Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

Thunderbirds

Play trailer Poster for Thunderbirds PG Released Jul 30, 2004 1h 27m Kids & Family Sci-Fi Adventure Action Fantasy Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
19% Tomatometer 104 Reviews 37% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
Former astronaut Jeff Tracy (Bill Paxton) runs International Rescue, a top-secret heroic organization, from his headquarters on Tracy Island. The island also houses the futuristic vehicles created by Ray "Brains" Hackenbacker (Anthony Edwards). But while Jeff is on a mission in space, his nemesis, The Hood (Ben Kingsley), invades Tracy Island. The Hood plots to use the island's technology for evil, and only Jeff's son, Alan (Brady Corbet), can stop him.
Watch on Fandango at Home Buy Now

Where to Watch

Thunderbirds

Thunderbirds

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Live-action cartoon for kids.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View All (104) Critics Reviews
Nell Minow Common Sense Media Fans of the Spy Kids series will enjoy it. Rated: 3/5 Dec 29, 2010 Full Review Joshua Katzman Chicago Reader There's enough special effects razzle-dazzle to distract the average ten-year-old, but the script by William Osborne and Michael McCullers is stilted and humorless -- a little camp might have helped. May 18, 2008 Full Review Derek Adams Time Out What impenetrable, overwrought codswallop this one's turned out to be. Feb 9, 2006 Full Review Paul Dale The List It's too convoluted and camp for kids and too boring for adults. Rated: 1/5 Apr 22, 2019 Full Review Mark Steyn The Spectator If they'd taken the spirit of the Penny-Parker scenes and run with it, they might have had a movie. Instead, Tim Bevan and co. took Gerry Anderson's wonderful self-contained universe and cut the strings in every sense. Jan 25, 2018 Full Review Felix Vasquez Jr. Cinema Crazed There's just nothing redeeming about this movie... Apr 29, 2009 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (734) audience reviews
Emily P Absolutely love this film, even 20 years after it's release, I still watch this and love it to this day it always makes me laugh and takes me back to being a child.. it definitely gets too much hate.. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/06/24 Full Review Kieron A Brilliant film. It receives far too much hate for what it is, a classic 00s kids film. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/11/24 Full Review Jordan J It may not be a good film itself unlike the cartoon puppet series. Thunderbirds is a more children's live action film. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 09/02/22 Full Review Rappids J I don't know why no-one likes this film. Its really fun, and a great adaptation of the original show. Great Score, nice acting (Mostly Parker) and brilliant thunderbird designs. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/27/22 Full Review Audience Member I though that this film would be awful after looking at the trailer and review rating. So I made a bet that if I ended up loving the film that I would create an account on rotten tomatoes and leave a good review. And, here we are. I loved it, watch this film. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member If you are a fan of the original 1960s Thunderbird's TV show then this movie is not for you. Somehow they managed to make a film about the International Rescue family without showing hardly any rescuing. They even needed rescuing themselves. The film starts off well, for all of 3 minutes. We get a very brief intro sequence showing a standard rescue. Then after heading back to Tracey Island they receive a distress call from Thunderbird 5 prompting all active International Rescue members to head off to help in Thunderbird 3. They are then stranded up in space, and I am not kidding on this one, spend 2/3 of the film trapped in space doing practically nothing. Instead of various rescue missions the filmmakers thought we would prefer to spend the time watching 3 children walking around the island avoiding various dangers. The film also commits its biggest sin by not including even one remake of the classic sequence where the pilots are taken to their Thunderbirds via various elaborate chair and escalator rides. The Actress and character of Lady Penelope are the films only real strong point as well as the actor and character of Parker. The film at least got them both right. But they alone could not carry this film. For some reason the people behind this film decided that they would make a Thunderbirds film while mostly leaving out everything that made the original Thunderbirds series that classic that it was. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Thunderbirds

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

Journey to the Center of the Earth 60% 51% Journey to the Center of the Earth Watchlist TRAILER for Journey to the Center of the Earth Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow 71% 46% Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Watchlist TRAILER for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 20% 33% The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl Watchlist Zathura 77% 51% Zathura Watchlist Race to Witch Mountain 42% 44% Race to Witch Mountain Watchlist TRAILER for Race to Witch Mountain Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis Former astronaut Jeff Tracy (Bill Paxton) runs International Rescue, a top-secret heroic organization, from his headquarters on Tracy Island. The island also houses the futuristic vehicles created by Ray "Brains" Hackenbacker (Anthony Edwards). But while Jeff is on a mission in space, his nemesis, The Hood (Ben Kingsley), invades Tracy Island. The Hood plots to use the island's technology for evil, and only Jeff's son, Alan (Brady Corbet), can stop him.
Director
Jonathan Frakes
Producer
Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Mark Huffam
Screenwriter
Michael McCullers, William Osborne, Peter Hewitt
Distributor
Universal Pictures, Universal Studios Inc.
Production Co
Working Title Films, Tracy Films Ltd
Rating
PG (Language|Intense Action Sequences)
Genre
Kids & Family, Sci-Fi, Adventure, Action, Fantasy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 30, 2004, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 18, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA)
$6.8M
Runtime
1h 27m
Sound Mix
Surround, Dolby Digital, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)
Most Popular at Home Now