The Hunters

Title: The Hunters (12)

Year: 2013

Running Time: 85 minutes

Director: Nisha Ganatra

Cast: Victor Garber (Mason Fuller), Michelle Forbes (Jordyn Flynn), Alexa Penavega (Dylan Savini).

Notes: Nominated for one award.

Rating: 1

Thoughts:   A family of archeologists hunt down artifacts from fairy tales that have been hidden round the world.

A quick montage gets us straight into the adventure as an idol is stolen. The leads then get chased as they engage in some idle chatter, whilst being chased on a motorbike.

It's an immediate turn-off as is their continuing banter. In fact, their banter is so cheesy, and engaged in at the most inappropriate of times, that it breaks the plot rather than enhancing it (as I presume they intended).

That of course presumes there is a plot worth seeing. It is so full of cliches and holes.

Why was such an important vase "hidden" inches inside a small cleft (and suspiciously clean)? Why are the sons able to fight like special forces agents but ignorant of each other's skills? Why does everyone just manage to turn up at once? And why would you tell the obvious baddies that there was a secret room in the house???

So parents go missing, their old enough sons meet a mentor and discover their parent's secret life, and head to rescue them. The dialogue is weak, the story invisible and the bad guys feel like they've escaped from Scooby Doo.

There is very little to like and it's so disappointing that the premise, recovering legendary items from myths and fairytales, has been so hopelessly wasted.