Roald Dahl's Esio Trot (2015)

A retired bachelor has a thing for his neighbor who only shows affection to her pet tortoise.

Director:

Dearbhla Walsh

Writers:

Richard Curtis, Paul Mayhew-Archer

Stars:

James Corden, Salo Gardner, Dustin Hoffman

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Corden	...	Narrator
Salo Gardner	...	Mr. Mavrokoukoudopolous
Dustin Hoffman	...	Mr. Hoppy
Richard Cordery	...	Mr. Pringle
Judi Dench	...	Mrs. Silver
Polly Kemp	...	Woman on Bus
Emily Ralph	...	Little Girl
Geoffrey McGivern	...	Pet Shop Owner (as Geoff McGivern)
Jimmy Akingbola	...	Keen Pet Shop Keeper
Joseph West	...	Philip
Katie Lyons	...	Philip's Mother
Pik Sen Lim	...	Mrs. Wu (as Pik-Sen Lim)
Ronnie Hughes	...	Trumpeter
Jack Honeyborne	...	Pianist (as Jack Honeybourne)
Lisa Hammond	...	Mrs. Desmond

Storyline

Lonely, ageing bachelor Mr Hoppy lives in a London flat and has two loves in his life - his balcony garden and Mrs Silver, the widow in the flat below. Sadly Mrs Silver is too fond of her tortoise Alfie to respond. Noting that Mrs Silver is perturbed that Alfie never seems to grow Mr Hoppy hatches a plan to show her how much he cares. This involves buying dozens of tortoises of increasing sizes to gradually substitute for Alfire, leading Mrs Silver to believe that a Bedouin chant - Esio Trot - is making her pet grow. However he is rumbled when one of the tortoises escapes. And, with another, brash resident vying for Mrs Silver's affections, will Mr Hoppy find happiness with the woman he loves?

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Plot Keywords:

tortoise | love | bachelor | pet | flat | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Romance

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Details

Official Sites:

BBC [United Kingdom]

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 May 2015 (Norway)

Also Known As:

'Ахап Ереч' Роальда Даля

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Endor Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mr. Pringle is an original character created for the movie.

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Goofs

When Mrs Silver and Mr. Pringle come to his flat for a meal he doesn't have three wine glasses but in a later fleeting 2 or 3 second shot there are three wine glasses on the meal table.

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Connections

References The Railway Children (1970)

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Soundtracks

It's Been a Long, Long Time
(uncredited)
Written by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn
Performed by Louis Armstrong

User Reviews

Delightful, heartwarming, funny, brilliant characters

There is no doubt that Roald Dahl is a true genius, nevertheless there have been cases where movies have not lived up to their original works. There is no doubt that Judi Drench and Dustin Hoffman are huge names and absolutely amazing (to say the least) actors, however there have been plenty of movies with superb actors and great names which turned out less so. This is NOT one of those. The BBC did a great job to put a marvellous story into this magnificent movie, for the young and the old alike.

Dustin Hoffman does such a sublime job playing Mr. Hoppy that I find it hard to imagine him as anybody else. Quiet, shy, kind Mr. Hoppy made his way into my heart from his first minute (more like seconds actually) on the screen. Judi Drench appears as the love interest of Mr. Hoppy, Mrs. Silver, whom despite not being the brightest bulb in the box was a lovely character. All in all both have given wonderful performances.

The writers were, in my opinion, the ones who managed to bring real magic to the movie. Looking for more detail, they turned out to be Richard Curtis, Paul Mayhew-Archer, 'old' names to the admirers of comedy from the BBC. Their tasteful humour is no news to me and they managed to put their light, yet deep, touch to this script. They have managed to insert some of the loveliest jokes, and produced a masterpiece that would bring tears to people's eyes for ages.

There is not enough praise I could ever possibly bring to this movie and for it to be enough. I could go on for ages, praise every joke and every scene.