Throughout the time line of iconic comedy characters, few have had a successful transition from television to cinema, or vice versa, or even braved the journey. Rowan Atkinson goes to right the wrong of his first Mr Bean film, with a holiday in France.
Upon winning a vacation trip to France, courtesy of a raffle, Mr Bean (Rowan Atkinson), along with a camcorder, traverse by train though France, in hope of reaching the Riveria. After some difficulty with the French language, and oddball mistakes, Mr Bean meets up with 8 year old Stepan, who has had a mishap of his own and is looking for his father. Two becomes three when they meet up with an amateur film actress, Sabine, and they decide to head to the Cannes Film Festival.
The story of Mr Bean's Holiday is expectedly simple and lighthearted. While a continuing journey, the story is effectively made up of situational skits. Thankfully these skits do bring their share of laughs, but there are problematic dead spots scattered between. Since the story is simple and not set for deep characterisation, these moments are off putting and only time wasters. Another aspect of the film is the sentimental overtones, which are extremely apparent in the final scene of the film. While obviously in running with the holiday theme and family orientation, this sentimentality is rather unbecoming of a Mr Bean title, and worst yet, his trusty teddy is not even brought along for the ride.
And without teddy brings another slight problem with Mr Bean's Holiday. The humour is indeed very good, and similar to the television series for the most part, but there are various moments where you can feel the Mr Bean magic could have worked better. Luckily for all the inconsistent dead spots, and accompanying laughs, the film does reach a hilarious climax.
Mr Bean returns with his usual antics, but there is nothing that will stop the entire family going to watch the film.
Mr Bean's holiday never reaches it potential, but there are some shining moments worthy of the original television series. While wholesome clean fun, the sentimental flavour of the story only goes to numb its overall performance.
--- Also available on Entertainment.Wikia ---
Upon winning a vacation trip to France, courtesy of a raffle, Mr Bean (Rowan Atkinson), along with a camcorder, traverse by train though France, in hope of reaching the Riveria. After some difficulty with the French language, and oddball mistakes, Mr Bean meets up with 8 year old Stepan, who has had a mishap of his own and is looking for his father. Two becomes three when they meet up with an amateur film actress, Sabine, and they decide to head to the Cannes Film Festival.
The story of Mr Bean's Holiday is expectedly simple and lighthearted. While a continuing journey, the story is effectively made up of situational skits. Thankfully these skits do bring their share of laughs, but there are problematic dead spots scattered between. Since the story is simple and not set for deep characterisation, these moments are off putting and only time wasters. Another aspect of the film is the sentimental overtones, which are extremely apparent in the final scene of the film. While obviously in running with the holiday theme and family orientation, this sentimentality is rather unbecoming of a Mr Bean title, and worst yet, his trusty teddy is not even brought along for the ride.
And without teddy brings another slight problem with Mr Bean's Holiday. The humour is indeed very good, and similar to the television series for the most part, but there are various moments where you can feel the Mr Bean magic could have worked better. Luckily for all the inconsistent dead spots, and accompanying laughs, the film does reach a hilarious climax.
Mr Bean returns with his usual antics, but there is nothing that will stop the entire family going to watch the film.
Mr Bean's holiday never reaches it potential, but there are some shining moments worthy of the original television series. While wholesome clean fun, the sentimental flavour of the story only goes to numb its overall performance.
--- Also available on Entertainment.Wikia ---