Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

If a movie could be comfort food, this is it. It's delightful and beautiful to look at, it's funny, it has Dick Van Dyke, laughs, lots of eccentric characters, and a Sherman brothers (aka Walt Disney) soundtrack. They don't make 'em like this anymore, but they certainly made of lot of these in the 1960's.From an Ian Fleming (James Bond) novel with a screenplay treatment from Roald Dahl (Willy Wonka) and director Ken Hughes, it's a marvelous musical adventure, kids movie, 'love' story with "good guys" and comical "bad guys" (including Goldfinger Gert Fröbe) that runs a tad long with its 15+ songs, several of which are reprised including the Academy Award nominated title song.Besides the indomitable Van Dyke as a "Rube Goldberg" inventor Caractacus Potts, there are so many enduring characters including Sally Ann Howes as Truly Scrumptious, Lionel Jeffries as the elder Potts, Anna Quayle as Baron Fröbe's Baroness, Benny Hill as the Toymaker, James Robertson Justice as Truly's wealthy industrialist father, Robert Helpmann as the scary villain Child Catcher, and Heather Ripley and Adrian Hall as Caractacus's adorable children Jemima and Jeremy. respectively.Van Dyke plays one of the big screen's most endearing single fathers, which draws Truly to him as much as his children do. They have imaginations cultivated by their father who, although he may spoil them a bit, is very emotionally "connected" to them, putting them to bed with songs and regales them with stories he seemingly makes up spontaneously.

Charming, but incredibly unfocused. Starts very sweetly and promisingly. However, from a point it takes one bizarre random turn after another. Still very sweet and innocent, but devoid of a plot (surprising, considering the screenplay was written by Roald Dahl, based on an Ian Fleming book). The random scenes needn't have been so irritating if director Ken Hughes had just kept them to a minimum, as the remainder of the movie is great. However, the fairy tale sequence goes on for an eternity.Good performances by Dick Van Dyke and Sally Ann Howes in the lead roles. The kids, Heather Ripley and Adrian Hall, are great too. Good support from James Robertson Justice. Interesting to see Benny Hill in the fairy tale sequence - one of the few highlights of that part.Music is so-so. Some songs were downright cringeworthy.Overall, the charm and innocence more than make up for the random plot, and it would be very difficult to dislike the movie. Kids will love it.

Agree with a lot of the comments above. It is,indeed, an ionic children's film from the sixties, building on Mary Poppins, and almost as good. The storyline tails off a little bit but the scenery, songs and enthusiasm of everyone involved make it wonderful entertainment for little ones for two hours - not to mention adults too! Some of the songs are very memorable - like the title song, me ole bamboo (great dance scene at the funfair) and, of course, (Sally Anne Howe as) Truly Scrumptious, filmed on a summer's day near St. Tropez. I saw this when it first came out and have seen it several times since. My children used to love it. Anything with cars fascinates boys and the romantic link appeals to the girls. I know it's been panned by critics but it's good, clean fun. A really enjoyable family film.

There's so much to attack but so much to love (begrugingly) in this movie version of Ian Fleming's novel. Yes, indeed, the author of the Bond series wrote a musical about a magical car that floats, flies and bang bang bangs. It's also a lifesaver for the eccentric inventor Cattaragus Potts (Dick Van Dyke), his two precocious children (Adrian Hall and Heather Ripley), and a beautiful socialite (Sally Anne Howes) who is at the crossroads of her life and determined to get past the pretensions of being the daughter of a wealthy sweets manufacturer, Lord Scrumptious (a wonderfully imperious James Robertson Justice) who has nothing but her money to claim as her own. The widowed Potts and the lovely Truly don't hit it off at first (like many couples paired together in a movie musical), but her instant love for his children draws them closer, as does an adventure where they head off to a weird land of child-hating rulers and underground canyons where everybody under the age of 18 lives in fear.The Sherman Brothers achieve another hit in their musical catalog with the musical score, an obvious follow-up to "Mary Poppins", yet not released by Walt Disney. Van Dyke is the obvious choice for Potts, and with Julie Andrews unable to take on the role of the heroine, British musical diva Sally Anne Howes had her one American film role as Truly. "Lovely, Lonely Man" shows her as a gorgeous soprano, and it is sad for American audiences that she didn't get the chance to be seen in more films. Only some lucky audiences on Broadway got the chance to see her, mainly as a replacement in "My Fair Lady" for Andrews on Broadway.Hall and Ripley are delightful as the children, looking more real than the kids from "Mary Poppins" and delightfully coy in their attitudes towards life. Lionel Jeffries gives a glorious performance as their flustered grandfather, an eccentric world traveler who pretends to go around the world in his little shack which really appears to be an out-house. There's gloriously campy performances from Gert Frobe and Anna Quayle as the Baron and Baroness Bomburst who perform "Choochy Face" with the attitudes of teenagers in a seemingly perfect lovefest, but its obvious that the Baron can't stand her, leading to some hilarious innuendos of him obviously trying to snuff her out. "Choochy Face" is followed up by the hysterical visual of the dried-up court of prunes who surround them socially, giving this a cartoon feel in its live action presentation.Then, there's Robert Helpmann as the sinister looking Child Catcher, one of the most horrifying villains ever on screen, and one who probably gave a lot of children nightmares. He actually looks like he could be a distant relative of the Wicked Witch of the West, an escapee from Oz who was obviously banished by the little people who lived in that land. Even "Willy Wonka" with its darkness didn't have a character like this. Musically and choreographically, "Chitty" is phenomenal with several lavish production numbers, some extremely touching moments, and a fantasy element that is almost as magical as "The Wizard of Oz". A Broadway version proved to be even more elephantine than the movie, overly cute and missing the adult touches that made the movie as appealing to grown-ups as it was to children.