The Magic Faraway Tree
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https://www.palacecinemas.com.au/movies/the-magic-faraway-tree
Date Reviewed: 25/03/2026
There are films you watch, and then there are films you feel. Last night, at the Melbourne preview of The Magic Faraway Tree at the Rivoli Cinemas, I had the rare joy of experiencing the latter — and left with happy tears I wasn't entirely prepared for.
Let's get straight to it: children's cinema has been in a quiet drought. We've had spectacle, we've had franchise instalments, but genuine wonder has been harder to come by. This film breaks that streak decisively. Adapted from Enid Blyton's beloved Faraway Tree series by BAFTA winner Simon Farnaby (the genius behind Paddington 2 and Wonka) and directed by Ben Gregor, it is the kind of movie that reminds you why stories matter in the first place.
The Thompson family — parents Polly and Tim, played by Claire Foy and Andrew Garfield — are forced to uproot their lives and relocate to the remote English countryside, much to the horror of their three very 21st-century children. Foy and Garfield are a genuinely wonderful duo on screen, warm and grounded in a way that makes the fantastical feel entirely believable. They bring real emotional weight to a story that could easily have floated away into mere spectacle.
But the true heart of this film belongs to the three young newcomers. Delilah Bennett-Cardy as Beth, Billie Gadsdon as Fran, and Phoenix Laroche as Joe are nothing short of remarkable. Beth, the oldest, walks a tricky tightrope — her sulky, resistant early-teen energy is genuinely irritating at first, which is entirely the point. By the film's end, her arc delivers one of the most satisfying character developments you'll see in a family film this year. Gadsdon and Laroche, meanwhile, as the younger Fran and Joe, are pure magic on screen. They don't perform wonder — they embody it. Watching them discover the tree and its extraordinary inhabitants, you'll find yourself believing right alongside them.
The supporting cast is stacked with British talent — Nicola Coughlan as Silky, Jessica Gunning as Dame Washalot, Michael Palin, Lenny Henry, Jennifer Saunders — and every single one of them brings full commitment to a world that rewards it.
For those of us who grew up with Blyton's books, this film is something quite precious: a direct line back to childhood. There is a specific kind of joy that comes from seeing something you imagined on a page finally rendered with this much care and colour. More than once, I found myself blinking back tears that my young companion beside me could not entirely account for. That's the film's quiet genius — it works on two entirely different levels simultaneously, and it earns both.
The pacing, too, deserves a mention. Not too fast, not too slow — Gregor trusts his audience, young and old alike, to settle into the story's rhythm.
Reviewed by Anushka