Master Baldwin While the whole plot could seem rather weak, this movie is a perfect example of a modern storytelling done with mastery. The pace of the movie is voluntarily slow, the actors are excellent, the breaking of the fourth wall is used with wit by a character who at first seems to be there only to tell us the story, and there are some surprising events that are typical of an action movie.

lasttimeisaw A cutesy BBC TV movie of Roald's Dahl's children book, starring two titanic thespians, Mr. Hoffman and Dame Ms. Dench, it is a life-affirming romance of old age, brandishes the never-too-late-to- fall-in-love trope but outranks it with a more high-minded love-her-even-she-doesn't-love-me magnanimity, but in the end, it relents from its love-lorn tenor with a mutually love-at-first-sight happenstance.Mr. Henry Hopper (Hoffman), moons over his neighbor one story below Mrs. Lavinia Silver (Dench), who has a pet tortoise named Alfie, but worries about its stalled growth. To win her heart, a habitually halting Mr. Hopper fabricates an incantation which he named "Esio Trot" (of Bedouin extraction) and declares that through the magic (thrice a day before meals, specifically, Ms. Silver's meals), Alfie will grow twice as big within one month, which Lavinia accepts with alacrity, she certainly is not the brightest gal in the building (but the heart wants what the heart wants). So Mr. Hopper expends his savings and time in purchasing legions of tortoises with various sizes, so that he can secretively exchange them according to their weight with their predecessor, to conjure up the weight-growing process which predictably will lead to a backfire when bills finally being spilled through a third-wheel played by Cordery with utter chutzpah. There is hearty charm and warmth in the tall-tale, and some actions too (a septuagenarian Hoffman hanging on a make-shift ladder outside his apartment), chiefly, this adaptation pivots on a good-natured show-down between Hoffman's introvert ineptness and Dench's effusive sprightliness, to paper over the story's implausibility and its rather slipshod production design (too garish in its fairy-tale-like artificiality), and James Corden, to significantly lower the average age of the cast, assumes the job as an eloquent fourth-wall-breaking raconteur, as well as a slightly mindless father.Steeped in Louis Armstrong's repertoire, ESIO TROT (literally "tortoise", spelt backwards, which is the linchpin of the incantation, though its logic linked to this tardy breed is a head-scratcher), is coyly nostalgic in its mawkishness being a twilight love story based on a whopper cannot even get a free pass in one's dotage, but it is so rare a movie dedicated itself to that neglected sphere of elder people's love life, garnished by two winsome performances from its eminent dab-hands, it is a delicate amuse-gueule, as often as not, can muzzle those lenient-hearted from bad-mouthing its saccharine overtone.referential point: Dustin Hoffman's QUARTET (2012), 6.0/10

grantss Mr Hoppy is a lonely, aging bachelor. He is infatuated with Mrs Silver, his widowed downstairs neighbour, but is too shy to reveal his feelings to her. However, when she gets a tortoise as a pet, he hatches a cunning plan to gain her favour.Sweet but dull. Despite the ages of the main characters, a movie that feels like it is aimed at kids more than anyone else. Overly schmaltzy, with a fairly predictable plot and some hijinks aimed squarely at kids.Not all bad - Dustin Hoffman and Judi Dench are good in the lead roles and the chemistry between the two of the them is spot-on. Some funny moments too.

plutus1947 The thing about reviews are that they are merely one persons opinion, the opinion of the person giving the review. This is why so many 'professional' reviewers find that once they give their opinion and if it is a bad review suddenly the movie reviewer finds it is braking box office records, like Frozen, I wonder what they feel.In the case of esio trot I have noted that it appears to be either loved or hated reviewers which reminds me of the old adage.'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder' and in my case esio trot was beautiful.Now on to my review.What an absolutely delightful little tale, even more greatly enhanced by the superb actors, Judi Dench and Dustin Hoffman.Roald Dahl truly surpassed himself with his story Esio trot.SPOILER BEGINS This is a love story about two ageing people Mrs Silver (Judi Dench) and Mr Hoppy (Dustin Hoffman) Mr Hoppy fell in love with Mrs Silver from the first moment he set eyes on her but he was so shy and did not know how he could win her heart.They live in an apartment building where Mr Hoppy can see and speak to Mrs Silver from the balcony above hers.Mrs Silver buys a tortoise (esiotrot) for company who she called Alfie but becomes depressed because Alfie is not growing.Mr Hoppy comes up with a cunning plan which he hopes will win the heart of Mrs Silver. He buys 100 tortoises of varying sizes which he manages to swap over periodically over time with the original Alfie. Each time he swaps one he swaps it with one slightly bigger.Mrs Silver is delighted with the speedy growth of 'her' Alfie and of course does not realise that the tortoises are being changed by Mr Hoppy.Eventually Mr Hoppy asks Mrs Silver to Marry him which does not go as he hoped.I will leave it there and urge you to watch this superb and gentle story to discover how it ends.SPOILER ENDS Judi and Dustin were absolutely superb, as were the supporting actors. The script was also second to none as was the direction.I have no hesitation in giving Esio Trot a 10 rating.