Postman Pat: The Movie

Plot

Patrick "Pat" Clifton also known as "Postman Pat" (voiced by Stephen Mangan), is a friendly postman who has been delivering letters in the village of Greendale in the north of England for years. He wants to take his wife, Sara (voiced by Susan Duerden), on a late honeymoon to Italy. He plans to afford it through a bonus from his employer, the Special Delivery Service (SDS), but their new boss, Edwin Carbunkle (voiced by Peter Woodward), has cancelled all bonuses. He plans to make SDS more efficient by replacing its human workers with robots, thinking that being friendly is a waste of time.

When Pat gets home and tries to tell Sara about the fact that the honeymoon is cancelled because the new boss has cancelled all bonuses, his son Julian (voiced by Sandra Teles) shows Pat a TV talent show, You're the One, hosted by Simon Cowbell (voiced by Robin Atkin Downes in typical Simon Cowell voice), which states the next auditions are coming to Greendale. Cowbell also confirms that the person who wins the contest will be awarded a holiday to Italy and a recording contract. Pat decides to take part in the contest and his unexpected singing voice (played by Ronan Keating) wins the contest. Pat is to sing again in the finale, in a head-to-head contest with the winner of another heat, Josh (voiced by Rupert Grint). His manager, Wilf (voiced by David Tennant), however, is very keen to make sure it is his client who wins at all costs.

The Chief Executive Officer of the SDS, Mr. Brown (voiced by Jim Broadbent), and Edwin Carbunkle had been watching the contest on TV. They say that they would like to use Pat in a publicity campaign including his own television series. Carbunkle also confirms that because Pat will be away participating in the contest, a robot replica of him called the "Patbot 3000" will be taking over his postal duties, along with another robot replica of Jess called the "Jessbot" as well. After Pat has gone, the Patbot delivers the rounds like Pat normally does, but it behaves oddly and the people of Greendale are starting to complain about Pat behaving in such a way. Sara and Julian are starting to worry about Pat too.

Meanwhile, Ben Taylor (voiced by TJ Ramini), the manager at the SDS, is fired by Carbunkle and is convinced that Pat doesn't want him anymore, not realising that Pat is a robot. Meanwhile, Wilf tries his schemes to stop Pat, not realising that Pat going around Greendale is in fact a robot. The more Pat's family and friends become concerned, the more Pat feels guilty about coming on the contest in the first place. And despite Pat's efforts to tell his wife the truth about why he entered the competition, he fails and starts to become fearful that he might have pushed his family away. It isn't until shortly after Pat's departure that some people in Greendale discover that there appears to be more than one Pat and Edwin Carbunkle's true intent is exposed. It turns out that Carbunkle is in fact making these robots to try and take over the world. Ben Taylor rushes to tell Sara and Julian the terrible truth about Mr Carbunkle's plan, leaving them both shocked.

Now fully aware of Carbunkle's plan, a desperate Sara informs the whole of Greendale about Carbuncle's true intentions and explaining that deep down, Pat has not changed. They all agree to head to London to support Pat, in an effort to thwart Carbuncle's plan. Meanwhile, Jess, who had been stowing away on one of the SDS helicopter replicas that one of the Patbot 3000s used, manages to make his way to where Pat’s performance, and he helps Pat escape after he is almost locked away in a dressing room by a Patbot and Mr Carbunkle, who reveals that Pat's publicity was just to make people like him, so Mr Carbunkle could replace him with Patbots. They are then pursued by the Patbots.

Meanwhile, in the performance, a Patbot performs instead of Pat, unbeknown to the audience. Wilf, knowing it to be a robot (and not realising there is the real Pat too), tries to unmask the Patbot. Then, the real Pat interrupts the performance. As Carbunkle releases the first few Patbots to kill off Pat, Simon Cowbell and Mr Brown, revealing that he has had enough of them hindering his plans, Josh saves them. Little does Pat know that his wife and friends from Greendale

As soon as Carbunkle is arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, everything is back to normal. Unaware that Sara listening, Pat expresses that he is only doing this competition to win the flight tickets for their honeymoon. Sara is suddenly heard calling Pat's name. Once Pat catches sight of Sara, it dawns on him that Sara has heard the truth about why he entered the competition, and is fully aware of Carbuncle's plan. Now fully aware that Sara has forgiven him, Pat decides to do his act, but decides to change the act slightly. Sara also takes part in the act. They both win the holiday to Italy, but pass the recording contract to Josh, so Wilf is happy too, and all is forgiven.

Theatrical release

It was originally due to be released on 24 May 2013, but was pushed back to 23 May 2014, one year after the show's ending. In the United Kingdom, it was theatrically released by Icon Productions and Lionsgate. In the United States, it was released by Paramount Pictures.

Home media

Postman Pat: The Movie was released in the UK on DVD and Blu-ray on 29 September 2014 by Icon Home Entertainment.

Critical response

The film received a divided reception. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 48% rating from 25 reviews with an average score of 4.8/10. Another review aggregator, Metacritic, calculated a score of 44 out of 100, based on nine reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews."

Patrick Smith, writing for The Daily Telegraph, gave the film two stars, commenting "where the TV series was charming in its simplicity, this seems over-egged". Andrew Pulver of The Guardian gave it two stars, calling it "a misjudgment, a serious overestimation of the development of the four-year-old's irony circuit". In The Observer, Mark Kermode gave it the same rating, criticising "bland digimation" and lack of the "charm" of the television series, and saying that the film had "little to entice the over-sixes and plenty to scare the under-fives". In the Daily Mirror, David Edwards gave the film two stars, writing "Boasting spectacularly shoddy animation and gags that wouldn’t amuse a dim-witted five-year-old, this is one to be thrown out with the junk mail". Andy Lea of the Daily Star Sunday gave it three stars, stating that "this is by no means a bad film", praising the film's voice cast and "some clever jokes that poke fun at the film itself". However, he mentioned concern over children "seeing their loveable hero transformed into a sinister robot ... For especially sensitive kids, it could even be the stuff of nightmares." Brian Viner of the Daily Mail gave the film three stars, calling the opening sequence "charming" but concluding that the film was "misjudged" and should have been "truer to the TV original". The same rating also came from Allan Hunter of the Daily Express, who said "Kids are going to love Postman Pat: The Movie even if adults might find it sacrilegious in its treatment of their beloved childhood favourite... It's a bit Wallace & Gromit, a bit Doctor Who and just as silly and overexcited as a four-year-old after an excess of fizzy drinks." The Los Angeles Times' Gary Goldstein wrote "First-class Postman Pat delivers in fine style". The Mareel review written by Caroline Malcolm wrote "Postman Pat: The Movie, was a surprise from start to finish...Mike Disa, who is known for his children's animations showed off his artistic style by yet again creating a movie that captivated children with CGI pleasures, but also enticed adults with intensely intelligent sociobites disguised as entertainment."

Box office

Postman Pat: The Movie grossed £774,450 in its opening weekend, ranking fourth in the UK box office led by X-Men: Days of Future Past with £9,144,971. The film grossed $5,515,679 in the United Kingdom and a total of $8,660,022 globally

Accolades

Postman Pat: The Movie's production groups, Timeless Films and Zealot Productions, were nominated for Best Foreign Animation/Family Trailer at the Golden Trailer Awards in 2014.