The Mighty Boosh On Tour: Journey Of The Childmen

The Christmas market, as we're sure you are aware, is awash with DVDs purely designed for that person in your life who "likes that sort of thing". It requires no thought, only a few minutes of your time and about a tenner.

How accurate then that this documentary mimics the thoughtlessness, impressionless and utter cheapness of gift-giving over the holiday season.

Journey of The Childmen - a title so bereft of wit that one wonders if The Mighty Boosh have anything to do with this release and are, in actual fact, contractually obliged to release a DVD from the pits of hell - chronicles their 2009 Future Sailors Tour.

"Chronicles" is perhaps too strong a word. What the viewer is actually presented with is a series of montages featuring The Boosh tour entourage being gawked at by fans, having "fun" on the tour bus, views of the countryside from the tour bus, Noel being gawked at by fans, the guys changing costumes in "exciting" behind-the-scenes action, Noel and Julian generally looking like they'd rather not be there (not to mention rougher than the Crack Fox's arse) and some more footage of fans gawking at the gang. It's tedious.

Even more so are the seemingly endless interjections from Rich Fulcher, a man who is not as funny as everyone around him (specifically Noel) seems to think he is. In reality, none of the troupe come off well. The likability of their onscreen personas is completely missing here, leaving a cold experience for viewers and, more importantly, fans.

And this release is ultimately aimed at fans. Despite the fact that this documentary is made by an award-winning filmmaker (Oliver Ralfe), it offers nothing to the casual viewer. Its execution is also inherently flawed, including poor sound throughout, infuriatingly amateurish camerawork, no focus or insight and certainly no story being told (not to mention the absence of laughs).

Journey Of The Childmen would barely make an acceptable extra feature on a DVD let alone act as a stand alone film. Speaking of which, the extras here are as ill-thought and extraneous as the main feature. If anything this release only highlights how close The Mighty Boosh veer between genuinely interesting and funny comedy to being self-indulgent and yawnsome.



Released on 15th November 2010 by Universal Pictures.

> Buy the DVD on Amazon.

Reviewed by Cameron K McEwan.