Skellig (DVD)

'Skellig' is a nice made-for-satelllite-TV adaptation of a (presumably popular?) childrens' fantasy story. The story features a young-ish family who have moved to a big new house on the edge of (some unspecified northern?) town that's not so much a fixer-upper as a bit of a disaster area all round. In the dilapidated new pad there's a filthy toilet plumbed in to the front room, and the central character, a 11 year old (or so) boy falls through his own rickety bedroom ceiling at one point - it's that kind of place. Also it has something nasty by way on an unwanted tennant in the woodshed - a revolting not-quite-human creature on his last legs played by Tim ...  Read the complete review

Skellig: I have recently started renting DVDs from Tesco again and have been catching up on things that I have wanted to watch for ages. Skellig was something that I have been meaning to watch ever since I missed it being aired on Sky One back in April. Skellig is based on the children's book of the same name written by David Almond. I have not read the book, (despite it being on my Amazon wishlist for ages), so I cannot make any comparisons between the book and the film. Skellig tells the story of a young boy called Michael who's family moves to a, (rather dilapidated), house to make room for the baby his Mother is carrying. Right from ...  Read the complete review

Director: Annabel Jankel Screenplay: Irena Brignull Novel: David Almond Genre: Family Drama, Fantasy Country: UK Language: English DVD Release: 27th April, 2009 MAIN CAST: Tim Roth [Skellig] Bill Milner [Michael] Skye Bennett [Mina] John Simm [Michael's father] Kelly Macdonald [Michael's mother] For young Michael, life just couldn't get any worse... his father has just moved him and his mother from a nice flat to a rundown hovel he purchased at auction, his mother is pregnant, the only decent bedroom in the house has been allocated to the unborn baby, who is, incidentally, ...  Read the complete review

Plot: Michael, a young boy moves with his father and pregnant mother into their new home and the house is practically derelict, he hates it an makes it very obvious that he is not happy. One day he comes across a very old garden shed at the bottom of the garden and ventures down there to take a look. in amongst all of the rubbish, broken pots, debris and an unbelievable amount of spiders and insects he comes accross what he thinkgs is a human called Skellig. As the story progresses he discovers that he is not human at allm he has wings and a very nasty case of arthritis. The story centres around Michael and Mina, a young girl that ...  Read the complete review

This is the made for TV adaptation of David Almond's book Skellig. The film is pretty faithful to the story and the cast are superb, they include John Simm of Life from Mars as the dad and Tim Roth is great as Skellig and there is a superb supporting cast especially the children. Skellig is the story of a family who have recently moved to a ramshackle house just prior to the birth of a new baby. The parents are understandably distracted and their son Michael is a little left out of the preparations and is unhappy at moving away from friends. He finds Skellig, who he believes at first to be a tramp sleeping rough, in the shed at the bottom of the garden. ...  Read the complete review