The Magic Faraway Tree is an Enid Blyton novel, obviously updated a bit for the big screen, given how Claire Foy (H Is For Hawk), as Polly Thompson, is a “fridge designer”, yet stupidly quits her job because the model she brought to fruition, which they also have in their house – and which has the voice of Judi Dench – has a camera that spies on the end user.
As a result, since the house came with the job, they have to move out. Completely ridiculous premise.
Anyhoo, with their only option being to instantly move out, and into a shithole in the country, there was some brief hope of humour in this, when on arrival to a train station in the middle of nowhere, hubby Tim (Andrew Garfield – After The Hunt) asks the aged station master if there’s a taxi rank. Cue a long pause…. before, “Nope!”
Cue Polly following this up, “Ah, I know how this works…”, gives him £20 and asks him again…. “Nope!”
There’s similar in a gag used in the trailer relating to the tech-obsessed kids wanting a wifi signal, but after this, such humour disappears as quick as it arrived.
Still, the Thompsons’ expectation is that if they buy the crappy house for £20,000, they’ll be able to afford it by making tomato pasta sauce and selling it over the summer… Clearly, there are no shops in that area.
The film teaches us that if you’re the youngest child in the family – Fran (Billie Gadsdon – The Hack) – in this case, it’s okay if you rarely spoke to anyone, because once you meet a fairy, Silky (Nicola Coughlan – GOAT), and say “I believe in magic” three times, a new world opens up, and so do your horizons.
That said, as we see the kids climbing the tree and then the ladder that follows, I would get vertigo like you’d never believe.
We briefly see a couple of Lands, such the the Land of Goodies, which is full of sweets, but when Rebecca Ferguson (Mercy) was brought in as the baddie, Dame Slap, her character is very underused, feeling more like an afterthought. I got more enjoyment from Mark Heap‘s Mr. Oom Boom Boom, because he sounded like a continuation of Jim from Friday Night Dinner.
There are too many characters, though, since Jessica Gunning‘s Dame Washalot, and Oliver Chris‘ Mr. Watzisname pop up a couple of times and that’s it. Less is more.
With Lots of lands available, these can be used for sequels if they ever come, but given the box office take, probably not. It’s reportedly taken just over $12m on a staggering $80m budget. Reminds me of 2023’s Dungeons And Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, which was a much better film, but like this one, it also came out FIVE DAYS before a Super Mario film, after which, you’ve lost your audience to the idiotic plumbers, especially which barely seem to be in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie!
As such, that film was a massive flop, taking just $208m on a $150m budget.
The Magic Faraway Tree is also painfully predictable, with an overly diverse cast. Apparently, only 2-5% of Italians have black ancestry, but writer Simon Farnaby found one…
Well, the actor is probably as Italian as Chris Pratt and Charlie Day(!)
NOTE: There are both mid- and post-credits scenes, as per my video below.
The Magic Faraway Tree is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
However, you can buy The Magic Faraway Tree book collection
https://amzn.to/4mlUXbS
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 110 minutes
Release date: April 3rd 2026
Studio: Entertainment Film
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (ARRIRAW (4.5K))
Rating: 4/10
Director: Ben Gregor
Producers: Nicolas Brown, Pippa Harris, Jane Hooks, Danny Perkins
Novel: Enid Blyton
Screenplay: Simon Farnaby
Music: Isabella Summers
Cast:
Tim Thompson: Andrew Garfield
Polly Thompson: Claire Foy
Silky: Nicola Coughlan
Beth Thompson: Delilah Bennett-Cardy
Fran Thompson: Billie Gadsdon
Joe Thompson: Phoenix Laroche
Dame Washalot: Jessica Gunning
Dame Snap: Rebecca Ferguson
Moonface: Nonso Anozie
Mr. Watzisname: Oliver Chris
Grandmother Thompson: Jennifer Saunders
Saucepan Man: Dustin Demri-Burns
Mr. Oom Boom Boom: Mark Heap
The Know-Alls: Michael Palin, Simon Russell Beale, Lenny Henry
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.