Customer Reviews

Prince Brat and the Whipping Boy

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a 6th grade reading and language arts special education teacher. I showed this movie after reading the Chapter book. My students enjoyed the movie as well as finding the differences and similarities between the movie and book. This movie follows the book as well as some extra dialogue and scenes. Great movie to show after reading The Whipping Boy.

Rated-G. Made for the Disney-Channel.

Filmed on location in the countryside of France, in a castle, village, and forest. Lavish costumes, sets. Plenty of soldiers, courtiers, and a couple of bad-guys. Two boys coming to friendship through adventure.

The royal family does not believe the prince and future king should be whipped with servants gossiping in the castle; so an orphan, boy is abducted and takes the punishment for the prince, and is paid for his pain. Not as far-fetched in England where misbehaving school-children were regularly whipped with a cane in the public schools; I know for sure through the 1930's, and maybe later. This is a very brief part of the plot.

The king is too busy to spend anytime with his son the prince, and rejects his young son's requests for activities. The young prince tries to get attention, and let his father know he is sad, by retaliating for each rejection with mischievous pranks. An ambassador is visiting trying to avert war. The young prince pulls his pranks on the ambassador, and then his father, with both sides thinking the other responsible. Thus, the young-prince pushes the two, kingdoms to the brink of war.

The young-prince and the orphan-boy run away on quite an adventure. A good moral in the end. The film moves at a good pace with plenty of action, interest, and humor. The orphan-boy's little sister has her own troubles elsewhere.

I typed it in on a complete whim! I'm so stoked this is the production that was shown on Disney Channel, pre-Hanna Montanna and all that crap, when they had a classic theater piece. It was such a great adaptation of the book. While my memory is a bit fuzzy, I do know that at the time I was very into Dickens and other English classics, along with a total addiction to the Avonlea series, and this movie really left an impact on me as a teenager (over ten years ago). It's such a delight to know that it is available now on DVD format. If you liked the book, this is a respectable adaptation that will be a wonder to watch! I HIGHLY recommend the purchase, but for my own greed. If more people will buy this, then maybe we will see more of these classics available to own! lol By which, I mean, I will be able to own them!!! ^____^

GREAT MOVIE, GREAT ACTING. GREAT SCENERY AND GREAT ENTERTAINMENT FOR MYSELF AND MY GRANDCHILDREN.
WE ALL ENJOY IT A LOT.

The Whipping Boy premiered 7/31/1994 on the Disney Channel with some references in Variety to a 120 minute run time. It was released theatrically in the U.S. 9/28/1995 with a 96 minute run time. When I saw that Amazon.com is creating DVD-R copies with a 113 minute run time, I purchased it thinking it was a director's cut with a run time of the premiere, but the DVD-R I received has the same 96:34 run time of the theatric release. I haven't found a way to advise Amazon.com that they are misrepresenting this product. I did compare the DVD-R to the 2009 DVD version distributed by Feature Films for Families and found that FFFF cut about 2 minutes from the 96:34 version in 20 edits. Curiously, Jemmy says "gol" three times in the 96:34 version and Annyrose says it once -- FFFF used a 1 second cut to remove one of Jemmy's gols and a 2-second cut to remove Annyrose's, but left the other two instances untouched.

I read this book to my 5th grade ESE class who were also ESOL. Though it had many words and phrases they did not understand, we were able to discuss them. They thoroughly enjoyed the book and the movie was a great culminating activity. I rented it for about $3 and was able to stream it from my laptop. I had access to the movie for several days. Very good deal.

I always read The Whipping Boy aloud to my students first. Then, we watch the story and make comparisons. The movie is very different from the books but the kids enjoy it all the same.

My husband and I both really liked this movie! It was refreshing and hilarious and just good fun! We watched it more than once the week we got it. It's just that good. You really feel like you are there with them in the adventure. You get to know and enjoy the characters. Definitely a movie I would recommend to Old and Young alike.