But the fun simply wasn't that funny. It was all a bit ho-hum. Anyone who loved the original TV characters and was expecting memorable performances from the well-known crop of actors probably felt cheated.
Maybe it was because the essence of the hilarious traits of the original TV characters failed to come across enough in the movie.
Maybe trying to meet cinema-goer expectations of achieving the same irresistible humour of the original platoon was mission impossible.
Or maybe the adaptation was too straight and safe. It needed to be anarchic, to outrageously milk what had made the original characters so darn funny.
Toby Jones did a capable, if somewhat uninspired, job of playing Captain Mainwaring, as did Tom Courtenay in his portrayal of Corporal Jones.
Where was Jonesy's eccentricity?
The biggest disappointment was Bill Nighy's version of Sergeant Wilson. He lacked the wonderfully comedic and dignified absent mindedness of the TV sergeant played by the late John Le Mesurier.
And Bill Paterson was not dour enough to capture the bleak pessimism of undertaker Private Frazer.
The biggest plaudits go to Michael Gambon for his benign medic Private Godfrey, Catherine Zeta-Jones for leading lady glamour and Daniel Mays for his superb blackmarket spiv Private Walker.
Two members of the original cast wove a little magic by appearing.
Frank Williams replayed his role as the Reverend Timothy Farthing, and Ian Lavender was Brigadier Pritchard.
Rating: 2/5 stars.
