a beer. Fairies might be a bit too much.

This is based on the true story of 2 girls from Cottingly who said they had seen 'real fairies' at the beck at the bottom of their garden. Beautifully shot in a lovely location, this is a really charming film for all ages - I bought this on video back in 1998 for my then 4 year old daughter, who loved it. I fell in love with it there and then, not only for the film/story, but the most beautiful music throughout (I have since bought the soundtrack cd) My younger daughter is 13 and she also loves it. Set during the first world war, the clothes, the settings, the whole feel of the film is very warm and nostalgic. A truly heart-warming family film. I shall be watching this film time and time again.