THE PHOENIX AND THE MAGIC CARPET is a British film adaptation of the popular Edith Nesbit novel, but when they spell the author's name wrong in the credits then you know that there's not much hope for it. Much better is the BBC adaptation of the story made a couple of years later; it has better puppets and includes the wonderful Psammead to great effect.
As for this film, it's obnoxiously Americanised, with the British children of the book replaced with annoying brats with no affinity for culture or history. What follows is a very loose adaptation of the book, so you get a pre-TRAINSPOTTING Ewen Bremner as the thief and some exotic island stuff. Peter Ustinov does a good job voicing the Phoenix, but the puppet is awfully stiff, a stiffness matched only by the performances of the child actors. Give this one a miss.
As for this film, it's obnoxiously Americanised, with the British children of the book replaced with annoying brats with no affinity for culture or history. What follows is a very loose adaptation of the book, so you get a pre-TRAINSPOTTING Ewen Bremner as the thief and some exotic island stuff. Peter Ustinov does a good job voicing the Phoenix, but the puppet is awfully stiff, a stiffness matched only by the performances of the child actors. Give this one a miss.