Review of Mio In The Land Of Faraway

Introduction

`Mio in the Land of Faraway` is a movie based on a popular children`s book of the same name by Astrid Lindgren (Swedish author of Pippi Longstocking). The story goes that she wrote the book after seeing a lonely boy sitting on a park bench in Stockholm. She then imagined a life for this inspirational boy. The bench can still be seen, signed `Mio sat here`.

The movie was the result of some financial / artistic union between the Soviets (a Russian Directed this) and the Swedish, though most of the cast are British.

Mio starts out the movie as `Bosse` (played by 14-year old Nick Packard, now a Hollyoaks regular), a poor kid who suffers at the hands of bullies, and then returns to the home he shares with two nasty relatives who care for him now that his Mother has died and his Father has disappeared. He dreams of finding something better, and that night visits a local shop where a lady gives him a magic apple that turns into gold. A large `Genie` (actually just a floating head) comes to find him and, with Bosse holding onto the tassels of his beard, transports him to a new land - the mystical Land of Faraway.

Here he discovers that his father is the King of Green Meadow Mountain (which covers most of Faraway) and he also learns that his real name is Mio. It turns out that it is prophesied that he will battle the Dark Knight, Kato (Christopher Lee) - which is just what he sets out to do. His friend Jum-Jum (played by 12 year old Christian Bale - Batman Begins) joins him on this quest which brings many adventures as he battles his way towards Kato`s castle for the final battle.

It won`t take Sherlock Holmes to point out the shameless similarities in plot to `Lord of the Rings`, though this is a far less sophisticated story of good versus evil.

Some of the scenery is to be admired, though it all looks a little washed out on this pitiful transfer.

Video

I was expecting better from this having read reports that it had enjoyed some sort of clean up. That was certainly not evident on the copy I viewed. The print was in a terrible state, full of wear and tear, and the transfer was blocky and lo-res, resulting in an experience no better than the bad old days of VHS. Curiously, the titles (start and end) are in 16:9, though the movie itself reverts to 4:3. There must be a story behind this, though it smacks of neglect. Yuk!

Audio

It`s a curious cross-national production (like `The Neverending Story`), co-financed by both Swedish and Soviet backers, and some of the dialogue was originally delivered in Swedish, and later dubbed, whilst other bits were recorded in English and dubbed into Swedish. Frankly, it shows, with most dialogue sounding mismatched and devoid of intonation.

The incredibly catchy title song "Mio min Mio" was written by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson from ABBA, and its refrain can be heard throughout the movie, undoubtedly adding to its nostalgic powers for those who love this movie.

The soundtrack remains fairly unremarkable and a little pedestrian by today`s standards, and this transfer probably does little to rectify that.

Features

None

Conclusion

`Mio in the Land of Faraway` is not dissimilar to `The Neverending Story`, which was released about the same time as this, though it`s not quite as good.

This edition suffers from some wooden acting, a small budget, and an appalling transfer. However, it`s a much-loved movie for some, conjuring up some magical childhood memories, and copies of this on DVD have been known to exchange hands for north of £150 as it has long since been deleted. This new edition will put pay to that though will do nothing to redress the quality issues associated with that release.

Despite its incredibly matter of fact narrative, filled with the most unlikely coincidences and happenings, there is still enough action here to charm the kids, who may not notice just how pedestrian the whole thing looks. It is a film, after all, about a mistreated boy who finds that his real father is a king of a mystical land, and who then gets a groovy sword and horse with which to battle a nasty dark knight. Possibly all the right ingredients to get your under 10`s swiping the air with imaginary blades, and riding round the house on a sweeping brush making clickety-clicking noises.

But if you have no children, and have no nostalgic recollection of this first time round, it`s almost certainly not for you and should be avoided.