Review - Thunderbirds (2004)

        Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, after the success of Spy Kids back in the early 2000's, many studios and filmmakers attempted to replicate Robert Rodriguez's success, and this would include Star Trek actor turned filmmaker Jonathan Frakes, who would direct the 2004 family action movie Thunderbirds. Based on the British television series of the same name, which utilized the craft known as supermarionation, the live-action movie version of Thunderbirds stars Bill Paxton, Brady Corbett, Anthony Edwards, Vanessa Hudgens, Sophia Myles, Ron Cook, DeObia Oparei, Rose Keegan, and Ben Kingsley. 

       So, the movie centers on the Tracy family, led by billionaire former astronaut and widower father Jeff Tracy. Jeff, along with his sons Scott, John, Virgil, and Gordon, are based on a remote island in the South Pacific called Tracy Island, which is the home of an organization called International Rescue, whose job it is to offer aid in the event of a disaster. To do this, the Tracy family use a fleet of massive machines known as the Thunderbirds. There's the orbital space station Thunderbird 5, the submersible Thunderbird 4, and rockets Thunderbird 3, Thunderbird 2, and Thunderbird 1. Now, while Thunderbirds 1 and 3 are actual rockets, Thunderbird 2 is a massive ship that can carry smaller vehicles like Thunderbird 4. 

      However, the movie doesn't focus itself on Jeff, Scott, John (who is in space on Thunderbird 5), Virgil, or Gordon, but rather on the youngest Tracy brother: fourteen year old Alan Tracy, who is attending boarding school on the mainland as opposed to doing what he wants, which is going on rescue missions with his father and brothers. Also at school with Alan is his best friend Fermat Hackenbacker, son of Ray "Brains" Hackenbacker. Brains, who also lives on Tracy Island, works as the engineer and designer of the Thunderbirds. One day, as school is letting out for Spring Break, Alan and Fermat watch a news story showing a rescue of an oil rig that caught fire, with the crew airlifted onto Thunderbird 2, and Scott putting out the blaze with Thunderbird 1. Alan and Fermat, meanwhile, are picked up by Lady Penelope, a British agent of International Rescue based in London, and she and her butler Parker take the boys home to Tracy Island for Spring Break. Nice. 

       We also meet other residents of Tracy Island, such as Kyrano, along with his wife Ohnaha and their daughter Tin-Tin. And yes, Alan and Tin-Tin have a romantic attraction to each other. Anyway, Alan and Fermat almost take Thunderbird 1 for a joyride, but Jeff stops them, and grounds Alan for the rest of Spring Break. However, a mysterious goo was on the nose of Thunderbird 1, and is used to track the Thunderbirds back to Tracy Island. The ones tracking the Thunderbirds are a group of criminals led by psychic named The Hood. Now, in the series, the Hood was only telepathic, but in this movie he's both telepathic and telekinetic. Eh. Anyway, to draw the Thunderbirds away, the Hood launches a missile at Thunderbird 5, which leads Jeff, Scott, Virgil, and Gordon to go to John's rescue in Thunderbird 3. 

       Meanwhile, The Hood and his men take over Tracy Island, and use the systems to trap Jeff and his sons on Thunderbird 5, and reveals both his plan and his motivation. His plan: use the Thunderbirds to rob the largest banks in the world, starting with the Bank of London. His motivation: apparently, when the Thunderbirds performed a rescue at a mine disaster, they saved The Hood's brother, Kyrano, but failed to save The Hood himself. Overhearing this, Alan, along with Fermat and Tin-Tin, heads to a secondary transmitter on the other side of the island to restore control of Thunderbird 5 to Jeff and the others. Also, to keep The Hood from taking off, Fermat nabs the guidance chip from Thunderbird 2, so The Hood sends his brutish thug Mullion, and a few other thugs, to retrieve the chip. 

      Lady Penelope and Parker, meanwhile, realize that something is wrong, and the two of them head to Tracy Island to investigate, only to be captured by The Hood. Alan, meanwhile, arrives and surrenders, sending him, Lady Penelope, and Parker to be locked up in a freezer with Brains, Fermat, and Tin-Tin and her parents. Alan, finally learning that it's about the team, not himself, works with everyone to get out of the freezer and regain control of the island. Which is possible, given that The Hood, along with Mullion and another associate, an irritating woman named Transom, head to London in Thunderbird 2, where they'll tunnel into the bank with a machine called The Mole. Fermat and Brains are able to restore control to Thunderbird 5, but need someone on their end to confirm. Despite every attempt to rouse Jeff and the others back to consciousness, it's Brains shouting for Jeff to wake up that gets his attention. Control is restored, along with artificial gravity, and Thunderbird 5 is returned to orbit. Unfortunately, an engine on Thunderbird 3 is damaged, and so Jeff and the boys won't reach London soon enough. Alan, however, steps up and gets the okay to get to London in Thunderbird 1, with Fermat as co-pilot, Lady Penelope as chaperone, and Tin-Tin along to help. 

       In London, The Hood, Transom, and Mullion use the Mole to tunnel to the bank, and damage a support for a monorail, with The Hood rationalizing that the Thunderbirds will get the blame. Thunderbird 1 touches down, and Alan, Tin-Tin, and Fermat take control of Thunderbird 2, initiating a rescue of the monorail car with a combination of a rescue line and Alan piloting Thunderbird 4. Thunderbird 3 arrives, and Jeff and the boys see the monorail rescue for themselves, with Jeff being proud of Alan for doing a good job. And, when Alan asks if it was true that Jeff didn't rescue The Hood, Jeff confirms it was true, and clarifies that it wasn't intentional, it was simply because " you can't save everyone." 

      At the bank, it's a final showdown. Tin-Tin locks up Transom, Fermat and Parker knock out Mullion, and we see Lady Penelope, Jeff, and Alan confront The Hood. However, when Alan almost falls into the blades of The Mole, Tin-Tin uses her own psychic powers (which we learned that she has earlier in the movie) to overpower The Hood, and as The Hood nearly falls to his death, Alan saves his life as it's what International Rescue does. The Hood, Transom, and Mullion go to jail, and The Hood remarks "I'll see you soon, Jeff." Back at Tracy Island, a poolside barbeque is going on, and the trio of Alan, Fermat, and Tin-Tin are officially named members of the International Rescue team. However, a call come in for another rescue mission, and Alan and his brothers go off to carry out the mission. Thunderbirds are go!

         Okay, so the Spy Kids inspired plot isn't great, but it's at least decent. Some of the acting is alright, with Bill Paxton, Sophia Myles, Ron Cook, and Anthony Edwards giving the best performances. Ben Kingsley was okay as The Hood, and his two cronies, Transom and Mullion were just a joke, with Rose Keegan and DeObia Oparei just giving the most ludicrous of performances. But, it's Brady Corbett as Alan, Soren Fulton as Fermat, and Vanessa Hudgens as Tin-Tin that are the center of the movie. And, honestly, they're okay. Brady Corbett was a bit grading as Alan, but had a good arc throughout the movie. Vanessa Hudgens, likewise, was really good as Tin-Tin, and Soren Fulton as Fermat, the only main character in the movie not carried over from the original series, was just a kid version of Brains. 

       The vehicle designs for the Thunderbirds, FAB-1, and such were pretty on point, as all five Thunderbirds looked exactly like their counterparts from the original series, just larger and designed with CGI as opposed to models. But, the weight of these vehicles is lessened because of bad sound mixing. In a visual effects heavy movie like Thunderbirds, solid sound mixing can really give the feeling of weightiness when a vehicle flies overhead. This was done to great effect when a portion of the NSEA Protector flew overhead in the movie Galaxy Quest. Bad sound mixing, like we get in Thunderbirds, really takes away that sense of weightiness, and leaves the audience less immersed with the Thunderbirds themselves due to them being more about flashy effects than being actual vehicles with a sense of weight to them. 

       Also, I don't get why this was made as a kids movie, as a lot of kids back when this movie came out, myself included, didn't know a thing about the Thunderbirds franchise, and so it was kinda silly to make this for kids. Making more of a coming-of-age action sci-fi for teenagers, aging Alan and his brothers up a few years, and writing it to center more on the Tracy family as opposed to just Alan would have made for a more interesting movie. As it stands, Thunderbirds isn't a great movie, and I gotta give it a rating of 2/5. Sorry guys. 

      Anyway, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys in my next review.