TheMunkeyBoy It's fifty years-old this year and it still hit the mark. I watched this with my eldest son when he was about 6 and he loved it. But, I just forgot about it as time went by. He's 14 now. I put it on last night for my other two kids, who are 10 & 5, well they loved it. Watched it again the very next day. My teenage son even sat in and watched it too. They sing the theme song now while driving. The only bad point to me is that it's a very long movie and it can seem a little slow at times. Probably not a bad thing to a kid though, mine never complained. They asked questions about "the olden days" as it's onviously set even many years before it was made. I loved the questions and the insight into a different time of story telling. He movie was at least 25 years old when I saw it and it seemed old to me then. But I loved it. Great movie. Don't be turned off thinking kids won't like it compared to modern kid and family movies. It's dated but that's not a bad thing.

sapphireflood8 I don't know why the IMDb rating is so low on this. In my opinion, this is one of THE best children's movies of all time. Even if you are an adult and have no children, you should definitely watch it. This movie is HILARIOUS, has some great musical numbers in it, a sweet story, and is just packed with fun. Great costume and set design as well. Not to mention, Dick van Dyke is in it! There is so much that happens in this movie, I don't know how they fit it all into less than 2 hours! If you like Mary Poppins (also an excellent film and a must-see) this movie is just as good. So DON'T be fooled by the rating. This movie rocks! I am 21 and still love Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!

SimonJack As an older "kid," I can still enjoy the fun of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." This is one of those early movies made for children with a little bit of adult humor. By that, I don't mean R-rated or toilet humor. I mean stuff written above the heads of most kids' understanding. There weren't as many such films back then, but there were some. It's a precursor to the modern-day group of films – mostly animated, that seem to be written as much for adults as for the young crowd. I enjoy some of these films myself ("Ice Age," "Madagascar," "Shrek"). The modern film adult humor is usually in dialog that accompanies visuals. In "Chitty Chitty" and other early movies for kids, the adult reach most often is in the dialog that can stand by itself. The kids are watching a funny scene while we older viewers are chuckling at what we just heard while watching the same scene. It's still humorous to me that this movie was based on a book by Ian Fleming. But, when I think about some of the gimmicks that the M15 spy group comes up with for James Bond, I can see a connection. Dick Van Dyke's character in this film, Caractacus Potts, is an inventor and tinker who has some strange and funny inventions. This movie resembles a fairytale in two ways – the fantasy portion itself, and that part as a story within a story. The cast are all very good. This is mostly Van Dyke's show, though, with his inventions and dance scenes. The candy factory song and dance routine is an excellent job of choreography. I watched a bonus video with my DVD in which Van Dyke says he pulled a muscle doing the whirling kitchen cart number. Sally Ann Howes adds a nice voice to song and is a good romantic match for Van Dyke. Gert Frobe is especially good as Baron Bomburst. The movie did receive an Oscar nomination for the title song. But unlike other films they composed and wrote lyrics for, the Sherman Brothers (Richard and Robert) didn't score any hits or memorable songs in this movie. Still, it's a fun movie to watch with youngsters, who will enjoy it most.

mark.waltz 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.