It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

I will confess I haven't read the book for a while, but I do remember it was a wonderful read, with great characters and a sweet story. The TV adaptation was just as charming as the book. The only real thing that undermines it is the changes to the story, so some scenes didn't seem as developed as others, though I will say I am not the sort of person who criticises a film or TV drama on its unfaithfulness to the source material. The adaptation does look lovely, with some stunning costumes and some nice locations. The direction mayn't be the best ever in a TV drama, but I have seen worse in films alone. Remember the incompetent direction in that abomination Home Alone 4? Anyway, back to Ballet Shoes; I thought the acting was excellent. Emma Watson, Yasmin Page and Lucy Boynton are very charming as three ambitious young girls, and they are solidly supported by Emilia Fox(the actress Joanna David's daughter), Gemma Jones, Eileen Atkins and Harriet Walter, and even Richard Griffiths is subdued to a secondary role. The actors are aided by a well written script, and some bits are even touching; I did feel sorry for Petrova when her dancing mentor had a stroke during the ballet performance. I thought that Ballet Shoes was a charming adaptation of an excellent book, but I don't think it is the best TV drama ever made; one truly remarkable TV drama of recent times that does spring to mind is the recent Occupation. 9/10 Bethany Cox.

Notice Emma Hermione in the first two Harry Potter features and I found that she stood out. The first four novels underlined that. Princess, could there be any other like that one of the railway carriage of HP 1? Music. Dance. I now rate Emma for the Hermione of the novels? Here she is, as Emma Pauline, and in part, for me, this continues in those footsteps. Later episodes of HP features mostly made Emma's role unrecognisable, I am grateful to this Ballet Shoes for re-kindling a spark. Two special bits when she has to perform. Her acting changing from a low key natural style to overdrive, showing raw power. So truly awesome. And it helps me to appreciate the low key more. I have to rate this feature higher than HP 4, 5, 6 and 8, though she does carry over some of the gritty persona that she learned for 4 and 5 and to me that is overdoing the grit that Pauline of the novel has. * Look at the DVD box cover pics and there was something recognisable there that did not click, but when it did this feature became extra special. There was Yasmin tooth fairy by Emma's side. Here my first two versions of the comment go askew. Tooth is no stranger to machines or flying, and here she is in what would otherwise be a standard nerd role. But it is on stage she is prone to appear to be a nerd. She is expected to act. The biggest low is when she is expected to pretend that she is a fairy. The biggest low for me is when she is scripted to have a geographer / developer motivation rather than a mech. engineering motivation. Tooth even manages to share a bath with Emma. Dream of dreams. So much better than the novel. True there will have been a film crew there, too high a price. True, they were both in tears. My biggest flaw in commenting on this feature related to this part. In the 30's some would have considered a cuddle bath to be mandatory, given the tears, but not as many as today? I had been hoping to start looking for DVDs of mid teens Drew Barrymore. Ballet Shoes told me that I needed to hold off from that for a while, concentrate on Tooth, and there were some Tooth around that I still did not have. All I got around to with Drew was a naughty girl Drew, Ivy, which is not fun sort of naughty. * Lucy Posy Boy n Ton as a problem for me. In this role she needs to be highs and lows and the highs are way more magnificent than the others, for me she does those well, but the lows are way more the opposite of magnificent and as with Emma in later HP she does that way too well. Her reaction to Madame's illness compares to UK problems with situational ethics over the past thirty years. The highs include her dance. I accept that she does not dance as an expert in ballet might, but there is still something special about her approach. The biggest flaw in this feature is how the stunt double linked in, it was the only part of this feature that was visually false, looking like Posy at the very end of the story. Elizabeth Bernard's 1987 novel, Satin Slippers 3: Stars In Her Eyes. This centres on the question of how should a dancer chose if needing to chose between her child and her dance. I did need this novel for that aspect in Ballet Shoes to be clear. * For these to stand out, it helped that the other performances were so okay. Except this is a BBC television adaptation that was made for them by the ITV? Has the world really gone so weird? Something about this story makes one cuckoo?

Noel Streatfeild's book 'Ballet Shoes' was read by nearly every English girl who is now a woman over fifty. It was filmed in 1975 and here it is again. If you don't mind the fact that the plot will not stand a close examination (one character disappears for twelve years without explanation, before returning, but no one finds that odd), and if you are willing to watch a film for its fairtytale qualities and sparkle, then you will find this most enjoyable and well done. Most viewers will be female, either women delightfully reminiscing, or young girls still innocent enough to dream (if there are any left who are not already binge-drinking and having sex at the age of ten). Heidi Thomas's script doesn't even try to make sense of the implausible plot, but just gets on with the fun. The film has been very well directed by Sandra Goldbacher, now we hope rescued from the world of television advertising. The story concerns three orphan girls living in a big house whose owner is absent. They are played with tremendous youthful energy and verve by Emma Watson, Yasmin Paige, and Lucy Boynton. They are 'running out of money' and cannot afford dresses, despite the fact that they live in a huge mansion (see page 94), but let's not worry about that inconsistency. One wants to act, one wants to be a ballet dancer, and one wants to be an airplane pilot. Well, why not? They struggle and have vicissitudes, as one must do to succeed, and manage to earn enough money to keep the bailiffs from the door. They are looked after by Emilia Fox, who coughs and becomes increasingly frail and wan but never quite gets the TB that is hinted at, and she falls in love, and is broken-hearted and desolate, but ... well, I ain't sayin' what happens there. Comedienne Victoria Wood is a kind of super-nanny to all, showing her warm heart straight off the AGA, Richard Griffiths is as jolly as ever when he is around, and that is very jolly indeed. Everybody has a great time, and so do we.

I tuned in with anticipation to what had been billed as the all-star centrepiece to BBC England's Christmas schedule. Listings names such as Emilia Fox and Richard Griffiths as well as British stage stalwarts, the programme instantly glared of lazy and pretentious direction. The start was tenuous, almost ridiculous, and descended into the depths with wooden acting - the cameo from Victoria Wood must go down as one of the worst performances in living memory. I read about six months ago that Emma Watson had turned down handfuls of roles for the chance to perform in this tripe, and did herself no favours with a supposed sympathetic role of burdened orphan that came across as nothing more than an arrogant, sycophantic spoilt brat. Just when you thought the film was building up to a resurrecting finale, it just faded out - perhaps reflecting the team equally saw how horrific this was and just gave up. This wasn't bad, it was a disgrace.