Call the Midwife star's Railway Children sequel gets strong first reviews
Call the Midwife star Jenny Agutter has reprised her role from The Railway Children for its long-awaited sequel, The Railway Children Return, and now the first reviews for the new movie have finally landed.
Agutter, who plays Sister Julienne in the BBC One period drama, rose to fame with her role in the 1970 classic The Railway Children as young Roberta or Bobbie.
Over 40 years later, Agutter is reprising her role in this reimagined classic that shines a spotlight on a new generation of railway children in 1944,
The movie is directed by Morgan Matthews and produced by Jemma Rodgers, and the first official reviews for the new film have been very strong.
The Guardian awarded the movie three stars and penned: "This is a film with a touch more savvy about the real world than its 1970 forebear… It's an amiable and ingenious tribute to the innocent, good-natured spirit of the original."
Radio Times called the adaptation a "charming update on a beloved classic" and gave it a three-star review, writing: "The script – written by Brassic co-creator Daniel Brocklehurst – hits many of the same beats as the original, adeptly moving between playful hijinks and sincere emotion, sometimes in the very same scene.
"But where The Railway Children Return does offer something entirely different is in its wrestling with themes unexplored by the first film [...] This plotline is handled sensitively, and even if the film strays a little too far towards the mawkish in its closing stages, it helps to ensure that this is still a sequel worth tuning in for."
Variety shared that the film captures the essence of the original classic, adding: "Effectively piling nostalgia upon nostalgia upon nostalgia into a triple-layered Victorian sponge of particularly English sweetness, this good-natured, resolutely old-fashioned film will likely make any adults who grew up on Jeffries' original a little misty-eyed."
Meanwhile, the MailOnline offered a four-star review of the sequel, writing: "The performances are all spot on. Matthews is a terrific director of children and if this picture never quite recaptures the charm and innocence of the five-star original, it succeeds in evoking its spirit."
The publication also praised the director for using so many of the original locations in the reboot.
"Let's just say the parallels keep coming, so hats off and whistles out to all those who helped to preserve the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, and so many of the locations used more than 50 years ago," the review added.
The Railway Children Return is released in UK cinemas on July 15.
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