''Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism'' is a 2015 British fantasy film directed by Christopher N. Rowley and starring

Dominic Monaghan Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan (born 8 December 1976) is a British actor. He is best known for playing Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck in Peter Jackson's film trilogy ''The Lord of the Rings'' (2001–2003), and Charlie Pace on J. J. Abram ...

Lesley Manville Lesley Ann Manville (born 12 March 1956) is an English actress known for her frequent collaborations with Mike Leigh, appearing in the films '' Grown-Ups'' (1980), '' High Hopes'' (1988), '' Secrets & Lies'' (1996), ''Topsy-Turvy'' (1999), ''A ...

Emily Watson Emily Margaret Watson (born 14 January 1967) is an English actress. She began her career on stage and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1992. In 2002, she starred in productions of ''Twelfth Night'' and ''Uncle Vanya'' at the Donmar Wa ...

Joan Collins Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. Collins is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primeti ...

and

Raffey Cassidy Raffey Camomile Cassidy (born 12 November 2001) is an English actress. She has had roles in films including ''Snow White and the Huntsman'' (2012), ''Mr Selfridge'' (2013), ''Tomorrowland'' (2015) and ''The Killing of a Sacred Deer'' (2017). Ea ...

. It is based on

Georgia Byng Georgia Byng (born 6 September 1965) is a British children's writer, educator, illustrator, actress and film producer. Since 1995 she has published thirteen children’s books, and co-written and co-produced one film. Byng has won The Stockton Ch ...

's 2002 novel ''

Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism ''Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism'' is a 2002 children's novel by British author Georgia Byng. It is the first instalment in the ''Molly Moon'' six-book series. Amber Entertainment and Lipsync Productions produced a film adaptation, '' ...

''.

Plot

Molly Moon (

) lives in an orphanage with her best friend Rocky (Jadon Carnelly-Morris) and her pug dog, Petula. After discovering a book about hypnotism, and learning how to hypnotise, she uses her powers to escape to London and star in a play on the West End. She eventually realises that being a star is not what she wants, and returns to the orphanage.

Cast

as Molly Moon *

as Nockman *

as Miss Adderstone *

as Miss Trinklebury *

Celia Imrie Celia Diana Savile Imrie (born 15 July 1952) is an English actress and author. She was described in 2003 as one of the most successful British actresses of recent decades. She is best known for her film roles, including the '' Bridget Jones'' f ...

as Edna the Cook * Anne-Marie Duff as Lucy Logan the Librarian *

Ben Miller Bennet Evan Miller (born 24 February 1966) is an English actor, comedian, and author. He rose to fame as one half of the comedy duo Armstrong and Miller. Miller is also known for playing the lead role of DI Richard Poole in the first two serie ...

as Mr Alabaster *

Sadie Frost Sadie Liza Frost (née Vaughan; born 19 June 1965) is an English actress, producer and fashion designer, who ran fashion label Frost French (until its closure in 2011) and a film production company (Blonde to Black Pictures). Early life Frost ...

as Mrs Alabaster *

Omid Djalili Omid Djalili ( fa, امید جلیلی; born 30 September 1965) is a British actor, comedian and writer. Early life and education Djalili was born on 30 September 1965 in Chelsea, London, to Iranian Baháʼí parents. He attended Holland Park ...

as Barry Rix *

Gary Kemp Gary James Kemp (born 16 October 1959) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and actor, best known as the lead guitarist, backing vocalist, and principal songwriter for the New Romantic band Spandau Ballet. Kemp wrote the lyrics and music ...

as Cregg *

Tom Wisdom Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in '' Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

as Charlie Cooper *

Fern Deacon Fern Saffron Deacon (born 1 September 1998) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Chloe Voyle on the Channel 4 drama ''Ackley Bridge'' and Agnes on the CBBC series ''Hetty Feather''. Early life Fern Saffron Deacon was born on 1 ...

as Hazel *Jadon Carnelly-Morris as Rocky *Tallulah Evans as Davina Nuttel *

as Nockman's Mother Tracey

Reception

Box office

''Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism'' grossed a worldwide total of $41,158. Its 2016 re-release in the United Kingdom grossed a further $1,018.

Critical response

The film has a 29% approval rating on review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on reviews from 14 critics, with an average rating of 4.90 out of 10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 30 out of 100, based on 4 critic reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". David Noh of ''

Film Journal International ''Film Journal International'' was a motion-picture industry trade magazine published by the American company Prometheus Global Media. It was a sister publication of ''Adweek'', ''Billboard'', ''The Hollywood Reporter'', and other periodicals. H ...

'' praised the performances of Cassidy and Carnelly-Morris, and described the film as "Starting out deep in the ' ''Harry Potter''' vein, but then getting sidetracked into desperately glitzy showbiz shenanigans". Noh concluded that "the movie doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be: teen musical, an adolescent fantasy of fame and fortune, a family-friendly heart-warmer or noisily rambunctious caper film. End result: Despite a handsome, well-designed production, but with a mediocre score of mostly whining emo ditties, ''Molly Moon'' succeeds in being none of these things on a satisfying level." Reviewing the film for ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', Scott Tobias deemed it "a chintzy children’s fantasy that summons the powers of suggestion, but falls well short of mesmeric." Frank Scheck of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'' called it "a mostly wan affair that will have little appeal beyond its target audience of young girls." Dave Aldridge of '' Radio Times'' awarded the film three stars out of five and wrote, "''Molly Moon'' is easy to criticise but hard to hate. It's corny, but it also represents an ideal fantasy fulfilment for pre-teen girls." While praising the film's cast, Leslie Felperin of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' described the adaptation as "a rebarbative mess – mirthless and shoddy like a disposable Christmas stocking novelty" and awarded it two stars out of five. Yip Wai Yee of ''

The Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' is an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore and currently owned by SPH Media Trust (previously Singapore Press Holdings). ''The Sunday Times'' is its Sunday edition. The newspaper was establish ...

'' awarded it two stars out of five, finding Molly's character unlikeable and the film's storytelling approach too "over-the-top and in-your-face". Sandie Angulo Chen of

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

also awarded it two stars out of five.

References

External links

* * {{Molly Moon 2015 films British fantasy films Films based on British novels Constantin Film films Films set in London Films about orphans Films set in the 21st century Films about bank robbery Films about adoption 2010s English-language films 2010s British films