Caractacus Potts (Dick Van Dyke) is an inventor who has often struggled to find his way in the world of the mainstream. His children Jemima (Heather Ripley) and Jeremy (Adrian Hall) have found a magical car named Chitty Chitty Bang Bang–and they’ve made friends with Truly Scrumptious (Sally Ann Howes), an upper-class woman with a touch of pull in the business world. With the entrance of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Truly into the lives of the Potts, things will begin to change drastically for the family.
By now (assuming you’ve read any of my other musical reviews in the past) you know that the things I despise most about musicals is the fact that oftentimes the characters seem to miraculously know the words to a song or the steps to a dance without any prior knowledge of the former or the latter. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is everything that I hate about this genre of cinema. Van Dyke’s Caractacus and the other characters just seem to know every nuance of each song and dance throughout Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and beyond it simply making no sense whatsoever, it’s incredibly frustrating.
With all of that being said, I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t something entertaining about nearly every song. It instantly became difficult to get the songs out of my head as the earworm wiggled through my brain. There is something whimsical about each and every song present in the film, and the ones in which Van Dyke plays a role are particularly entertaining. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s soundtrack, developed by Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman, and Irwin Kostal, is something akin to magic, and for me to be impressed by a musical's soundtrack is a testament to the prowess of these three men.
I’m quite impressed by the character development present in this film. From the opening moments everyone, including the car, has a well-developed backstory. The first forty-five(ish) minutes is an effectively told story of imagination, family, and perseverance, and through the film’s first act viewers are intrigued by nearly all that is said and done. I enjoyed learning about the characters, seeing their stories develop fluidly, and rooting for the oddball family to find success and happiness–but Chitty Chitty Bang Bang changes drastically once the car officially comes into the picture. At this point success seems to have been found, but the film continues for another hour and a half. The story being told through the second and third acts of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is essentially useless and serves no purpose. My interest began to fade at the conclusion of the first act, and it never piqued again.
There are many moving parts present throughout Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and not everything is relevant. After the hour mark there is no point in continuing this convoluted story of madness and chaos, but it continues nonetheless. As the film continues, plot holes galore plague the film, and as questions arose the only answer I could get was “it’s Dick Van Dyke magic,” which only further perpetuates the cycle of absurdities. It’s hard to make a definitive statement about the entirety of the film, because there are moments that succeed, but so many that fail to entertain. Through all of the ridiculousness of the second and third acts it becomes clear that Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is far from being truly scrumptious and much more along the lines of truly frustrating.
Directed by Ken Hughes.
Written by Ian Fleming, Roald Dahl, Ken Hughes, & Richard Maibaum.
Starring Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, Lionel Jeffries, Gert Frôbe, Anna Quayle, Benny Hill, James Robertson Justice, Robert Helpmann, Heather Ripley, Adrian Hall, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐½/10
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