Danny the Champion of the World (1989 TV Movie) User Reviews (12)

Utterly Charming

[taita · 8/10 · 28 December 2000]

A charming movie set in rural England after the war. Widowed Father Jeremy Irons is bringing up his son in a caravan on a small piece of land where he also runs his own garage. Unfortunately this small piece of land is crucial to the plans of the local, much disliked, Nouveau Riche squire played by Robbie Coltrane. A real smarmy cove. He wants their land and will call in all favours to get rid of them. He is also currying up to the local gentry with a pheasant shoot, but what if there were no pheasants for anyone to shoot?. What they need is a champion pheasant catcher..

This is another winner from Roald Dahl the peerless childrens writer. Real-life father and son Jeremy and Samuel Irons play the leads in this with Grandad Cusack as the local doctor. Just a bit of a whimsical romp for the two elder actors whereas young Samuel had to put a noticable effort into it. All the same it is a thoroughly heartwarming story. There are quite a few well known faces in it, Jean Marsh doing a caricature of a spinsterish do gooder, Michael Hordern as a slightly dotty Lord, Jimmy Nail as a disgruntled gamekeeper, and Lionel Jeffries as the tippling but exceedingly fair Headmaster. It's almost as if they thought "What shall we do this summer? I know lets do a movie together." They are all perfectly natural and comfortable. A joy to watch.

Watch it with your children you wont regret it.

A worthwhile adaptation

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 4 March 2006]

I saw "Danny the Champion of the World" in fifth grade right after we read Roald Dahl's novel. Portraying a widowed father and son resisting a developer's plan to expand his estate onto their property in rural England in 1955, the movie does a worthy job although it did change some things from the book. It made sense to have Jeremy Irons and his son play Samuel play father and son in the movie; as it was, I'd never heard of Jeremy Irons before watching this movie (and anyone who knows his movies knows that this was probably his most unusual role). It's also interesting now that I know that Victor Hazell was played by Robbie Coltrane, who more recently played Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies. All in all, a pretty good movie.

Unmissable family entertainment.

[jamesraeburn2003 · 8/10 · 12 January 2023]

In rural England in 1955, a single parent family, William Smith (played by Jeremy Irons) and his nine-year-old son Danny (played by Irons' real life son Samuel), fight off obnoxious tycoon Victor Hazell's attempts to force them into selling their little filling station, which has value to his project for developing a "new town". Between them they devise an elaborate plan to poach all of the pheasants from his estate, thus humiliating him before his rich and influential friends for whom he holds an annual shooting party.

A good old fashioned family film that should appeal to parents as well as their children. Charmingly directed by Gavin Millar, the mid-fifties period and a long extinct leisurely rural way of life is well depicted as is the spirit of Roald Dahl's marvellous source novel. Irons and his real life son Samuel offer excellent performances and the way their characters bond as father and son is a joy to watch. There is good support from a host of veteran British character actors, including Robbie Coltrane as Victor Hazell, Lionel Jeffries as the headmaster, Ronald Pickup as a fearsome ex-army officer turned schoolmaster, John Woodvine as a high flying property developer and Jimmy Nail as Hazell's head gamekeeper Rabbetts. Their performances are well-judged in that they are light-hearted to appeal to a family audience, yet still reasonably lifelike so they don't descend into caricature.

All in all, this is unmissable family entertainment and anyone who has read the book should see it too.

A bit too slight and perhaps not enough for modern audiences but still an OK old-fashioned family film

[bob the moo · 17 August 2005]

It is 1955 and Danny and his father William live in a caravan beside their garage in the middle of an estate being bought up by Victor Hazell so that he can turn the woods into housing estates. When William refuses to sell his property to Hazell, the latter starts to put other pressures on William to get off the land and let him have it to complete his dream development – a conflict not helped by the fact that William poaches off Hazell's land. Hazell's plan is to weasel up to the local gentry with a great pheasant shoot – an event that he obviously needs lots of pheasants for, a fact that Danny and his father are keen to exploit to get their own back on the unscrupulous fellow.

Although I have read the book as a child, it hasn't stuck in my mind the way that other, more imaginative Roald Dahl stories have. Watching the film decades later it is clear to me why I enjoyed it but also why it failed to make a lasting impression on me because, although it is a solid family film, it is far too slight and unremarkable to make for a great tale. The film does struggle with this and as a result it rarely engaged or interested me in the way it could have done but it did still manage to be an entertaining little family film. The story is quite ordinary and the rather ordinary delivery doesn't help; I suspect it is this that modern audiences will have problems with – certainly it isn't as smart and flashy as children raised on Toy Story et al will be used to. However despite that it is still quite an enjoyable little tale.

The cast match the natural and wholesome feel of the film. The father/son chemistry between the two Irons is unsurprisingly easy and I quite enjoyed both their performances. Irons senior is gentle and enjoyable and, although his son is not a great actor, he isn't stretched here and fits the role well. Coltrane is enjoyable despite having a fairly simple role to play with and Cusack completes the family set-up with his performance. Nail, Jeffries and a few others all help to add a sense of fun to the film by virtue of their presence in the films.

Overall this is a wholesome and quite old-fashioned family film that will provide a cosy evening in front of the telly despite being a bit too simple to please demanding children. It is all a bit slight and unspectacular but it is fun nonetheless and is worth seeing if you are in the mood and can cope with the rather coying touch of old fashioned sentiment that runs through it.

Charmingly British

[greyKbarclay · 6/10 · 13 December 2023]

Charmingly British in a way that most films set in the countryside in the 50s tend to be, what with the costumes and the locations easily reflecting a different time entirely, and the young Samuel Irons is fantastic as the titular character in his first, and only Silver screen appearance. The relationship that is depicted between father and son is a beautiful site to watch, heightened by the fact that they were portrayed by an actual father and son. I can understand how a young cold would find entertainment in this film. The sense of danger and horror jeopardy the characters find themselves in is adequate for a family friendly film.

Fabously feel-good stuff!

[doherty-elle · 10/10 · 28 August 2005]

Some say it's a little overly sentimental and perhaps a little dated but to me this film ranks as one of the best family films going. Maybe it's the nostalgia of watching it as a child or how calm and wonderful village life looked to a young city slicker. It tells the story of Danny Smith and the life he lives as a mechanic's son whose home is a caravan. Jeremy Irons plays William Smith, a widower who raises his son a bit more unconventionally than most

SPOILERS

The plot is set around the Smiths' struggle against a greedy baron who wants the land that the garage sits on. After a few confrontations - one which ends up with the plucky Danny going after his father when he doesn't return from his midnight poaching - They come up with quite an ingenious idea to rid the village of the baron once and for all.

I can't praise this film enough, it's a perfect coming-of-age tale with a wonderful portrayal of a love between father and son. All he more charming when the leads are played by Jeremy and Samuel Irons. It's endearing and delightful to watch - Make sure you see it!

Danny The Champion of the World was a great film!!!

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 9 September 2009]

I really liked this film, it is very charming, and one of the better Roald Dahl adaptations, Matilda being my favourite. I've read the book, and liked it very much as well, then again, I like anything by Roald Dahl. The film is slightly dated, though that can be forgiven very easily, as it's twenty or so years old. The scenes in the countryside were breathtaking though.

The screenplay was very good too, and the music was lovely. As for the performances, easily the best element of the movie, with Jeremy Irons and his son Samuel lighting up the screen in very charming performances as the father and son, and Robbie Coltrane a sheer delight as Lord Hazell. Fine support also from Michael Horden and Lionel Jeffries, and both of these men are fine actors, and Jeffries is just as impressive as a director, The Railway Children and the Amazing Mr Blunden spring to mind.

All in all, a great underrated film! 9/10 Bethany Cox

An appallingly bad film

[silvamark-mcguinness · 1/10 · 7 April 2013]

I am appalled that anyone would write favourably about this film. Jeremy Irons is completely inappropriate for this role and his son is about as good an actor as Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter, i.e. not very good at all. The film completely and utterly destroys the entire essence of what Dahl captured so beautifully in his book: the timelessness of a simple, and authentic existence in an English post- war rural setting. I love Coltrane and Nail, yet they must have been desperate for work to have allowed themselves to be associated with such a low quality production. I feel morally obliged to become a film maker in order to redo this film in such a way as to do justice to the beauty of the book. Absolute garbage!

Champion book champion Movie

[Isawthat · 10/10 · 17 July 2006]

This movie is listed as TV, yet in Austrlia it was shown in cinemas where I saw it with my family, The movie was true to the Roald Dahl book and was as enjoyable and whimsical, the acting and direction was what was needed for such a classic and I never felt let down or became conscious of the fact that I was watching a movie, but rather was taken away with the story , which is something I long for in movies. I would so enjoy seeing this again, it is in my psyche with such movies as "The railway children" and "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" of which all were British. If your a lover of children's literature and wish to be taken away by a wonderful and endearing movie with values not often contained in entertainment today, this movie is for you.

brilliant!

[ultraviolet400 · 9/10 · 23 July 2005]

This is sterling stuff. A charming film that all the family can watch. Jeremy Irons is really believable as the single father of Danny Smith. Together they hatch a plot to do down wealthy landowner Hazell, played excellently by Robbie Coltrane. It is Jeremy Iron's heartwarming performance that I enjoyed most however, and he works incredibly well with his son Samuel. Their relationship is a joy to watch. I've rarely seen a father and son relationship portrayed so touchingly on screen. Good supporting performances too, from Cyril Cusack and Jimmy Nail among others. I can't think of better actors who could have played the characters in the film. Also lovely music and views of the English countryside. The film is quite evocative of the time it was set in (1955). Great that it's coming out on Region 2 DVD, I think this film deserves more recognition as it definitely captured the spirit of the book.

A Superb Dahl Adaptation

[j2k_ · 8/10 · 30 January 2018]

I revisited this film, having caught some of it on television not long after it's release. I was seeking a bit of charming nostalgia and wasn't disappointed.

The storyline, quite faithfully enacting one of Dahls less fanciful but nonetheless entertaining novels means it has class in spades, and I feel the positive reviews this goes alongside give a good account of the film's merits.

What I would add though is the feeling that this fim stands above many other Dahl adaptations because of the low-key way it was produced, acted and directed. We don't see any of the usual fantastical sequences found in more modern or big budget Dahls, instead we find a sweet little drama played out without fanfare, but with great sympathy toward both the characters and the original book. The headmaster is... masterful in his understatement, as are some of the other minor players, the Policeman too.

It's not a gag fest and it's not syrupy or overly sentimental (I think the word 'charming' is the more appropriate adjective here). The pairing of real life father and son works too, and I was surprised to see the young Samuel Irons hasn't gone on to act further, as he showed promise here.

Anyway, a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining bit of understated British nostalgia. What's not to like?

A great book, an average film

[power_br · 13 August 2000]

A guy who I know at college is in this film. Step forward, Sam Irons! I'm not going to eulogise him, though. His performance is quite wooden, unlike the rest of the cast: Cyril Cusack and Jeremy Irons were on great form for this movie, but the best thing about it it was Robbie Coltrane. Once a scene -stealer, always a scene stealer! So, I'm sorry all you Sam Irons fans! This one belongs to Robbie Coltrane. Jeremy Irons gives a good enough performance as Danny's dad: to an actor of his caliber, such a part is easy. What keeps the whole thing moving is the plot: the book was classic Dahl stuff, and the movie remains faithful. All in all, it is rather enjoyable, if a little dull. If only Haley Joel Osment could have played Danny! It wasn't to be....