Yes, Thunderbirds, the live action movie is finally go! Gerry Anderson's classic creation has been patiently mooted for a full-length outing for decades and at last the wait is over. While his father, billionaire and former astronaut Jeff Tracy (Bill Paxton), and his four elder brothers are busy saving the world, Alan's biggest challenge is saving his grade point average at boarding school. And what's worse, he can't even tell his schoolmates that his dad and brothers are better known as the fearless adventurers behind the top-secret organisation International Rescue - called in to save those in need whenever disaster strikes. Alan dreams of one day joining his close knit family in their global vocation and even getting into the driver's seat of one of the awesome, incredible machines the Tracy's use in their life-saving work: the Thunderbirds.

Back home on Tracy Island - a secret oasis in the South Pacific and headquarters to International Rescue - Alan and his friends, the brainy Fermat and the adventurous Tin-Tin, are left behind as Jeff Tracy and his elder sons are deployed on a false mission by master-criminal The Hood (Sir Ben Kingsley). He then takes control of Tracy Island and the Thunderbirds, and it falls to Alan and his friends to come up with a plan to defeat The Hood and rescue his family... oh and save the world while they're at it.

Set in the year 2010, the family action-adventure Thunderbirds stars Bill Paxton (Apollo 13, Twister) as father Jeff Tracy; Anthony Edwards (ER) as Brains Hackenbacker, the creative force behind the International Rescue's fleet of high-tech vehicles, sophisticated gadgets and computer devices; Sophia Myles (Underworld) as Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, the Tracy family's ultra-cool secret agent partner; and Oscar winner Sir Ben Kingsley (The House of Sand and Fog, Gandhi) as the Tracy family nemesis The Hood. Ron Cook is Parker, Lady Penelope's trusted chauffeur, butler and all-round aide-de-camp.

All the old favourites are present and correct, with a particular highlight being the delightful Lady Penelope, who is played perfectly by the suitably, er, delightful Sophia Myles, the on-screen chemistry between her character and that of Ron Cook (who plays Parker) is truly wonderful. Making Thunderbirds a cracking kids' adventure which really is puppetry in motion!

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