hyped garbage

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is one of those classic films that will never get old. It stars Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, Lionel Jeffries, Heather Ripley, and Adrian Hall. The plot centers on a father, his two children, a woman the father likes, and a car the father has invented. The car can float on water, and fly. The cars ability to do these things of course leads to the adventurous aspect of the movie. This movie really does a great job at being funny, very adventurous, musical, and throwing in some romance in too. It has good balance. The whole family will absolutely adore this film, I grew up watching this movie and have always loved it. The musical numbers are highly entertaining, the characters are very likable, the adventure is engaging, and the chemistry between the actors flows effortlessly. I suggest watching this as a family if you have children. It's just more fun this way. 10/10 for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Albert Broccoli, who produced the James Bond movies, wanted Bond-author Ian Fleming's kids' book, CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, to be a classic like "Mary Poppins." To achieve this, he hired the songwriters and choreographers from "Poppins" as well as its lead adult actor, Dick van Dyke. What even his deep pockets couldn't buy, however, was Julie Andrews, who that year preferred making the world-shaking classic (sarcasm) "Star!" What Broccoli also couldn't buy was charm. Disney's "Poppins" had it, "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" lacks it."Chitty" has lots going for it. Tuneful songs, of which "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" itself may be the best (and is always inspiring). "The Roses of Success" is a wonderful comic, but also instructive, song, and amusingly done by the grandfather and a group of weird inventors. "The Old Bamboo" is toe-tapping, as is "Toot-Sweets." But "Hushabye Mountain" (though the sort of thing my father sang to me) is a drag.The cast is half-wonderful. Dick van Dyke lost the cockney accent that got him so despised in "Poppins" but he looks . . . strange. Sally Ann Howes is a good singer, but lacks charisma. If Broccoli wanted a "Poppins" like movie he should have studied the ugly kids from the earlier flick, who are far more realistic and genuinely cute (and better actors) than the blonde, blue-eyed Aryan nonentities of "Chitty." They're the major flaw in the picture.The casting coup was Lionel Jeffries, stealing every scene he's in as the grandfather. Everything from his walk to the way he moves his neck and the way he reads every line is funny (and I've been watching the movie for fifty years, being 8 when it first came out). He also has the song "P.O.S.H." (port out, starboard home). Everything he does in this movie in lovely.And while in "Poppins" the only bad guy was the father (who wasn't really bad, only distracted), "Chitty" produces one of the great screen villains, who haunted my nightmares as a kid, the infamous Child-Catcher (limned by dancer/choreographer Robert Helpmann). He's a perfect villain who will linger in kids' memories forever, though some of his menace may be lost on the small screen.The movie also features superb comic turns by Gert Frobe (a skilled comedian in Germany before becoming the perfect "Goldfinger") and 5'10" Anna Quayle.Possibly using the late-1960s ethos, the Vulgarian sequence ends with a kid-led revolution. After all, it was the 60s young people who took Lenin's Birthday and turned it into Earth Day. They were all about revolution and killing.So with so much good, why doesn't "Chitty" rank with "Poppins"? Perhaps because of the kids, whom I disliked when I was their age. Either the writers, director or producer made a few wrong choices (for instance, the kids laughing when Dick van Dyke's rocket doesn't work . . . when people on screen laugh at on screen antics, the audience doesn't, even I as a film layman know that). The lack of Julie Andrews (who was courted for the part) can't be considered, as we don't know how she'd have done in the role of Truly Scrumptious and because she proved with "Star!" and "Darling Lili" and others that even her marvelous talents can't overcome weak material.Personally, I think it's because while the first part of the movie (putting Chitty together and riding off in her singing the great "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" song) and the Vulgarian sequences don't really gel. It's even worse (SPOILERS) in that by the end it's clear the Vulgarian sequence that scared the hell out of me and every child in the world never happened. It's like being told a lie, when what you see on screen looks so much like the truth. Therefore the ending in a more mundane world is a bit of a come-down. Though it is a relief to know Benny Hill's toymaker didn't exist, either. Hill looks like Captain Kangaroo, which is good as we all loved the Captain, but acts like a rejected sketch from his own TV show.Too, despite the best work of Helpmann, Frobe and Quayle, and the wonderfully sinsiter waltz near the end, some of the Vulgarian sequences almost cry out for Graham Chapman to come in shouting, "Too silly!" The movie has many good shots (especially the end, when the credits roll) and some excellent cutting (esp. in the races at the beginning). The music is good enough. Helpmann is scary, Jeffries is hilarious. Van Dyke is fatherly . . . but we miss his ease of manner and his carelessness about life from "Poppins." A better performance may have been thwarted by his alcoholism, but he shows no trace of it on screen. But Howes, whose screen career goes back to at least 1945 as a child herself, and her operatic tones are fine, and whose expressions in the beginning are well-considered, isn't a screen-shaker.Perhaps the biggest trouble is the director doesn't seem to have any sympathy with the material. Dick van Dyke (quoted on this site) said he didn't seem to like kids. Maybe that, ultimately, is why the movie comes up just short of being one of the great classics. Or maybe it's that producer Broccoli, who was great for Bond, simply lacked the Disney touch. Or, going back to first causes, perhaps Fleming (whose book is vastly different but bizarre in its own way) wasn't a kids' writer at heart.In another plus, we get to see Desmond Llewellyn (Bond's "Q") as the junk man in the beginning. And, best of all, we all love Chitty.

I don't know why the IMDb rating is so low on this. In my opinion, this is one of THE best children's movies of all time. Even if you are an adult and have no children, you should definitely watch it. This movie is HILARIOUS, has some great musical numbers in it, a sweet story, and is just packed with fun. Great costume and set design as well. Not to mention, Dick van Dyke is in it! There is so much that happens in this movie, I don't know how they fit it all into less than 2 hours! If you like Mary Poppins (also an excellent film and a must-see) this movie is just as good. So DON'T be fooled by the rating. This movie rocks! I am 21 and still love Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!

During the 1909 British Grand Prix, a formerly winning automobile crashes and is sent to the junkyard. The car is purchased by clumsy inventor Dick Van Dyke (as Caractacus Potts). A widower with a windmill and two chirpy, chirpy pre-teen children, Mr. Van Dyke meets pretty Sally Ann Howes (as Truly Scrumptious) when she gives the kids a lift home. She's not only pretty, but also rich and motherly. Van Dyke lives with his motherless children, a shaggy dog and lovably eccentric Lionel Jeffries (as Grandpa). If you're thinking, "This group must somehow form a family," you'd be correct. The main attraction is the automobile, which Van Dyke restores. Named "Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang" due to the sound it makes, the car turns magical...The audience for this awkward, long musical will begin to drop off for viewers over the age of ten. Incredibly, this is from producer Albert R. Broccoli and the team responsible for turning Ian Fleming's spy novels into the visually dazzling "James Bond" film series. Checking on the original novel's plot shows significant differences. Most obviously, Ms. Howes seems to be a stand-in for Julie Andrews; still one of the world's biggest box office stars, Ms. Andrews would not have accepted this clearly less substantial role. Some of the character roles work, especially Robert Helpmann as the "child catcher," and the title song is serviceable. The car is magical, but has no real personality of its own. If the car had more magic powers, it would cut this movie in half.**** Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (12/16/68) Ken Hughes ~ Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, Lionel Jeffries, Robert Helpmann