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An Exercise In Nonsense

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Legendary producers and writers Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and special effects genius Derek Meddings who also created the classic television series, Thunderbirds 1965-66, Captain Scarlett 1967-68, Joe 90 1968-69, UFO 1970-71 and the classic flick Doppelganger 1969 and Gerry and Sylvia Anderson who also created the classic television series, Space 1999 1975-77 have created another gem in Thunderbirds are GO.I enjoyed the crash at the beginning of the film plus the characters and machines from the television series.If you enjoyed this as much as I did then check out other classic puppet and doll flicks, Meet the Feebles 1989, Puppet Master 1989, Puppet Master 3: Toulon's Revenge 1991, Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter 1994, Demonic Toys 1992, Disaster 2006, Childs Play 1988, Bride of Chucky 1998, PIN 1988, Love Object 2003, Lars and the Real Girl 2007, May 2002, Z.P.G. 1972, Ted 2012, Dead Silence 2007 and Tourist Trap 1979.

It's impressive to see how well Gerry Anderson's assorted Supermarionation projects have held up over the years. The Thunderbirds were always my favorite of the batch and this, their first feature film, is still an impressive, majestic entertainment for all ages -- even if it sort of misses a few of the marks that made the show such a global phenomenon.I'd always wondered about that: Here was the first big screen adventures for the clever motorized puppets that made Anderson's shows so special, and the film seems to abruptly forget who the real stars were. It wasn't the puppets themselves but the marvelous rocket powered machines they flew. Just like the U.S.S. Enterprise was the real hero of "Star Trek", the Thunderbird machines themselves were the "stars" of Anderson's show, and yet they get surprisingly little screen time in their big epic cinematic debut.Instead, the focus of the project is the Zero-X, an ungainly interplanetary rocket ship that was introduced in an effort to bridge the gap between "The Thunderbirds" series and Anderson's followup, the much more grown up and dark "Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons", a show that I never quite warmed to. In THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO the Zero-X and it's crew of astronauts is sent to the first manned voyage to Mars, where about all they do is manage to rile up the local populace of "Rock Snakes" who proceed to hurl fireballs at the Earthlings and chase them off. The ship would be back in the Captain Scarlet series to do more or less the same thing, according to the Wikipedia pages devoted to the Anderson franchises, with the movie's big set of Glenn Field Spaceport also playing a recurring role.Meanwhile, the Thunderbird crafts themselves serve more as a Greek chorus to usher in the action of the film as they first escort the Zero-X into Earth orbit after a scurrilous sabotage attempt by the series' running villain, the Hood. And then they are brought back in for the conclusion where the Zero-X develops the inevitable malfunction that triggers the traditional Thunderbirds race against time to save the astronauts trapped on board from certain doom. All of it ends in another big colossal Gerry Anderson explosion that wipes out an entire (evacuated) town after some appropriate puppet heroics messing about with the power cables while the standard Thunderbird cast watches from a distance with great concern.The film is exceedingly well made, and those with a taste for Anderson and Derek Meddings' particular brand of mechanized miniatures combined with animatronic puppetry will of course be delighted by the results. Non-fans of the series will probably be entertained as well, and there is even an amusingly clever musical interlude featuring Cliff Richard Jr. that feels like it was added for the hell of it. Well, why not? Especially if the Thunderbirds aren't really going to the focus of the proceedings. To a degree it really is just an extended episode with the Tracy family, the movie assumes viewers having a certain familiarity with the Thunderbirds' universe and usual devices. Explanation is tossed aside in favor of just getting to the action, and for a puppet movie there's plenty of it, even if the wrong machine is the one that gets the majority of the attention.If it sounds like I'm annoyed by this rest assured that I adore this movie, used to get a genuine kick out of horrifying an ex-girlfriend with it from time to time, and it is indeed quite true that to really appreciate how majestic of a production it is you need to see it in the full widescreen -- something that's a bit of a pickle, since the film was shot in an ultra-wide 2:74:1 Techniscope ratio that may not come across adequately on even a contemporary widescreen TV display (a fact not helped by the DVD being presented in a 2:35:1 16x9 ratio, and the older VHS versions show a miserable pan/scan compression that utterly ruins the widescreen compositions).It's still a treat however, boys over the age of about six will find this to be more addicting than Coco Puffs, and before you know it they will be clamoring for the "Thunderbirds Megaset" featuring all of the original full length TV adventures. And then they'll want to see Captain Scarlet, and Stingray and Supercar, and eventually UFO & Space: 1999 ... AND WHO COULD BLAME THEM? It's some of the most miraculous "family" entertainment ever devised, with even a downright grownup left turn with Anderson's under-appreciated JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN. More than forty years later the material is still fresh and vital and capable of winning over new audiences with their positive, upbeat vision of the future where technology and humans work together to save the world. The kids might be a bit confused by all those rocket fumes though -- hardly a "green" vision of tomorrow, but then again this was the 1960s we were talking & about nobody gave a damn back then about a little jet fuel being consumed.7/10: You KNOW you want your own copy. Say you got it for the kids and she'll let it pass.

I remember back in the 1960s the family were out for a walk and we were passing a cinema. We had nothing else to do, so we went in to see this. I had never been particularly impressed with the TV version in black and white (at that time in Britain). But I was very impressed with the film. In full glorious colour, and the special effects looked highly realistic on the big screen - they really did.It's kids' entertainment for children aged from 7 to 700. The fact it lasted longer than a TV episode doesn't matter.You get a great exciting story, lots of journeys into space in a blistering adventure that'll steam up Brains's glasses and set his bow tie spinning.Saw the film again recently, this time with the eyes of an adult. Saw the dream sequence set in the night club. I was amazed at the attention to detail with The Shadows. Not only was each puppet almost a perfect model of Hank, Bruce, John and Brian, but the little Burns guitars were perfect in every detail, right down to the trade mark scroll head. Beautifully done. The singer was Cliff Richard Junior. Oh, well, you can't get everything right!

Tedious and demented mess that has puppets (not a misprint) involved in outer space exploration, sabotage, rescue missions and even risqué behavior. Laughably stupid picture that has a small following even today and has recently inspired a live-action remake with Ben Kingsley (!?) and a demented parody by the makers of "South Park". Meant to be innovative and unique in 1966, "Thunderbirds Are Go" is little more than a weak Saturday morning matinée idea with few financial resources and even fewer brain cells. Sleep-inducer that should be ignored by all. Even the youngsters will get sick of the creepy creatures that admittedly have about as much talent as many Grade-D performers in Hollywood today. Turkey (0 stars out of 5).