Reviews

Wow. I never knew this film could cause so much controversy. Opinions seem to be split around fifty-fifty as to whether it's a wonderfully funny piece of comedy, or a ridiculous pile of garbage. Personally, I love it, but I can see why people might hate it. If you try to take a film about women-starved idiots too seriously, you're bound to hate it. However, if you accept that the film is inherently stupid, and you're just meant to laugh at the characters, maybe you could enjoy it just a little. Maybe not, but I did.

Obviously this isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it's worth a laugh. If you want a film that will have you giggling hysterically (if your sense of humour's as weird as mine) then see it. If not, and you're looking for an intelligent commentary on American nightlife in the nineties, forget it. Anyway, I like it.

You really won't know anything about this programme unless you're English and either were a child about fifteen years ago, or had children at that time. I was the former, and I have to say that Bagpuss was my favourite TV programme then, and still holds a special place in my heart. Describing the content is difficult, but basically Bagpuss wakes up every day in the shop he lives in, and he and his friends investigate whatever has been brought to them by Emily, the owner of the shop. Emily finds items that people have lost and puts them in her shop window so that they can be reclaimed. Bagpuss' friends include Gabriel the banjo-playing toad, Madeleine the motherly rag doll, the childish mice on the mouse organ (you have to see it for yourself) and Professor Yaffle, the slightly eccentric uncle-type, who is in fact a wooden book-end woodpecker.

Bagpuss as a programme was never patronising to children, and was not afraid to use long words if they were appropriate. I believe it was an essential part of my upbringing, and I would recommend that all parents show Bagpuss to their children. All thirteen episodes are available on a single video, so if you want to keep your kids happy, or saw Bagpuss first time round and feel nostalgic, buy it.