CASFFA NOTES: Three Brothers (2014, Dir. Jan Svěrák)

Three brothers. Three well-known fairytales (well, two well-known and one not-so-well-known). Three mini-musicals strung together to create a fantastical fantasia to rival last year's Into the Woods.

Not so fast...

Jan Svěrák's Three Brothers (Tři bratři) doesn't have delusions of grandeur. It's certainly not aiming for Sondheim's deconstructive fairytale psychoanalysis (or musicality). This is more balls out pantomime, complete with well-pressed costumes, hammy jokes and far-too-forgettable musical numbers.

This is well and truly for the kiddies. There is even some token audience participation thrown in. All is not lost though. For adults starved of interest through the first two familiar sections ('Sleeping Beauty' and 'Red Riding Hood'), the third ('Twelve Months') holds some extra interest musically, as well as some of the film's better performances, but all in all, bar this and some fun special effects throughout, Three Brothers is eminently forgettable.

Pray your children don't latch onto it.

★★

Trailer:

Three Brothers screened at the third Czech and Slovak Film Festival of Australia.