Five Children and It (film)
It was directed by John Stephenson, produced by Nick Hirschkorn, Lisa Henson and Samuel Hadida, written by E. Nesbit and David Solomons with music by Jane Antonia Cornish and starring Tara FitzGerald, Freddie Highmore, Alex Jennings, Jonathan Bailey, Jessica Claridge, Poppy Rogers, Alec Muggleton, Zak Muggleton, Zoë Wanamaker, Kenneth Branagh, Alexander Pownall, Robert Tygner, Eddie Izzard as the voice of It-Psammead, Georgio Serafini, John Sessions, Kim Fenton, Norman Wisdom and Duncan Preston and Zak.The digital puppetry and CGI animation for Psammead was created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.In the summer of 1917, the Butterworth children (Robert, Cyril, Jane, Anthea and The Lamb), whose father has gone to fight in World War I, are evacuated from London to stay with their eccentric Uncle Albert, his housekeeper Martha, and unpleasant son, Horace.While exploring the house, Robert finds a locked door in the forbidden greenhouse and brings the other children.There they discover a large shelled creature, which reveals itself as a "psammead crustacean decapodlium wishasaurus," or sand fairy for short.When Mr. Peasemarsh tries to reveal the children's "stolen gold", it vanishes just before he can show it to the officers, who take him away, believing he is out of his mind.Shocked, Horace faints, and Robert takes him to their mother, while the other children wish for their father to come home.On 3 June 2003, John Stephenson was hired and set to direct Five Children and It based on the book of the same name by E. Nesbit.On 5 June, it was announced that Tara FitzGerald, Freddie Highmore, Alex Jennings, Jonathan Bailey, Jessica Claridge, Poppy Rogers, Alec Muggleton, Zak Muggleton, Zoë Wanamaker, Kenneth Branagh, Alexander Pownall, Georgio Serafini, John Sessions, Kim Fenton, Norman Wisdom and Duncan Preston joined the film.