Series Christmas Special/First Episode Review
I decided to watch this by chance when it first aired and was pleasantly surprised.
While I was cynical of the exaggeratedly silly naming conventions given to the characters and the surrealist humour (which tends to be very hit and miss for me), I found that the comedy was being remarkably well done (probably thanks to the cast of veteran comedians, unlike other more recent comedy efforts which have used newcomers or halves of comedy duos who just can't cut it alone). Most of the humour comes from the parodies of Dickens' novels, combined with surrealism (think along the lines of an adaptation of a Victorian melodrama parodied in the style of Airplane).
Then came a more serious problem...the scourge of all comedies; child actors! The main character's children were...surprisingly not annoying. In fact they even got some decent jokes in. The actors playing the orphans weren't that bad either, although since most of the dialogue was given to Johnny Vegas' character it's hard to tell.
I also enjoyed the overall style of the film, with the sets and the costumes serving as as much of a parody of adaptations of Charles Dickens' novels as the script.
Overall: 8/10, I'm eagerly waiting for the rest of the episodes (which there doesn't seem to be an air date for yet).
Series Why isn't this awesome?
I'm genuinely stumped. Everything about this series dictated that it should be absolutely brilliant. It's a Spiritual Successor to Bleak Expectations, and written by the same man who made that series so fun, Mark Evans, which means it sports the same parodic look at Victorian society in general and Charles Dickens' works in particular. It stars some amazingly talented actors and comedians, such as Stephen Fry, David Mitchell and Robert Webb, and even the child actors are good and have some impressive comic timing. It has a great and funny permise. Costumes and sets look great. (Admittedly, the CGI looks awful, but at least there isn't a lot of it.) This should by all accounts be awesome.
And yet, it isn't. Somehow, what made Bleak Expectations so great doesn't work at all here. Maybe the premise just didn't translate well to a visual medium (it is a lot easier to pile on with the surreal ideas when it's a radio drama), maybe the characters just aren't as likeable, maybe the dialogue isn't quite as snappy... for whatever reason, The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff just comes off as somewhat half-hearted, unengaging and vaguely dull.
A pity, because I know from experience that everyone involved can, and have, repeatedly delivered outstanding material. For some reason, they just fall flat here. Oh well, Bleak Expectations is still great.