IT'S amazing to think that less than 40 years ago the favourite TV programmes of hundreds of thousands of pre-pubescent boys involved plastic dolls being manipulated by strings pulled by a couple of unseen humans.

The likes of Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray and Captain Scarlet brought science fiction into our lives a decade before Star Wars.

But the best of the bunch was without doubt Thunderbirds.

Kids watched enthralled as the covert organisation known as International Rescue basically a retired astronaut, his five sons and an island full of rockets, aircraft, submarines and heavy machinery would race to locations around the world to sort out a variety of disasters.

And it was all done by puppets in the 60s this was as hi-tech as television got and we were thrilled by it.

It was also, for its time, very politically correct it was an adventure series about the saving of lives, not the taking of them, something which you could see on screens big and small throughout this decade.

Well, it's taken a while, but a live-action Thunderbirds movie has finally been made. They've got the technology to create the world of International Rescue what they haven't got is a decent plot, script or actors to carry it off.

Which is a shame, because the potential for something really spectacular and exciting was always there.

The film begins promisingly enough, with that wonderful Thunderbirds march played over a nifty animated sequence.

And our introduction to Tracy Island, somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, whets the appetite.

But it goes downhill from here.

Centre of attention for the film is youngest brother Alan (Corbet), still at school and longing to be an active part of the Thunderbirds team.

But dad Jeff (Paxton) believes Alan is not old enough for the dangerous missions Scott (Philip Winchester), John (Lex Shrapnel), Virgil (Dominic Colenso) and Gordon (Ben Torgersen) regularly encounter.

Then the future of International Rescue is put in jeopardy when Jeff and the four brothers are sent on a bogus assignment into space, leaving the island open for The Hood (Kingsley), a nasty criminal mastermind with a personal axe to grind, to infiltrate for his own nefarious ends.

What he didn't bargain for is a plucky Alan, home for the holidays, and a couple of young friends to throw a spanner in The Hood's works with a little help from the Tracys' England based friend and agent Lady Penelope (Myles) and her trusty chauffeur Parker (Ron Cook).

The coolest thing about the TV series was those fabulous rockets. They look pretty good in the film too, but only for very brief moments. They are conspicuous by their absence for much of the running time.

But then, the script doesn't give them enough to do. By making Alan the focus of the film and sticking Jeff and the brothers in space Thunderbirds becomes an island-bound chase movie that resembles something from children's Saturday morning pictures from yesteryear rather than the big budget blockbuster it could so easily have been.

It's not helped by some poor acting which at best is wooden, and at worst atrocious Anthony Edwards (best known as the late, great Dr Mark Green from ER) is toe-curlingly embarrassing as International Rescue's resident boffin Brains.

Almost but not quite coming to the film's rescue is the depiction of Lady Penelope and Parker. Myles and Cook play their parts with tongue in cheek and m'lady's gadget-laden pink car (a Ford rather than a Rolls this time) looks gorgeous.

Unlike the rest of the film, which will be derided by both today's youngsters, used to more sophistication with their sci-fi, and fortysomethings out for a nostalgia fix.

OUT! rating: 3 out of 10

Film writer Stephen Webb reviews THUNDERBIRDS

Starring: Bill Paxton, Sophia Myles, Brady Corbet, Ben Kingsley

Director: Jonathan Frakes

Certificate: PG

Running time: 94mins

Showing from today at: UGC and Cineworld, Swindon