Some smartarse filmmaker has cottoned onto the fact that most kids find farting endlessly funny. And attempted to stretch this unremarkable truth into a feature-length movie. Thunderpants is the result.
Patrick Smash (Bruce Cook) is a tubby school kid who can't control his arse - until fellow outcast Alan A Alan (Harry Potter's buddy Ron, Rupert Grint) solves the problem by designing the eponymous underwear to contain nasty smells and noises. And not only doesit save Smash's embarrassment, but some clever channelling of the gases helps a semi-famous opera warbler (Simon Callow) hit the high notes, and provides Paul Giamatti's Space Agency agent with a new power source for his rockets (we're not making this up).
Director Peter Hewitt (The Borrowers) has created a stylised world that's pleasingly Beano-esque, but his movie's humour is also stuck in Dennis The Menace territory. In an age when tech-savvy, cine-literate, attention-deficient kids are growing up ever quicker, is there really any room for something this quaint? Sadly, the answer is no.
