Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans (2019) User Reviews

Kids loved it, adults didn't.

[julia-mcphail · 5/10 · 31 July 2019]

We are huge horrible histories fans in our house. This fell short of our expectations as adults. Missing the original cast and the format of the TV show which makes it all so funny. Seemed at parts to be taking itself a little too seriously, which makes it disconnected to both the TV show and the books which are very much tongue in cheek humour and light-hearted and fun.

The cast that were in it were good, but just not from the TV show. History facts were accurate. Storyline was minimal and not offensive.

However, my kids did enjoy it and my 6 year old was engrossed.

Fan of the TV show

[stephenhawthorne-78218 · 4/10 · 27 July 2019]

I love the TV show so I thought this would be fun to see. It had the feeling that this was a great idea but then we need to fill time to make a decent running time, with little thought to the content. Some jokes overdone especially the Roman numerals. I found the funniest bits of the movie were the little references to The life of Brian, which probably shows my age. I think kids who love the show will enjoy this movie more than I.

Bad comedy

[masonsaul · 4/10 · 30 July 2019]

Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans is a bad comedy and nowhere near as good as the TV show. Nick Frost is really good and Lee Mack is surprisingly funny but other than that it's bad. The majority of the jokes aren't funny, it looks cheap and the songs are awful. The original cast are definitely missed.

Horrible , just Horrible

[valleyjohn · 3/10 · 6 March 2020]

When my children were younger we used to watch the TV show Horrible Histories . I'm not sure they were into it as much as I was to be honest but it really made me laugh as well as being informative , so what on earth happened with the movie version to make it so bad ?

While the young Emperor Nero must battle his scheming mother Agrippina for ultimate power, Celt queen Boudicca gathers an army in Britain to repel the rotten Romans. Mixed up in this battle for liberation are the teenage Atti, a reluctant Roman soldier, and Orla, a young Celt with dreams of becoming a warrior like Boudicca.

There are so many things wrong with this film , it would be to long to list them all but here are the main problems .

Firstly , where are the main cast from the TV show? . They seem to have be replaced by different ( some more well known ) actors but it's doesn't work at all. Sorry fans of Emilia Jones and Sebastian Croft but they stank up the screen.

Secondly , it's not funny . Not even a little bit and that's unforgivable .

Thirdly who decided to make it a musical??? The songs are terrible and make a bad film into a terrible one.

If you are going to make a TV show into a film at least watch what made the show popular and do more of the same.

Horrible, just horrible.

Very impressed, good transition from TV to film

[alex284 · 7/10 · 6 August 2019]

As someone who watched the show growing up, I had high expectations for the film due to the nostalgia I have from the show and I have to say the expectations were met.

The humour has not changed at all even if the cast did, (however there are some notable people to look out for if you grew up on BBC/CBBC shows. The transition from being a sketch show to film was well done and as always you learn a surprising about the Roman Empire, Boudica's uprising and Celtic Britain.

If you enjoyed the show you'll enjoy the film but if your tastes are a bit more high brow I suggest you give this one a skip.

You have to love it, to really like it!

[Andysmithbfbs · 3/10 · 21 August 2019]

If you're a big fan of horrible histories, and you love it like you love your first born, then you'll probably like it. Sadly, I don't think it worked on the big screen. The TV series is sharper, funnier and more easily watched. A good effort and fun for the kids (if they love it) but a hard sell for anyone who isn't an ardent fan!

A Very British comedy with plenty of laughs and a bit of education for children and parents alike

[coombsstephen · 7/10 · 26 July 2019]

I must admitI didn't have high hopes for this but the film didn't sway from the horrible histories TV and stage formula and it worked well. If you expecting high brow then you will be disappointed but if it's a top British cast with very British jokes you want then you are in luck.

The film passes very quickly and, as the plot is aimed at kids, it isn't hard to follow. It obviously isn't high budget and very much feels like a horrible histories TV special but that doesn't detract from the fun. The film is a little bit of a slow burner but soon catches on.

It's harmless family fun for a 90 minutes and I even learnt a few things while laughing, the whole key to horrible histories success.

The TV show this isnt

[philhemstock-11782 · 2/10 · 15 March 2020]

I love the TV series of Horrible Histories, it's made me laugh for years. It's a fun way to learn some real historical facts.

This film fails to capture that. The laughs are few and far between and the facts barely register. It's also a shame they didn't use the cast from the show.

A real let down and a snooze fest

Decent British Comedy

[Fudge-3 · 7/10 · 18 August 2019]

Orla dreams of being a Celtic warrior woman fighting the Romans.

Horrible Histories move to a movie format rather than the usual TV sketches. The actors are different but the style and humour is the same. It is mostly aimed at children but adults will find a few laughs too.

The budget is clearly low. Most scenes are tightly shot but in places the director had made no attempt to hide the production limits. The costumes and songs are ok. Nick Frost is the stand out performer. The humour is good and the actors throw themselves into the pantomime. It reminded me of Gladiatress (2004). If you're not sure what pantomime is; it's a British thing, see one of ITV's on you tube.

The story is a simplified retelling of the Boudicca rebellion and true to Horrible Histories the basic facts are correct.

Lost the charm of the show

[omwash-89015 · 5/10 · 7 October 2019]

I wish they had Horrible History when I was young I'd of learned a hell of a lot more then I did at school.

I've always enjoyed watching the Horrible History TV show and find it proper funny so was looking forward to bathe movie.

It was good but could of been a lot better and funnier, with a star studded cast I was expecting a bit more, it felt a bit stretched out in places.

It's for kids, but it still had me belly laughing!

[winspb · 8/10 · 30 July 2019]

I've always found HH amusing on the telly box, by 8 year old twin girls love it, so I'm often in the room when it's on.

I wasn't sure what to expect from it's move to the cinema, but I went with an open mind.

It's got a very strong cast from Britain's sitcom/tv drama/stand up stable, and it's had a very clever script written for it too. There are many, I suppose Easter eggs, in there some obvious, some not so, but I found them funny and clever.

Ok so some of the humour is a bit toilet based, but so is most British humour! It's very similar to some of the better Carry On films, obviously without the cruder humour.

It's got a bit of a slating on here, which to be honest I found a bit sad. Do yourself, and your kids a favour and on a rainy day this holidays go see it!

Horrible Histories, Horrible Romans - Blackadder for kids

[brankovranjkovic · 6/10 · 31 July 2019]

Humorous historical drama for kids.

This is the full length feature film release, based on the BBC 'CBBC' TV series. Best way to describe this is to think of an educational 'Blackadder' (another humorous TV history series aimed at older kids and adults).

The plot revolves around the Roman Empire and the rise of Boudicca, stars many familiar British actors, with loads of silly toilet humour and several musical numbers which were just ok.

We took nine-year-old granddaughter who fidgeted a lot, this film probably would have been better as a made for TV special. Stay in your seats while the end credits roll for some funny accompanying commentary from a rat puppet.

It's harmless enough.

[Pjtaylor-96-138044 · 5/10 · 29 July 2019]

'Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans (2019)' isn't very good. It's harmless enough, of course, but it really isn't anything special. I mean, it's just not funny. There are maybe two or three smile-worthy gags but that's about it. The rest of the time, the jokes fall flat and that's an issue when the jokes are, realistically, the entire point of the piece. The narrative is, basically, as basic as possible, focused around a kind of platonic 'Romeo and Juliet' (sans suicide). It wraps itself up in a weirdly rushed and unsatisfying way, backtracking upon its recently established stakes to just sort of finish for no real reason. This is probably because it wants to remain as kid-friendly as possible, despite its numerous on-screen deaths, and requires an overtly 'happy ending' to do so. This is, essentially, the product of a half-baked screenplay. The central character conflict is, too; it heads in a traditional direction but then doesn't get properly addressed in the finale, simply wrapping up as if it's been properly tended to. However, it's probably worth noting that these now glaring narrative issues are, for me, only noticeable in retrospect. That's not because the flick is so engaging so as to make them non-bothersome. In fact, quite the opposite. The story isn't compelling in any real way. It's serviceable stuff but there's no real meat to it. The same can be said of the entire affair, really. Even though it's probably one of the least effective films of the year, it's difficult to actively dislike because it seems earnest and sticks to the very 'DIY' attitude of its source television show. It would've been nice if it had featured that series' original cast but, as it is, it's an average experience that I don't really have any strong feelings about either way. I suppose that says something in itself, doesn't it? 5/10

Not the worst movie but really bad

[RandomTard · 4/10 · 21 March 2022]

This is a comedy that is not really funny. I think there was two jokes in the movie that somewhat worked, both were copied from old movies like The naked gun etc. There really was no script, no story worth telling and the acting was meh at best.

And what is even worse, is there was a lot of singing and dancing that just ruined it more.

Interesting Watch!

[winfieldsophiaalice · 7/10 · 24 March 2020]

This film is a film for people interested in history and singing. Its about a young girl who wants to join Boudica and her army, captures a roman boy to keep prisoner and how they help and protect her village and how your prisoner can actually become your best friend.I liked all the songs which where thought through brilliantly.

No - Simply No

[laymazosim · 3/10 · 27 July 2019]

I have wasted 1.5hr for nothing. Fell asleep at least 3 times.

Where is the original cast?!

[demetrius11 · 6/10 · 21 November 2019]

A Horrible Histories movie should definitely include the amazing comedians of TV's Horrible Histories, Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Jim Howick! The movie is not bad, made in the style of the series, but it could have been way better. I hope that in the sequel we get to see some of our favorite comedians.

Not. Funny.

[jacknapier-544-97787 · 3/10 · 27 December 2019]

It seems like no one even knows what this movie should be. A copy of Monty Python's Life of Brian, a highschool musical or a movie parody like Scary Movie but based on a historical documentary never existed. It's just a bad movie only hardcore fans of the show can stand this movie to the end. Maybe. I couldn't. At least some good actors try to save this mess. But even they seem not to know what they are doing.

On brand throughout, though I have some qualms about how it all plays out.

[GiraffeDoor · 7/10 · 13 January 2020]

It's rare that I do a review with spoilers but at the end of this movie, the thing I was left with was that, basically...the baddies win. I know it's meant to be historically accurate and please don't think this is me being patriotic because I'm really not, but ultimately the plot didn't really resolve. They just sort of learned to just accept the injustice. A lot of movies do well with sad endings bur the general tone of this movie was so consistent with something made for kids (more than families per se) it's really jarring.

To be fair, the plot is more than geopolitical struggle'; that's just the back drop for a narrative about two individuals divided by ethnicity, gender and sides in the war learning to see past their prejudices (it goes both ways) and enemies turn into a bond. It's admirable that the movie doesn't commit to whether they become lovers or platonnic friends.

The rest of the movie is juvenile good fun with the added pleasure of historical accuracy. The jokes don't always work but the who's who of British comedic acting talent and the sheer fun the writers clearly had with this make it all very watchable. often rather frank about bodily functions, this is nevertheless on-brand.

The musical numbers are actually pretty infectious especially an epic rap battle between Boudica and Paulinas where these two acting pros really bring it and command no less fear for it.

It's always a good thing that female characters are as well developed and involved as male characters but one wonders if there is a way of doing this without smugly rubbing it in the audiences face. Still better than no good female characters though I suppose.

So so

[aaliyahAC · 5/10 · 31 August 2019]

My friend decided to watch this film since she's a horrible histories fan, so I went to check the reviews on the cinema, and they weren't so good. There was just me, my two friends and three other guys. Now about the film.. There were funny bits, some had toilet humor...I am not a fan of toilet humor(since I'm a teen) and I guess it could be funny for little kids.Songs were so embarrassing. But it was ok

Funny look at Nero vs the Britons

[trumpetcase · 8/10 · 1 August 2019]

This is a very funny, light hearted, fun film. It has references to almost every film about Rome ever made, from I Claudius (even including Derek Jacobi reprising his starring role), to Life of Brian, to Spartacus. It's probably more historically accurate than most Hollywood sand and sandals epics. Even the songs are tolerable. As long as you don't treat it too seriously, this is a very enjoyable couple of hours entertainment.

Keeping up with the Romans

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 1 January 2021]

No this has nothing to do with the Kardashians or any reality show. I just thought this was a funny way to describe the movie. A very silly movie that is. And a movie that apparantly had a TV show it was based on. Since I've never seen that, I can not comment on that fact. Another reviewer mentioned that this lost the charm of the TV show ... I'm oblivious to that and maybe that helped me enjoying the movie.

Also the fact that going into this, I thought it would be horrible (why would I watch it then? Ask me something I can answer) ... and then it wasn't. Apart from a couple of known actors and faces, this was very well played. And it has quite the fine production values. All the acting is or goes along the with the story and the tone the movie sets. It really is well made and played. That may sound like something obvious, but unfortunately with spoofs and silly comedies, that isn't the case! The opposite is mostly true, especially when it comes to the more recent ones. The flavor of classics like Airplane! and others seems to have been lost ... and found here in a way! Not calling this a classic, but it is refreshing and good to see some quality spoofing, with good dialog, while still maintaining the ridiculous low brow humor ...

Should of stayed in Roman times

[joeljennings-85928 · 3/10 · 27 May 2020]

I grew up with horrible histories and I love it. This movie doesn't live up to the show. The cast is great and the humor is there but it just doesn't contain the spark that is horrible histories. And the lack of Rattus Rattus disappointed me to with his truth sign. Disappointing but still a good educational watch for the kids but the show is far better

Horrible Revisionist Histories?

[samyoung-82648 · 3/10 · 18 November 2019]

Honestly, this really wasn't funny. It's also very politically correct. If that's your schtick, this is your movie. Fart jokes are one of the better things in the story. History is irrelevant for a show called "Horrible Histories". Score: D+

Good- not brilliant

[sianstanley · 7/10 · 23 February 2020]

This is good and very watchable, it lacked something, possibly budget? Not sure but it was a little thin-it just needed a bit of bulking out. Derek Jacobi as Claudius was wonderful, a real treat