Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

SunnyHello Nice effects though.

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

woods-18568 I can remember watching this at least 25 years ago and just remembered the films name after racking my brains. I could only remember Stephanie Beacham in it. The snow scenes were superb real snow, wow, for a change. I thought the film was very good as a children's/family film. Would love to know where it was filmed. I watched it with my brother who was about 20 at the time and he also enjoyed it. The scenery locations were beautiful. The scenes that really sticks in my mind is the scene where Stephanie Beachan was riding through the snow on a large sleigh being pulled by a pack of black wolves. Wonder if you can still buy it, if someone could tell me.

TheLittleSongbird I do confess I have not read the book, but whether a film is faithful to its source rarely ruins it for me. That said, while there are one or two somewhat tedious scenes along the way and I would have liked the film to have lasted longer, I liked this film. I liked The Wolves of Willoughby Chase especially for the stunning scenery, the cute wolves and the evil governess marvellously played by Stephanie Beacham. The music is good too, the script is above average, the story is at least interesting and the direction is competent at least. The performances of Emily Hudson and Aleks Darowska are appealing and Mel Smith, Geraldine James and Richard O' Brien(The Rocky Horror Picture Show) while over-the-top are fun. Overall, a good film. 8/10 Bethany Cox

catemh1 I remember being enthralled by both the book and this film when I was little. Stephanie Beacham performs brilliantly as the evil Miss Slighcarp. She is well supported by Mel Smith, Jane Horrocks and Richard O'Brien (really likable as James and totally unrecognisable here from his "Rocky Horror" persona). The plot moves quickly and despite not faithfully mirroring the story of Joan Aiken's novel manages to portray all the characters just as they were depicted in the text. I continue to enjoy watching this as an adult - some fans of the book may be unhappy with some of the added material but as a fan of Joan Aiken myself, I think this adaptation and the actors' performances do great justice to her writing.

KatharineFanatic "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase" was one of my favorite books as a child. I spent long winter afternoons curled up in a corner with a cup of hot chocolate, following the adventures of Bonnie and Sylvia as they attempted to thwart the evil Miss Slycarp. The book was able to give the viewer a sense of the dangerous and otherworldly. The evening they spend too long ice-skating on the stream, the black shapes materializing from the darkness, the violent stops the train must make in order to avoid wolves. All these lent the story its subtle charm. Even as an adult, I still enjoy perusing the familiar pages.Then came the single TV adaptation to have yet been filmed. I cannot tell you how disappointed I was to find my favorite book had been butchered, wrung out, and completely decapitated. Bonnie is spoiled and bratty. Miss Slycarp isn't at all how she's portrayed in the book. Worst of all, they've attempted to make the orphanage more scary by injecting death into it. One of the girls is dragged to her watery death in a scene guaranteed to give any child nightmares. Then there's the awful ending: wolves in the mansion, some ridiculous snowmobile-like coach, and the bloody end of the villains in the wood. They did this book almost as much disgrace as Sullivan did "Jane of Lantern Hill." For heaven's sake, stay away. More wretched drivel have I not seen.