Love the UK setting, The bird is a bit disconcerting. Also, how could they miss something so obvious, regarding Helga? No swearing exccept the words "Kick azz".

A new classic, in the genre of kid's movies with horrible puppets. Not since Pet Shop has there been such a repulsive puppet star, as stiff and awkward as the script in which it reads. Butter up the popcorn, dim the lights, and get ready to fast-forward through the human actors, cause this bird really knows how to fly!

My score: 2

THE PHOENIX AND THE MAGIC CARPET is a British film adaptation of the popular Edith Nesbit novel, but when they spell the author's name wrong in the credits then you know that there's not much hope for it. Much better is the BBC adaptation of the story made a couple of years later; it has better puppets and includes the wonderful Psammead to great effect.

As for this film, it's obnoxiously Americanised, with the British children of the book replaced with annoying brats with no affinity for culture or history. What follows is a very loose adaptation of the book, so you get a pre-TRAINSPOTTING Ewen Bremner as the thief and some exotic island stuff. Peter Ustinov does a good job voicing the Phoenix, but the puppet is awfully stiff, a stiffness matched only by the performances of the child actors. Give this one a miss.