Being a big fan of the series as it is one of many things that me and my Granddad bond over, and is a great series that i just find myself re-watching over and over again, that when they announced this movie that was supposed to conclude the series I was ecstatic, but then i noticed that something was missing from the original Television series the charm.
although the cast are well established actors none of them fit the roles
Toby Jones: pales in comparison to Arthur Lowe, he's obviously too thin to play the role and has too much hair to play Captain Manwaring and isn't anywhere near as stubborn as the role should be.
Bill Nighy: whilst more physically suited to play Sgt Wilson, he's much too rough in his performance to carry the charm and kindness that John Le Mesurier brought to the role.
Tom Courtenay: whilst his physical appearance as Cpl Jones is the best of the cast, it's obvious they're trying to desperately to channel Clive Dunn and it does get annoying after a while.
Bill Paterson: His physical appearance doesn't make me thing of John Laurie at all, he looks too young to play Pvt Frazer as he has colour in his hair and is obviously too thin and looks too short to play the role.
Daniel Mays: I was looking forward to seeing how they'd replace Pvt Walker as after James Beck passed away in the middle of the shows run, I wanted to see how they'd try and carry on the Character, his Physical appearance is a bit too chubby and they removed his quips that brought the character to life.
Michael Gambon: Whilst I find that he's my favorite of the cast compared to Arnold Ridley he is pale in comparison, but he is the best acted of the entire cast and is the most faithful, the only problem is that he's a bit too fat for the role and doesn't look as gentle as Pvt Godfrey should.
Blake Harrison: Personally I felt that they only cast Blake Harrison so as a younger audience would be interested in the film, whilst he looks similer to Ian Lavender, I feel in acting due to his previous stint as Neil on the inbetweeners, I couldn't take him seriously as Pvt Pike, the main problem i have with his characterization, is that they took his hobby of Film watching and used it for his character arc, which made him seem annoying.
Martin Savage: Whilst Bill Pertwee wasn't a main character on the series he was still a defining part and in this film ARP Warden Hodges is criminally underused, he's never seen at grips with Manwaring at all throughout the film.
Frank Williams: The one thing they did right was not replace one of the few actors who could still carry on and that was Frank Williams as the vicar, he brings warmth to whatever seen he's in and is a great screen presence for the fans.
Considering that the Film is meant to be a sequel to the series, they do a shoddy job of making it seem like it:
.The Platoon is now only 12 members instead of 17 .Godfrey Carries a riffle which after becoming the Medic he ceases to do so
and these are just the continuity problems, whilst you'd expect to have a great title sequence with "who do you think you're kidding Mr Hitler" playing, they instead decide to copy the Credits of the original series and have the actors walk through the woods, but they fail to even capture the feel of the homage, by showing front views and not the angles of the original.
Even series stables are broken, the catchphrases are either left out or show horned in, and one of the series long running and best jokes Mrs Manwaring is removed and she's instead shown on screen when she should just be a an unseen menace to Captain Manwaring.
The Film steals many plot points from the Show, and whilst you may think that's good, it's lazy in comparison to the classic originals, i'm surprised they didn't shoe horn in the "don't tell em pike" bit for good measure.
I would recommend avoiding this Film if you're a fan of the series like myself and want to see a great ending to the series, i'd suggest that you avoid this movie and imagine something better.
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