This is the story of 10 year old Magnus Gove and his arrival at an English boys boarding school. The English have a long standing tradition of these movies, both comic and serious just as we here in the colonies celebrate our schools on film. The difference is they concentrate on the young of the wealthy and we more democratically concentrate on all strata. I'm sure that hip-shot analysis leaks like a sieve, but it serves by and large.
My allusion to this being a movie of other movies is accomplished lightly without being intrusive. The most self-conscious of these tips of the hat are towards Jurassic Park where the Latin master is less than fondly called Raptor by his students. To match up to his name we have Christopher Lee ready to pounce on young Magnus whenever he slips into trouble (which can be all too often for a 10 year old).
Magnus' problem is the other boys, a theme that goes back 150 years to Tom Brown's Schooldays where Tom is hounded by Harry Flashman. The stages of integration and assimilation are painfully felt by the awkward Magnus, but he soon finds fellow sufferers and brings them together through the universal bonding agent of food. Magnus it seems has a way in the kitchen. With a little surreptitious after-hours cooking, he manages to recruit two followers into a midnight feasting secret society.
Magnus and his small band soon accumulate a following, including the Latin master's daughter who is a repressed young lady serving the school in many capacities that her father demeans in every way. As the story progresses, Magnus leads his followers on scouting missions and secret rendezvous cooking up recipes from the master French chef Escoffier (and they thus call their band the Scoffers). Even the school's cook, who lays in waiting to trap them, must admit that young Magnus has that touch and genius of the art.
It has been years since I've seen a similar movie that glorifies the preparation of food with so much care. The first such is Le Grande Bouffe, a darkly comic movie of suicide by indulgence, and Eat, Drink, Man, Woman (well maybe not so many years ago). Given that the English diet is rarely described as something to behold, this is a rare achievement (but also given the dishes prepared, it is definitely English in that all are desserts).
There is one scene, lifted from Jurassic Park, in the kitchen as Raptor- er Victor the Latin master stalks through the gleaming stainless steel cabinetry looking for the boys. There is the delicious touch of him circling through, not finding anyone, and while standing at the doors several drops of pancake batter falling onto his coat unseen (the boys have hidden themselves on a ledge above the door). The comic effect of bowls of water splashing with the tremors of footfalls of the approaching adults also plays well. These touches mark the new director Justin Hardy as thoughtful and fun. As one participant at this movie put it, "its got names and no subtitles, unlike most movies playing this year it will be back."