"YOU know, for kids," was a classic line in The Hudsucker Proxy but it is also a fitting description of Thunderpants.
The film is, quite literally, one long fart gag.
It follows the adventures of Patrick Smash, an 11-year-old boy who was born with two stomachs. As a result, Patrick cannot stop nature taking its course.
His stinky condition proves too much for his father, who leaves, and his school friends, who tease him. His mum tries every diet she can but the condition continues.
Patrick's only friend is the nerdy but brilliant Alan A Alan, played by Rupert Grint (Weasley in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone). It is friendship based on unquestioning loyalty and Alan's non-existent sense of smell.
But one day, black-clad men arrive and whisk Alan away and Patrick must face life alone.
That is, until he learns his curse is, in fact, a gift, one that could save the world.
Thunderpants makes no attempts to be anything other than a kids' film.
The humour is juvenile, the plot basic and the characters one-dimensional. So the majority of under-10s will most likely love it. However, few parents are likely to share their joy as there is little, if anything, in the script for them.
And it is precisely this lack of dual appeal that may consign Thunderpants to being nothing more than a damp squib.
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