4 reviews

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Andrea Hopkins January 7, 2008

This movie is just tremendous fun - my daughter has been to see it three times already - it has terrific music and several laugh out loud funny bits. It doesn't quite match up to the original movie because you can only have the frisson of experiencing a terrifying horde of ten year old girls once in your life, but it does successfully re-create the atmosphere of naughtiness and chaos transformed into a way of life, and Miss Fritton's brief statement of her opposition to the government's stranglehold on schools was powerfully persuasive.

Rupert Everett was truly a worthy successor to Alistair Sim, and (rather surprisingly) Russell Brand was absolutely wonderful as Flash Harry. Colin Firth as the Minister of Education clearly never stood a chance against the aforementioned terrifying hordes, but he provided three out of the four really huge laughs in the movie, and clearly had a wonderful working relationship with Rupert Everett. The girls were all wonderful - unfair to single any of them out - but I predict a steady stream of young moppets heading to the shops in search of high-waisted pencil skirts and white blouses with little puffy sleeves to express their adulation of Gemma Arterton as the awesomely beautiful, clever and poised Head Girl Kelly Jones, or little nipped in waistcoats in imitation of Tallulah Riley's post-makeover beauty as Annabelle Fritton. The final scene, with Girls Aloud belting out the new version of the School Song, really did make you want to dance in the aisles and shout hurrah for anarchy - thoroughly recommended!

I think St Trinian's is not suitable for all ages because they drink VODKA when they're only teenagers. But I think it's totally awesome, it has a great variety of anarchy and great songs too and I have seen it 4 times already (3 at home 1 at the cinema)!

Annabel 9 Nov 2008

Obviously this is based on the original St Trinians films but brought bang up to date with pop culture references, drug-taking, and Girls Aloud. The school is about to be declared bankrupt so the girls hatch a plan to steal Vermeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' from the National Gallery. The film begins with the introduction of Annabel Fritton, new girl and niece of the headmistress - the irrepressible Miss Fritton (played with gay abandon by Rupert Everett and based, rumour has it, on Camilla Parker-Bowles). Annabel has been transferred from Cheltenham Ladies College and is shocked to discover that St Trinians isn't quite the model school she'd been lead to believe. Cue evil first years, drunken teachers, wild parties, and a rather amorous dog.

I expected it to be terrible; usually remakes of classics tend to be rather too glossy, politically correct and commercial. St Trinians almost fits that mould but fortunately just manages to break out of it. They've managed to completely update the format whilst still remaining the key elements of the original. It is great fun to watch and zips along merrily. The entire cast are excellent, and it’s great to see so many good British actors. I enjoyed seeing Tallulah Riley again after her charming turn as Mary in Pride and Prejudice, and also Juno Temple as a young Rastafarian, a far cry from the spoiled brat she played in Atonement. I liked how they had the different groups of girls, especially the emo kids who turn up in dark veils to a pet's funeral and are referred to as the Corpse Brides. It isn't laugh out loud funny but is amusing enough and I would recommend it as entertaining holiday fare for most of the family: it's maybe not suitable for young children but anyone of high school age would definitely get a lot out of it!

Sarah Brett 3 Jan 2008

Absolutely awful - no stars! Right now, I am having a hard time thinking of a worse film that I have seen in my life. The script is weak, tired and self-indulgent, and aims for cheap laughs without succeeding. Each character is nothing more than a caricature, particularly Colin Firth's hardline Tory minister, which makes it hard to care about what happens to any of them much at all. As for the plot, which involves the schoolgirls planning an art heist to get the money to save the school from bankruptcy, it plays on every cliche about smart, youthful underdogs taking on the system without offering anything new. In the end, I was hoping they would be found out and the school shut down - which is probably not what the filmmakers intended. My wife disagrees - she thought the film was fun - but this is two hours of my life that I will never get back. I would recommend that others don't make the same mistake.

Michael 29 Dec 2007