Taken from the Arthur Ransome novel of the same name Swallows And Amazons is set in England in 1935 and follows the story of the Walker children John (Dane Hughes), Susan (Orla Hill), Tatty (Teddie-Rose Malleson-Allen) & Roger (Bobby McCulloch) who head on a holiday to the Lake District with their mother (Kelly MacDonald) while their father is away at sea serving in the army. As they are exploring on the lake in their boat The Swallow they land on a supposedly uninhabited island and come across a house boat owned by Jim Turner (Rafe Spall) who Tatty initially believes is a pirate. After following Jim the children realise something bigger is happening when the find out that a man named Lazlow (Andrew Scott) is trailing Jim.

When another boat called The Amazon appears on the island claiming that they are trespassing, the Walkers are introduced to Nancy (Seren Hawkes) and Peggy Blackett (Hannah Jayne Thorp), Jim’s nieces. After initially declaring ‘war’ on each other over ownership of the island they are forced to put their differences aside when they find out that Jim has been kidnapped and they need to work together to rescue him from the clutches of Lazlo.

In a throw back to the innocent adventures of tales like The Railway Children mixed with a bit of The Famous Five, Swallows And Amazon has the feel of a BBC Sunday afternoon drama where most of the suspense is if the children can find a way to cook fish in order to satisfy their growing hunger, but with the opt out that they can always just head back home in time for tea. Even when the adventure takes a turn towards the espionage sub plot of Jim being sought by Lazlo and his associates the danger is never palpable, while guns may be pointed nobody actually wants to use firearms and would rather resolve the situation as gentlemen.

Rafe Spall does a good job as the mysterious Jim who even his nieces think is strange and at times I thought I was looking at a live action doppelganger for Tin Tin. Andrew Scott does what he does best as the antagonist with the cheeky smile and his gentle demeanour which you know is hiding something darker underneath. The children are ever so perfectly British and middle class with not a hint of stepping out of line and when the ‘war’ for the island is taking place you just know its going to end up with a congratulations and a handshake for the victors.

It’s not a bad film in itself it just felt a little like I had travelled back in time once the movie started as it is rare these days to watch any film, even a kids movie, without any hint of modernisation in it. As an faithful adaptation of a book written in 1930 then it is a case of mission accomplished but I’m not sure if there is a modern audience for this tale.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10