Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

 6/10

Starring

Dick Van Dyke

Sally Ann Howes

Lionel Jeffries

Gert Fröbe

 

Directed by Ken Hughes

 

A fun time for the family with this movie, which you can all sit down and watch on a beautiful Sunday morning. Guaranteed, the children will sit with their heads tilted as they watch the Potts family go on their wonderful adventures with Miss Truly.

After their wonderful pairing in Mary Poppins (1964), this movie was supposed to reunite Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews, but she rejected the role, and it went to Sally Ann Howes, who was a lovely Truly Scrumptious.

The movie is a whole two-hour-plus entertainment package for children, with a lot of songs for them and their parents to learn and sing along to. I can say with confidence that this movie can be seen now with children, and they will love it just the same. They will love the drive in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and enjoy seeing how wonderful the Potts children are with Truly, while their father, Caractacus Potts (Van Dyke), is always up for any adventure.

The movie made Truly and Caractacus a beautiful couple from the moment you see them run into each other and can't seem to avoid one another.

When the evil Baron saw and fell in love with the Potts’ car and wanted it, the movie took on a more childish tone as we watch the two supposedly spy on the couple to help their boss get what he wants.

The movie has a nice, sweet tone which it uses to charm the viewer, encouraging them to sit through the entire runtime as we see how the Potts children are heaven-sent (unrealistic as it might be). They are a beautiful pair any parent would love to have.

The movie introduces us to the Potts children when they almost get run over by the kind Truly. She takes them home, and we meet their absent-minded father, Caractacus, who is an inventor with no money to his name. Truly leaves them with their father, not knowing she would soon run into them again when they visit her father's sweet factory to sell an idea for a whistle sweet. Caractacus needs to raise 30 shillings so he can buy a junk car his children love to play in. After another failed attempt when the sweet idea doesn’t work, Caractacus raises the money and buys the car.

He takes the car home, works on it, and turns it into something magnificent that can go practically anywhere they want it to.

What’s nice to know is that this is not a Disney film, even though I grew up thinking it was a Disney property.