Darby O'Gill and the Little People | Albert Sharpe, Janet Munro

Darby O'Gill and the Little People | Albert Sharpe, Janet Munro | back to my childhood

DVDs:

Darby O'Gill and t...

	Darby O'Gill and the Little People Albert Sharpe, Janet Munro Walt Disney Video, 2004 average customer review:based on 128 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Take a wee bit of ancient folklore, mix in some spectacular special effects and a magical cast (including Sean Connery) -- and you've got one of the most enchanting fantasies of all time! A frisky old storyteller named Darby O'Gill is desperately seeking the proverbial pot of gold. There's just one tiny thing standing in his way: a 21-inch leprechaun named King Brian. In order to get the gold, Darby must match his wits against the shrewd little trickster -- which proves no small task, indeed! Fall under the spell of DARBY O'GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE for a fun-filled evening of magic, mirth, and nonstop shenanigans!

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When You Wish Upon A Star

Disney has released some good movies the last few years but nothing can beat the movies they released 20 to 30 years ago. I love the older movies and really enjoyed this one as a child as well as after I became an adult. The special effects are pretty good too considering the era in which the movie was made.

back to my childhood

First seen when Sean Conery and I were both a lot younger. A great fantasy of celtic culture and music - a movie all the family can watch.

Darby....

Cute classic from Disney. It is very entertaining for those of us raised on these movies. I doubt it would be interesting to teens of today though. It is good and clean. I can recommend it for the whole family.

Darby is full of his stories of the little people. After he catches one, all stuff breaks loose. He just has to prove that he hasn't lost his mind and get the right husband for his daughter.

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Not Up To Snuff

"Darby O'Gill and the Little People" is given some highly rated reviews here at Amazon.com (which is why I bought it) but it misses the mark, I think, when it comes to being the type of movie we want to watch again and again.

Darby O'Gill is the name of an old Irish man who is a poor caretaker for a rich man's estate in a small Irish village around the year 1900. Darby and his daughter Katie have lived in the gate house (on the estate) for more than 20 years, but old Darby would rather spend his time at the local pub ... drinking stout (a strong dark beer) and telling his leprechaun stories ... instead of doing his caretaker work ... which is why the estate owner decides to bring in a new man (Michael) to replace him ... forcing Darby and his daughter to move out.

But Darby lives a charmed life in that he is the only person in the village who has seen real live leprechauns. Some of the people in the village believe Darby's stories ... some don't ... but Darby himself never wavers in his respect and honor for "the little people". Darby also tries to out-fox the leprechauns ... matching wits with the king leprechaun himself ... to get the three wishes that are given to anyone who captures a leprechaun. It is during these encounters that the movie is at its most fun. Darby's daughter Katie and the new caretaker Michael hit it off, and this gives the movie some moments of romance too. But there are also some ... unsavory story lines in "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" and it is at these moments that we want to use the "fast forward" button to get to the fun parts.

Albert Sharpe was hand-picked by Walt Disney to play Darby, and he delivers his lines convincingly ... with flair and humor ... but he is, well, hard to look at, and it is hard to want to be on his side. Janet Munro was chosen to play Katie, and she is pretty and all that, but she doesn't have the depth of goodness ... the honesty and humbleness of spirit ... that makes a girl pretty on the inside ... something I think it is fair to expect from a poor Irish girl like Katie. Sean Connery plays Michael, and he mugs it up for the camers pretty much, but he doesn't really look or act like a caretaker. Jimmy O'Dea plays the leprechaun king, and he is wonderful ... the heart of the movie's appeal and fun.

The DVD comes with an "extra" that explains how the special effects were done ... mostly how the actors portraying the leprechauns were made to look small ... and it is truly amazing to see the effort and ingenuity that went into them. Peter Ellenshaw, the man who supervised the special effects, is the real star of this movie.

But "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" misses the mark for high quality entertainment, which is too bad because it had the makings of a classic. It is the writing of the story ... the first, and by far the least expensive, stage of the movie making process, but it's the area where movie makers invariably do their worst work ... and in "Darby" too many unpleasant story lines were allowed to creep in to what should have been a thoroughly charming movie.

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Disappointed

I was delighted when the DVD arrived but, very disappointed when I realised that I would not be able to view it on my Aussie TV because it was not the correct format for Australia :(

Regards,
Miss Terry O'Connor

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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