ShangLuda Admirable film.

Yvonne Jodi Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

TheLittleSongbird Tarka the Otter is a perhaps dark and bleak film, but I also think it is a poignant one too. And above all in my opinion, it is wonderful. Tarka the Otter is a beautifully filmed movie, the cinematography is lovely and the scenery is gorgeous, and it is appropriately scored too with some very pretty and haunting themes. The narration is both droll and literate and the story is touching. Tarka is adorable and Peter Ustinov is absolutely brilliant in this film with his distinctive voice serving him well. Oh and the ending has me bawling, even after countless times of seeing the film. The film may be a little overlong perhaps, but it is a wonderful movie all the same and well worth catching. 9/10 Bethany Cox

pete-579 My name is Peter Talbot. I hand raised the otter 'Spade' guided by Philip and Jeanne Wayre. I worked and lived the story with all the animals on screen as the principal animal handler for the two years of production. The Book 'Tarka the Otter' is a modern classic and has much to do with The suffering of The First World War. Otters hiding from huntsmen underground is quite analogous with soldiers in the trenches. Henry Williamson (the author)was one of the world's greatest nature writers. He chose the locations with David Cobham and allowed the film to be made, having turned down Disney, only on the understanding that it would be, authentic, educational and not sentimentalized - there is very much more to the story than is immediately apparent.In the intervening years I have written and posted much about my time with Spade (Tarka) and all the animals in the film. The whole story is now an ebook called 'Ripple of Ancient Sunlight' and can be found on most on-line e-book retailers. If you wish to contact me please drop into the 'Tarka and me' Facebook. page or Twitter, Peter Talbot - Tarka_andme .

alison-107 This film is a classic, beautifully made and yes its upsetting. I sat with my 4 year old little girl and explained it to her, and she was in wonderment at it and although a little upset - she enjoyed it. She learnt more from this film than she will ever do if even if she watched 100 Disney fantasies. I'm fed up with parents wanting to shield their children from every tiny little thing that might cause them upset. As a child I baled by eyes out at the cruelty to black beauty it didn't do me any harm - it taught be humanity and compassion!!!!!!These days children's films fail to challenge children - its all fantasy - I think this is more worrying.

ErnieBishop I have never felt the need to add a review to this website until now, but having just sat through the film I felt it necessary to warn parents who may be thinking of showing it to their children. Please don't! This is no Disney film. This film tells us 'life is cruel' and if you show it to your children, in my opinion, you are too. The video box describes the film as a 'delight for all ages' and the IMDb plot outline describes it as a 'family film'. I just had to find a definition of 'family film' and came across the following: "Usually consisting of comedies or adventures, these films are often based on children's literature and can involve any number of helpful animals, friendly supernatural beings and fantasy worlds, all geared to stimulate and appeal to the imagination. Whatever the situation, there is little or no offensive material and generally a lesson is learned on the way." Not an apt description of Tarka The Otter, which contains some thoroughly unpleasant scenes, totally unsuitable for young children, and an ending that qualifies the film as a 'feel bad' movie. The lesson learned? As I said: life is cruel. Family entertainment? I don't think so. Unless you hate your family, that is. Another review, more revealing than this but worth reading, can be found by following the 'external reviews' link.