I had a book of short stories by Dahl, and I remember this as quite a powerfully dark tale.
It was only after about 5 minutes into this (the point they introduce the railway tracks) that I suddenly twigged what I was watching - and to be honest I was a little horrified.
To the uninitiated - and it's not a spoiler to say - this is a tragic story about bullies. But it's worse than that, this tale is reminiscent of the James Bulger case, albeit with a different course of events, but no less disturbing when you remove the candy-coating of Wes Anderson gimmickary.
To see that this has no warning at the start about the nature of this story - which includes quite graphic depictions of animal cruelty - as well as the systematic torture of a defenceless boy - and that instead Netflix have packaged this as 'darkly comic entertainment' really does make me question my subscription.
A terrible misstep... this should remain in print as a cautionary tale about the depravity that humans inflict upon each other. I don't consider first-hand accounts of suffering to be entertaining, and nor should you (or your children).
Don't say I didn't try to warn you.
It was only after about 5 minutes into this (the point they introduce the railway tracks) that I suddenly twigged what I was watching - and to be honest I was a little horrified.
To the uninitiated - and it's not a spoiler to say - this is a tragic story about bullies. But it's worse than that, this tale is reminiscent of the James Bulger case, albeit with a different course of events, but no less disturbing when you remove the candy-coating of Wes Anderson gimmickary.
To see that this has no warning at the start about the nature of this story - which includes quite graphic depictions of animal cruelty - as well as the systematic torture of a defenceless boy - and that instead Netflix have packaged this as 'darkly comic entertainment' really does make me question my subscription.
A terrible misstep... this should remain in print as a cautionary tale about the depravity that humans inflict upon each other. I don't consider first-hand accounts of suffering to be entertaining, and nor should you (or your children).
Don't say I didn't try to warn you.