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, aging bachelor Mr. Hoppy (Dustin Hoffman) lives in a London flat and has two loves in his life - his balcony garden and Mrs. Silver (Dame Judi Dench), 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 Alfie, 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?

---

Plot Keywords:

tortoise | love | bachelor | pet | flat | 

---

Genres:

Comedy | Family | Romance

---

Did You Know?

Trivia

Dustin Hoffman often becomes very warm on-set and prefers to have air conditioning. However, air conditioning could not be used on the set of this movie, because the tortoises would not act if they got too cold.

---

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.

---

Connections

Featured in Roald Dahl's Esio Trot: Deleted Scenes (2014)

---

Soundtracks

Solitude
(uncredited)
Written by Edgar De Lange (as Eddie DeLange) and Irving Mills
Performed by Louis Armstrong

User Reviews

A slow-paced tale

While the whole plot could seem rather weak, this movie is a perfect example of a modern storytelling done with mastery. The pace of the movie is voluntarily slow, the actors are excellent, the breaking of the fourth wall is used with wit by a character who at first seems to be there only to tell us the story, and there are some surprising events that are typical of an action movie.

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