Jackboots on Whitehall (www.the-usher.com)

"No one will expect this"

With all of the Allied troops trapped in Dunkirk, Northern France, England was on the verge of a Nazi invasion. With everyone watching the seas and the skies, no one expected Hitler’s (Cummings) generals Goebbels (Wilkinson), Goering (Griffiths) and Himmler (O’Brien) to tunnel under the English Channel to emerge in Trafalgar Square with the sole purpose of invading London and capturing the Prime Minster Winston Churchill (Spall). With only his elite Indian guards to protect him and a slightly mad American pilot called Fiske (West) providing air cover, it is up to Kent locals Chris (McGregor) and Daisy (Pike) to bring their town folk together and head to London to save Churchill from the Nazis.

With almost every animation hitting the silver screen coming from a computer, is there a place for a wartime comedy animation with dolls as the stars at the cinema?

Computer generated animation has completely taken over the animation genre. Since ‘Toy Story’ burst onto the big screen Hollywood and the cinema going public has clamored for more and more animation generated in computers than by other, more traditional methods. Hand drawn animation almost disappeared from the big Hollywood studios and stop motion was only left in the very capable hands of Tim Burton, Henry Selick and Aardman but once in a while someone decides to take a chance and do something very different, bringing animation to the forefront of creativity again. ‘Jackboots on Whitehall’ tries to do just that.

Using the stop motion animation techniques but owing more to the ‘Supermarionation’ look and style pioneered by Gerry Anderson and television show ‘Robot Chicken’, ‘Jackboots on Whitehall’ uses ‘Action Man/G.I. Joe’ and ‘Sindy/Barbie’ style dolls bring the characters to life. With computer generated eye and mouth movements, the dolls bring famous historic figures and fictional heroes to the story against a backdrop of miniatures of the Kent countryside, London and the Scottish borders. Here we see an alternate version of the Second World War with the Nazi’s actually invading and the English having to retreat to a land that no one dare enter, the Scot Land. With homour and parody rampant in the script and in the presentation of the characters, especially seeing Hitler enjoying himself in Buckingham Palace, you know that this is a film that does not take the War that seriously.

What writer/directors Edward McHenry and Rory McHenry have managed to do is gather an all-star vocal cast to bring this over the top story to life. Timothy Spall, Tom Wilkinson, Alan Cumming, Richard Griffiths and Richard O’Brien all have fun bringing their own take on Churchill, Hitler, Goebbels, Goering and Himmler, with Spall playing Churchill with all the gusto you would expect. Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Dominic West and Stephen Merchant bring the fictional characters of Daisy, the Vicar, Fiske and Tom to life with the same vigor. It must have been a little strange for Ewan McGregor to play Chris however, as the film’s portrayal of the Scottish is not the most flattering.

Where it lacks in originality is makes up for in creativity, ‘Jackboots on Whitehall’ is a fun animation that might lose its way a little but never takes itself too seriously. While it might be argued that the subject matter should be taken with a little more respect but that has not stopped film or television using the War for comedy in the past, this is a different animation and one that is a welcome change from the usual computer generated affairs that dominate the genre at the minute.

DVD Special Features

Crew Interviews
Behind the scenes Featurette
The Swastikas Featurette
Bad Day to be a Nazi Featurette
Hitler's Rat Pack Featurette
The Nazi Hotties Featurette
Explosions Featurette
Voice-Overs Featurette

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2010