Five Children and It

6/1/2024

We start a bit like as with the "Chronicles of Narnia" story with a family dislocated from war-torn London to stay with their potty "Uncle Albert" (Kenneth Branagh), his brattish son "Horace" (Alexander Pownall) and their housekeeper "Martha" (Zoë Wanamaker). Of course they miss their home and their mother (Tara Fitzgerald) but it's really dad (Alex Jennings) who is away fighting the Bosch that they are most concerned about. When they are playing on the beach one day, they encounter a curious looking rock and it's inhabitant - a Psammead. A what? Well, that's what they ask and soon discover that it is an ancient creature that lives in the sand, and it also has the power to grant one wish per day (that, crucially, expires at sunset). Initially the kids think of fun things to do, but gradual