Plenty of British children’s stories have managed to catch on with American audiences via their cinematic adaptations, from Mary Poppins to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to Paddington. The latest entry to cross the pond is unlikely to reap similar success despite the presence of Claire Foy and Andrew Garfield in leading roles and a supporting cast featuring some of England’s finest thespians. Adapted from Enid Blyton’s 1943 novel, which was part of a three-book series, The Magic Faraway Tree proves so relentlessly twee and sugary that all but the youngest viewers will find themselves at risk of a diabetic coma.
Foy and Garfield play Polly and Tim, a married couple who decide to decamp from their London home when Polly resigns from her job at a manufacturing company after said company installs spying technology in the smart refrigerator — voiced by Judi Dench, of all people — that she’s invented. So they take off with their kids to the rural countryside, renting a dilapidated barn and creating a tomato farm to fulfill Tim’s dream of marketing his homemade pasta sauce.
The Magic Faraway Tree
The Bottom Line
Too imaginative for its own good.
