Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was my favorite movie as a kid. It’s a children’s musical comedy adventure about a flying car. I think that pretty much explains why I loved it as a toddler.
The Set-up
Dick Van Dyke stars as Caractacus Potts an unsuccessful, but imaginative inventor. He is the single parent of two young children Jeremy (Adrian Hall) and Jemima (Heather Ripley). Their grandfather (Lionel Jeffries) also lives with them, a kook who believes he’s going on an adventure every day when he’s actually going to an outhouse. The children convince Caractacus to buy Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a beat up old race car. He begins to fix it up.
One day the children meet Truly Scrumptious (Sally Ann Howe), the daughter of candy manufacturer. Caractacus and Truly disagree over how he raises the children, but she and the children get along well. After Chitty has been fixed, they all go the beach for a picnic. While at the beach Caractacus tells a story that is the last half of the film.
In the story pirates capture Grandpa and they follow the pirates to Vulgaria to save him. Vulgaria is ruled by an evil king that has outlawed children. In the story Chitty can fly and helps them save Grandpa and the Vulgarian children.
Why It’s Great
As I kid, I thought Chitty was the coolest car. It was a shiny, vintage race car that could fly and float on water. It’s still a pretty cool car and the effects that make the car float and fly still hold up today.
Dick Van Dyke is one of my favorite actors and Caractacus seems like someone who would be a fun dad when you’re a little kid. All of the Rube Goldberg inventions he created are interesting and fun.
The songs are very good, they are written by the Sherman Brothers who also wrote the songs for Mary Poppins and other Disney movies.
Even as a kid, I never particularly liked the Vulgarian part of the story, other than the parts with Chitty. The best songs and the majority of the car scenes are in the first half of the movie.
Honestly, this is the first movie in this series I can’t necessarily recommend. It’s too long and the second half drags. If you didn’t watch it as a kid, it’s unlikely you’ll love it like those who did. My son watched it with me when I just re-watched it. He liked the parts with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but he got bored about halfway through. Now with Pixar, DreamWorks, and Disney movies as good as they are kids have plenty quality entertainment. But if you loved it as a kid, you’ll find that the songs and special effects still hold up today.