HORRIBLE HISTORIES: THE MOVIE – ROTTEN ROMANS / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: DOMINIC BRIGSTOCKE / SCREENPLAY: CAROLINE NORRIS, GILES PILBROW, JESSICA SWALE / STARRING: SEBASTIAN CROFT, EMILIA JONES, NICK FROST, CRAIG ROBERTS / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 25TH
Horrible Histories, Terry Deary’s beloved series that cleverly combined history with black comedy, has gone on to have life of its own, spawning many novels, comic strips, board games, and even a well-acclaimed TV series. Inevitably, a feature version was always bound to appear, and now we have one in the shape of Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans. The premise sounded like pure gold for a Horrible Histories story, but what we ended up getting has to be one of the most disappointing films of the whole year. For starters, the original Horrible Histories Troupe, who were the key to why the original series worked so well, had long since jumped ship, having gone off to do their own projects like Yonderland and the recent Ghosts, both of which were positively praised and are much better viewing than what we have here. This film has a completely different production team, as well as an all-star cast in front of the camera, with the only constant being puppet ‘host”’ Rattus Rattus.
It feels like the filmmakers were trying to bank everything on their all-star cast, but a lot of them are given pretty thankless roles, or very brief cameos in the case of Derek Jacobi, Alexander Armstrong, Chris Addison, and Warwick Davis. At least both Lee Mack and Rupert Graves manage rise above the material given to them and actually get the most laughs out of everyone. The film mostly revolves around its two teenage co-stars, yet they mostly just bicker and lark about with not that much chemistry between them. Sebastian Croft is clearly trying, but he comes across more like a dimwit than an intellectual genius, while Emilia Jones easily gives the most accomplished performance and hopefully she goes on to land better roles in the future. The storyline involving these two is very predictable, and this results in another major problem, in that the film is caught between two stools. It wants to be Horrible Histories while also trying to be a conventional movie about these two main characters wanting more out of life, which is incredibly clichéd and about 20 minutes in, you can pretty much tell how this is all going to pan out.
Even a lot of the historical humour, which has always been the series’ most special ingredient, is marginally sidelined in favour of the bog-standard narrative. There are some funny moments to be found, but they are far and few in-between, which is a crying shame, especially when placed in comparison with 2015’s Bill. That film was essentially a Horrible Histories movie without the brand name, which featured the original troupe and told a loose narrative about William Shakespeare with woven-in comedy sketches along the way. That was a successful film that appealed to children and adults, cleverly combining broad slapstick with sly historical humour. This wouldn’t be too bad to watch and could just be okay viewing, except it all goes to hell in a handcart thanks to the musical numbers, which are all just cringe worthy, and risk making rather dated as a result.
In the end, this is a disappointing translation of Horrible Histories for the big screen, coming off more like a mundane, straight-to-TV special rather than a major cinema release. It passes the time perfectly fine, it has some nice performances, and every once in a while there are some fun gags, but it never rises up to its full potential, especially considering the franchise’s legacy. If you have kids, they’ll probably be entertained by it, but if you want to watch a better Horrible Histories-style film, then track down Bill. It’s wittier, sharper and a hell of a lot funnier.
