Fing: A Kids Film That Works

Jeffrey Walker adapts David Walliams' Fing for film. The premise is simple: spoiled 12-year-old Myrtle Meek's parents find a mysterious creature to teach her a lesson. It could be preachy. Instead Walker gets something right.

Iona Bell plays Myrtle. She's convincingly awful—bratty, selfish, funny. There's something underneath the entitlement. Taika Waititi shows up briefly and changes the energy of every scene he's in. The supporting cast—Mia Wasikowska, Penelope Wilton, Richard Roxburgh—makes this world real.

The visual design matters. Walker shoots at kid height. We don't look down at Myrtle. We look across. The Meek house feels both domestic and strange. When the Fing appears, it's an actual incursion, not a effect. The creature design is retro, practical-looking. It works.

Walker doesn't let the sentimentality swallow the satire. This is a film that actually mocks helicopter parenting. Myrtle's behavior comes from somewhere—she inherited it, sure, but also from her environment, from being a kid. The adults aren't just foils. They're trying to survive within systems that don't help them grow. That's what makes it good.

The standing ovation at premiere said something real. Kids laugh at character and situation. Adults catch subtler jokes. The film trusts that family entertainment doesn't have to be stupid. In ninety minutes Walker keeps things moving without padding.

What matters: Fing gets why Roald Dahl lasts. Not because the endings are easy, but because they come from genuine stakes and honesty about what growing up does to you. This is entertainment for people who think.