Load of rubbish!!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Although I've seen a good number of eps from the classic TV series since childhood,I for some reason have always missed the chance to see the original big screen version of James Herriot's books. Looking at the flicks being shown over X-Mas/New Year,I noticed a screening of the movie in among animated titles,which led to me going down to the farm.The plot-1937:Recently passing his exams, newly qualified veterinarian James Herriot goes oop North for a job at Siegfried Farnon's practice in Yorkshire. Welcomed into the practice,Herriot soon finds himself getting stuck into taking care of all creatures big and small.View on the film:Filmed "Oop Yorkshire" director Claude Whatham & cinematographer Peter Suschitzky breath in the rural air with a misty atmosphere putting the viewer down on the farm. Allowing the viewer to see the hard work that vets do in a (mostly ) matter of fact manner, Whatham wonderfully brushes up the late 30's setting,lit by the cosy lack of modern machines which give the movie a fairy tale way of life. Threaded from two of Herriot's books,the screenplay by Hugh Whitemore flips the pages at a rapid pace. Whilst this stops the film from feeling dry,it also causes for there to be no feeling of a real friendship growing between the vets,due to any tantalisingly small moments being quickly skipped over. Joined by the charming Simon Ward as Herriot, Anthony Hopkins steals every scene he is in as the pipe smoking Farnon,thanks to Hopkins giving Farnon an excellent manner at home with the simple things in life,as the vets help all creatures,great and small.

This film version of James Herriot`s series of novels isn`t much cop compared to the television show of the same . This movie is the prior piece but there`s nothing very memorable about . The plot is more or less composed of " Will young James get married to his girlfriend or not ? " , hardly the most original or compelling premise for a movie , and we`re treated to little in the way of these blackly comical scenes of animals and their owners having mishaps that made the TV show enjoyable . Perhaps the worst problem is that Tristan ( Played by boyish mischief in the show by Peter Davison ) is more or less a peripheral character in this movieThe cast are passable ( Simon West was rather famous when this was produced while Anthony Hopkins was almost totally unknown ) but they seem to lack the flair that Christopher Timothy , Robert Hardy and Peter Davison brought to the long running series

I thoroughly enjoyed this film, at great surprise. I would not recommend it to fans of the action genre but everyone else should take a look, especially animal lovers, don't think for a second you need to have read Herriot's book. The actors themselves provide all the entertainment with their dialogue (except the bits with the animals and farmers). It is actually an emotional film and makes you involved with the characters. A word of warning, since it covers a significant amount of time without making it that clear don't leave the room. I haven't made this film sound as good as it is but believe me it's great. Simon Ward and Brian Stirner are very good as James Herriot and Tristan respectively but Anthony Hopkins steals every scene he's in (as always) as Siegfried, who constantly confuses Herriot by changing what he said the night before and manages to insult all the women. The scene where he is chatting up his girlfriend is a classic example of how NVC can be better than actually saying something. So long as you know what you are expecting this film is excellent.A great British classic, watch it.

This was a light-hearted, sometimes moving, quaint little period piece. Based explicitly on Herriot's surprise bestselling autobiography of the same name, All Creatures Great and Small is a wholesome family film. The book is a collection of stories about Herriot's beginning years as an assistant vet, and the movie is basically the same. Very pure, and very enjoyable. I recommend it for families, and especially for animal-loving families. This movie won't change your life, but it will entertain you. (Watch for a great performance by a younger Anthony Hopkins, who plays the quirky Veterinary Surgeon that Harriot goes to work for)