Every Roald Dahl Movie Adaptation Ranked Worst To Best

A departure from the norm for Roald Dahl, Esio Trot features two adult characters as its main protagonists. An unusual turn for his children’s books, though not so much for his more adult oriented novels, as anyone who has read My Uncle Oswald or his brilliant short story Lamb to the Slaughter will tell you, often take a take a turn for the more racy or macabre.

It also tells the sweet little tale of two neighbours, Mrs. Silver and Mr. Hoppy, and the latter’s plan to win Mrs. Silver’s heart through an elaborate plan involving varying sizes of tortoises.

The movie version, first aired on the BBC in early 2015, is a cut above your average made-for-television film with the inclusion of acting heavyweights Dustin Hoffman and Judi Dench as timid bachelor Mr. Hoppy and vivacious, flirtatious Mrs. Silver respectively and thankfully Hoffman isn’t forced to don an English accent (although he proved he could do it quite adequately in Hook), with the original character swapped up for an American incarnation instead.

It’s a nice enough little film and as per usual Hoffman and Dench are on form but lovely as it is, it’s not really memorable enough to receive a higher ranking amongst Dahl adaptations.