Prime Time: Postman Pat: The Movie (2014)

I don’t know why I decided to watch Postman Pat: The Movie this week, but watch it I did. Maybe it was my brain being more alert than ever to Royal Mail, considering how much time and space it has taken up on the news and TV lately (and this movie could have been very different if it reflected any real-life events), or maybe I decided to revisit a character I hadn’t spent any time with for about four decades. It was probably just my usual roll of the dice, consider my willingness to give anything a chance, but I wasn’t exactly over the moon as I pressed play.

The plot is enjoyably simple. Postman Pat (voiced by Stephen Mangan) is disappointed to hear that he won’t be receiving a pay bonus that he was looking forward to, which means no holiday to Italy for the family. He doesn’t want to let them down though, considering how keen they are, so he ends up entering a talent contest that could keep everyone happy . . . if he wins. His main competitor is a young man named Josh (Rupert Grint), managed by someone (Wilf, voiced by David Tennant) who isn’t above using some dirty tricks to ensure that his star client wins. Meanwhile, Edwin Carbunkle (Peter Woodward) has a plan to make the mail delivery system more efficient and profitable, all thanks to robot versions of Pat and his cat, Jess.

Being unfamiliar with director Mike Disa and writer Nicole Dubuc, Postman Pat: The Movie was a film I thought I might end up enduring, as opposed to enjoying. The characters and antics would obviously be aimed at a MUCH younger demographic (I know I can be accused of immaturity, but I am not actually as childish as I sometimes seem) and I figured that the animation would lack the polish and detail of the movie output seen from more renowned studios.

Fortunately, I ended up finding a lot to enjoy here. Yes, it is very definitely made for younger viewers (although none of them will laugh at how inappropriate it is to see Pat reading “The Postman Always Rings Twice” to his young child), but the enjoyably simple plot allows for a great mix of small and big gags in every main sequence. The animation may not be the very best, but it feels like a nicely updated version of the character and the world that he inhabits. Maybe this is just ported over from later TV episodes, or maybe it isn’t (I wouldn’t know as I haven’t watched it since the early 1980s), but it’s a good mix of the old and the new.

It’s also helped enormously by a voice cast all feeling perfect in their roles. Mangan is great as Pat, trying to stay upbeat even in the face of overwhelming odds, Grint is enthusiastic and pleasant as Joshua, and Tennant seems to relish arching his eyebrows and rubbing his hands together as he acts like the panto villain of the piece. As for Woodward, playing the more harmful villain, he delivers his dialogue with a cool hint of menace underlining almost everything he says. Susan Duerden and Sandra Teles play Pat’s wife and son, respectively, and both feel just right in their roles, and you get to hear Jim Broadbent, Ronan Keating (providing the singing voice for Pat), and a hugely entertaining Robin Atkin Downes, playing the talent show judge, Simon Cowbell.

I doubt I will ever watch this again, unless I am babysitting younger children in my home, but I enjoyed it while it was on. It provides a fun adventure for a beloved character without having to change or mutate the essence of the show, the whole community becomes involved in the unfolding drama, and there are good lessons learned before the end credits roll. I genuinely enjoyed it . . . although maybe that just shows that I AM as childish as I sometimes seem.

7/10

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Knock At The Cabin (2023)

Taken on a purely superficial level, director M. Night Shyamalan has kept to his usual remit over the past few years. He has delivered thrillers that are centered around an intriguing idea, pleasing or displeasing viewers with his approach to executing the material. Dive under the surface though, which is easy to do when the surface level doesn’t seem anywhere near as emotional or complex as his best work, and you start to see some worrying ideas (almost propaganda) at the heart of them. I am not here to point these aspects out to everyone, but I do think that Shyamalan is now focusing on his subtextual messaging ahead of straightforward storytelling, which makes it necessary to start acknowledging where he seems to be expending more of his energy.

Knock At The Cabin is a tale of four people who arrive at a cabin and request entry. They are headed up by Leonard (Dave Bautista). The people already in the cabin are Eric (Jonathan Groff), Andrew (Ben Aldridge), and their adopted daughter, Wen (Kristen Cui), and they are blissfully unaware that there is an impending apocalypse, apparently. Leonard and his cohorts have had visions. They don’t want to harm people, but they have been asked to knock on this cabin door and ask those inside to make a sacrifice. If they can choose a loved one to sacrifice then they can save the whole world. That’s hard to believe though, obviously, and the film is essentially a lengthy dialogue in which the believers try to convert the non-believers to their cause.

Adapting a book by Paul Tremblay, Shyamalan and co-writers Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman certainly have their work cut out for them, dealing with an implausible scenario that is mostly confined to the one location. They give it an admirable attempt, helped by a cast that deliver on the acting front, but there just isn’t enough mixed in to the plot to distract viewers from the ridiculousness of the central idea. At the risk of moving further away from the source material, this needed to have characters more fleshed out, more debate about the choice to be made, and more ambiguity in the third act.

Shyamalan directs competently, happily keeping viewers in the cabin with the main characters, and I was pleased that he didn’t require his cast to deliver some of their worst performances this time around (as he did with Old), but he doesn’t elevate the middling script. This would arguably work better as a stage play, allowing a focus on the ideas and conversation, but Shyamalan wants a film. He manages to do that, only just, but the end result, if being ranked, sits almost right in the middle of his filmography.

Bautista is quite brilliant in his role, a gentle giant who is as sad about his actions as he is determined to carry them out. He is flanked by Rupert Grint, Nikki Amuka-Bird, and Abby Quinn, who all do good work. It’s a shame that they aren’t given more screentime, but Bautista is the spokesperson for the group, and that’s how he ends up being the most impressive onscreen presence. Groff and Aldridge are also very good, required to spend most of the movie in a state of fear, and young Cui is a very sweet little girl that you hope will be kept safe from any harm, be it interpersonal or global.

I enjoyed this while it was on. The cast make it work, often being good enough to improve dialogue that could have seemed goofy and ridiculous. That’s all there is to it though. It’s an acting showpiece, directed by someone who seems too distracted to make the most of what could have been a much more impressive, and much more tense, killer thriller premise.

6/10

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