As the film says "the future is in music", and let us hope
that S Club's future lies ONLY in music!
Starring: S Club- Hannah Spearitt, Jo O'Meara,
Tina Barrett, Rachel Stevens, Bradley McIntosh, Jon Lee.
Director: Nigel Dick
Running Time: 91 minutes
Certificate: PG
Adventure, Comedy, (Children's Comedy Adventure)
British pop band S Club are tired and in need of a break as they travel
on their world tour aboard the S Club bus performing and greeting fans. One day their manager disappears, and they are left
stranded in Europe, where they can get that well earned rest. Trouble appears when they discover an S Club copy impersonating
them in LA. They find these people are clones created by an evil scientist, and set out to capture them; reinstating themselves
as the real S Club.
Hannah, Jo, Tina, Rachel, Bradley, and Jon all appear in this film;
which at the beginning has scary parallels to the Spice Girl's "Spiceworld The Movie". The film is long for children, exceedingly
drawn out and complicated, which makes it very difficult for the viewer to distinguish between who are the clones and who
are real. "Seeing Double" tackles too many complex ideas and stories for a child to understand and one spends too much time
trying to decipher the plot to be properly entertained. Too many minor characters pop in and out, and there are too many unnecessary
and drawn out scenes.
No member of the band, with the exception of Hannah (who has a flair
for character acting), can be described as having given a good performance except when singing and dancing. There are only
three main song sections, which says to me that they are trying to be something they are not!
Gareth Gates appears briefly as a clone of himself, in a scene involving
the passing of plates round a table which I could not comprehend at all!
The writing is poor and the jokes aren't funny- the cinema was full
of children and you never heard a peep out of them until S Club started singing. This proves that they should stick to what
they do best- being pop stars. As the film says "the future is in music", and let us hope that S Club's future lies ONLY in
music!
This is in the end a children's film and if all they want to do is
to stare at their heroes for an hour and a half then this is the film. If they are after an exciting adventure tale it might
be easier for them to understand the most complicated of the James Bond films.
It's Got: Lots of smiley happy pop stars and
pop star clones!
It Needs: A tighter narrative structure, and
more S Club music!
Alternatives: Spiceworld.
Summary: A confusing and complicated children's
tale. 3/10
Review by Laura Pearson
