Movie Review: "The Magic Faraway Tree" Will Leave Kids Yearning For The Real World

5/12 ForReel Score | 3/5 Stars

I’ve become quite crotchety about kids' movies in recent years. I’m sure being 30 years old has something to do with it, but my annoyance runs deeper. I remember the movies of my youth being a bit smarter than the likes of Sonic The Hedgehog and Minecraft. Those one-note characters were reserved for video games. In my day, the arms race was for the next Harry Potter-esque children’s book that could spawn a mega franchise. They varied in quality but at least were based on fully fledged stories and encouraged literacy. Ben Gregor’s The Magic Faraway Tree, based on the book series by Enid Blyton, is a quaint throwback to the likes of Nanny McPhee and Bridge to Terabithia. It roots an escape to a fantasy world in the human struggles of a modern family. It might be worth a shot to see if your kids can sit through something like this. I can’t say I have that much faith, though. While consistently sweet, this certainly isn’t as captivating as something like Paddington and is often at its dullest when leaning into the fantastical elements. 

We meet the Thomson family during a tumultuous time. Inventor Polly (Claire Foy) has been fired from her high paying job for opposing the integration of surveillance cameras into the smart fridge she crafted. Apartment and car are both in the company’s name and Tim (Andrew Garfield) has devoted his life to raising their three children. On a whim, Tim decides to move everybody out to a run down shack in the middle of the countryside where he grew up. He has a dream of growing tomatoes and then selling his pasta sauce recipe to carry their future forward. The tech addicted kids, particularly the snarky eldest daughter Beth (Delilah Bennett-Cardy) are miserable without Wi-Fi and a swanky house. Fran (Billie Gadsdon), the youngest daughter who is also mute, ventures out into the woods and happens upon the titular tree. There, she meets fairy Silky (Nicola Coughlan) and her friends, who whisk her away to several of the realms within her world. Eventually, the other children get involved as their parents’ misfortunes grow. 

My experience with The Magic Faraway Tree was distinctly adult. I was completely charmed any time Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy were on screen. It is clear that the gregarious Garfield has been waiting for the chance to play a sweet movie dad for his entire career. He radiates a gentle confidence and love for his children that is a delight to behold. Had this been better, it might’ve ended up being one of his best performances. Foy is a bit more reserved, but she does a great job portraying Polly’s wavering faith in her husband’s plan. She’s trying to keep up a pleasant front for her kids and stay busy by inventing crafty gardening tools, but it is not quite taking. Delilah Bennett-Cardy, Billie Gadsdon and Phoenix Laroche as middle child Joe are all fine young actors, although I can’t say any one of them really pops. 

I’d say the same for the worlds within the Faraway Tree. They are agreeable and cute confections. Most of the places they go are centered around sweets or granted wishes, which indeed does feel like fodder from books written in the 1930s-50s. While the film is set in the present day, Ben Gregor seems squeamish to modernize any of these aspects. There’s something honorable about that. He’s trying to preserve a particular warm and fuzzy style that can teach kids how to watch movies in the same way these books provide an easy outlet for reading. They just don’t always succeed at the more important task of being captivating. The effects are a bit dodgy, clearly there wasn’t a ton of money for CGI polish. Coughlan and company are a bit grating, all mugging for maximum cuteness. These scenes left me eager to get back to Garfield begging for his tomatoes to grow. 

Gregor also makes the incredibly odd choice to withhold any antagonist from the story until the third act. Indeed, Rebecca Ferguson does appear as Dame Snap (or as I like to refer to her, Rose the Even Bigger Hat) but not until the film has barely 20 minutes left. It’s always fun to watch her ham it up and she gets a couple of enjoyable shrieks in but she’s ultimately just a minor obstacle that the children can easily outwit. It brings to mind how much she was also wasted in Joe Cornish’s The Kid Who Would Be King in a rather similar role. Maybe put the kids' scripts down, Rebecca. 

Although I’d like to believe that there is still room in the world of kids cinema for movies like The Magic Faraway Tree, the elements that would appeal most to children are not nearly as engaging as they need to be. I suspect that a 6 year old in 2026 will not be as delighted by Andrew Garfield’s passion for tomatoes as I was, so this is in big trouble. It has already made a decent chunk of change in England and sequels have been announced, so perhaps this franchise will truly find its footing and tone with a bigger budget. As of now, it just doesn’t feel like it’ll travel well.