Patrick "Pat" Clifton, also known as "Postman Pat", is a friendly postman who delivers letters in the English village of Greendale with his cat Jess. He is planning to take his wife, Sara, on a late honeymoon to Italy. He intends to afford it through a bonus from his employer, the Special Delivery Service (SDS), but their new boss, Edwin Carbunkle, has cancelled all bonuses. Carbunkle plans to make SDS more efficient and profitable by replacing its human workers with machinery.
When Pat gets home and tries to tell Sara the news, his son Julian shows Pat a television talent show, You're the One. Its host, Simon Cowbell, states the next auditions will take place in Greendale and that the winner of the finals will be awarded a holiday to Italy and a recording contract. Pat takes part in the contest in hopes of winning the holiday tickets and his unexpected singing voice wins the contest. Pat is to sing again in the finale in a head-to-head contest with another winner, Josh. His manager, Wilf, however, is jealous of Pat; he is keen to make sure Josh wins at all costs.
Having seen Pat's performance with Mr. Brown—the Chief Executive Officer of the SDS—Carbunkle invents robot look-alikes of Pat and Jess, named the "Patbot 3000" and "Jessbot" respectively, to take over Pat's job during his absence. They cause chaos and anger the villagers as they do so. Everyone except Pat and Carbunkle is oblivious to Pat's replacement. Ben Taylor, the manager of SDS, and his co-workers are later fired by Carbunkle and replaced by Patbot. Shortly after, Carbunkle unleashes an array of multiple Patbots. Pat grows guilty about entering the contest as he becomes distant from his family and disliked by his friends.
Shortly after Pat's departure for the final competition, Ben and Jess witness the multiple Patbots before watching as Wilf malfunctions a Patbot using a magnet. Ben explains the situation to the whole of Greendale; they all agree to attend the London finals to support Pat. Meanwhile, just as Pat regrets his decisions, Carbunkle reveals his intentions to Pat and has him replaced with a Patbot. Pat is locked inside a dressing room, but is freed by Jess. They try to get into the show, but are pursued by multiple Patbots. As Pat and Jess reach the roof, they are encountered by a deadly Jessbot who attempts to shoot Pat with its laser; a ricochet causes Jessbot to invertedly shoots itself.
Patbot performs in Pat's place, before being exposed by Wilf. The real Pat interrupts the performance and attempts to explain, ultimately giving a speech on the importance of the "human touch". As Carbunkle commands an army of Patbots to kill Pat, Simon, and Brown, Carbunkle's remote is knocked out of his hands and used by Josh to demobilise the robots. Brown fires Carbunkle before the latter is taken away, and Wilf gives up his jealousy. As Pat expresses his reason for entering the contest, he regains his confidence upon seeing Sara, Julian, and all of the Greendale residents in the audience. Pat decides to continue his act, in which he sings "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours". Pat and Sara win the holiday to Italy and pass the recording contract to Josh and Wilf.
Cast
Stephen Mangan as Patrick "Postman Pat" Clifton / Patbot 3000
The film was originally due to be released on 24 May 2013,[7] but was pushed back to 23 May 2014.[2] In the United Kingdom, it was theatrically released by Lionsgate and Icon Film Distribution jointly. In the United States, it entered a limited theatrical release from Shout! Factory in Los Angeles and New York on 27 June 2014,[8] and was released on DVD by Paramount Home Media Distribution on 23 September.[9]
Home media
Postman Pat: The Movie was released in the United Kingdom on DVD and Blu-ray on 29 September 2014, by Lionsgate Home Entertainment.[10]
Reception
Box office
Postman Pat: The Movie grossed £774,450 in its opening weekend, ranking #4 in the box office in the United Kingdom led by X-Men: Days of Future Past with £9,144,971.[11] The film grossed $5,515,679 in the United Kingdom[12] and a total of $8,660,022 globally.
Critical response
The film received mixed reviews from critics. Some of which praised the film for the animation, the direction, the humor, and the voice acting, while others found it too complicated and frightening in comparison to the television series. The review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes gave it a 43% rating from 28 reviews with an average score of 4.7/10, The site's critical consensus states, " A nearly passable attempt at children's entertainment that pales in comparison to less pandering fare, Postman Pat: The Movie doesn't get the job done."[13] Another review aggregator, Metacritic, calculated a score of 44 out of 100, based on nine reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[14]
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".[15] 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".[16]
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".[17] 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".[18]
Allan Hunter of the Daily Express gave it three stars, and 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."[19]
The Los Angeles Times' Gary Goldstein wrote "First-class Postman Pat delivers in fine style".[20] 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."[21]
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.[22][23]
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