Following on from last week, [https://number9reviews.blogspot.com/2020/10/online-novel-reading-james-and-giant.html] I was looking forward to seeing which celebrities would be taking part in part two, and if poor James Henry Trotters’ luck had improved. This edition's celebrities - voicing James’ awful Aunts, are Meryl Streep and Benedict Cumberbatch. Whilst last weeks edition was fantastic, Streep and Cumberbatch made this week's episode fly so quickly and had me laughing so hard I cried.
Last week we’d left James having just received a mysterious package from a strange old man. And we kick off part 2, and chapter five of the book with James running as quickly as he can back to the house to avoid being caught by his wicked Aunts with the package. Through the long grass and stinging nettles, James runs as fast as his little legs can carry him but suddenly trips over the trunk of a tree...the contents of the package sinking quickly into the mud. They seem to be magically eaten up by the soil, with no chance to grab any last bits of the contents. James was so upset he felt like crying, they were lost - lost forever. Only the roots of the old peach tree were there...James tries to remember what the old man told him - “whoever it meets first, be it bug, insect, animal or tree, that will be the one who gets the full power of their magic”.
From the moment we are first introduced to this week's Aunt Sponge (Streep) and Aunt Spiker voices (Cumberbatch), laughter follows. Benedict has a pair of large glasses on to mimic the ones Aunt Spiker wears on the end of her nose, and he moves them to the end of his nose when in character, however it’s Streep as Aunt Sponge who is really loving being in character and brings something magical to the bedtime story. From the moment she starts in this cartoon-like high-pitched voice. Taika Waititi is even grinning from ear to ear and having a giggle, like a small child trying hard not to burst out laughing at the teacher. By chapter six, Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker discover a peach growing on the tree that has previously failed to bear any fruit. Meryl Streep is once again stealing the limelight at this point with her hilarious and at the same time rather sinister voice of Aunt Sponge. James soon spots his Aunts and the peach on the tree and has a suspicion that something great is going to happen. Greedy Aunt Sponge wants to eat the peach, suggesting as a compromise that she would share it with Aunt Spiker, so they order James to climb up the “highest branch” to retrieve it. But as James goes to do so, the peach suddenly begins to start growing much bigger! Soon the Aunts have a change of heart stating there’s money to be made here. The Aunts arrange for a fence to be built around the peach, and as onlookers start to become fascinated with its size, they start charging tickets into the fence to come and see it close up for themselves. Soon the Aunts were rolling in money but whilst all this excitement was going on, poor James was forced to stay locked in his bedroom - peeping through the bars of his windows at the crowds of people below.
Meryl Streep should really get an Oscar for this performance - I could watch her all evening in this role. It proves she really can do anything - even children’s book Zoom calls! If only all bedtime stories were this grand! The link in the YouTube video enables you to make a donation - and every donation helps. Stay tuned for part 3 coming soon!
Reviewer - Lottie Davis-Browne
on - 12/10/20
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