WhenSir Sean Connerypassed away in October 2020, most obituaries lauded the actor’s long and distinguished film career. While much of the focus was onhis seven-film run as James Bond, his Oscar-winning performance in 1987’sThe Untouchables,his iconic turn as Dr. Henry Jones inIndiana Jones and the Last Crusadeand his delightful performance inThe Rockearned mentions as well. Most obituaries list his final film as 2003’sThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, in which he played Allan Quartermain. That is technically true:Leaguewas Connery’s finalon-screenperformance, but that isn’t the whole story.
Connery’s final film is actually a 2012 animated picture titledSir Billi, which was later retitledGuardian of the Highlands. If neither of those titles sound familiar to you, it’s likely because the film was a box office flop that holds the dubious distinction of having a0% rating by critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Only a handful of films have managed to disappoint Rotten Tomatoes critics so completely, but in the case ofSir Billi, the critical scorn is well-earned.
The film follows a veterinarian who leads a rescue for a beaver that is being hunted by authorities in the town of Catterness, in the Scottish Highlands. Since beavers are illegal in Scotland (no one bothers to explain why), the cops want to catch it and deport it. It’s a thin premise, and the film does itself no favors by wrapping the plot in a script that delivers zero laughs, not even an unintentional one. It’s filled with terrible inside joke references to Connery’s career that children won’t understand. The film is such an uninspired, amateurish effort, it’s infuriating to think this was the last film project for a legend like Sean Connery. It should be noted, however, thatConnery’s official websitedoes not even list the movie in his filmography.
Whose Bright Idea Was This?
The two individuals most responsible for this cinematic abomination (trailer above) are Tessa and Sascha Hartmann, a Scottish couple with no experience in the film industry. Sascha is an artist, and his wife Tessa is a fashion industry brand strategist and founder of The British School of Fashion. She is now best known as a cast member of the British reality showThe Real Housewives of Jersey, but back in 2000, she was a budding British pop ‘singer.’
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According to an interview Tessa gave theUK Telegraph, she and Sascha formed Glasgow Animation and dabbled with CGI animation to promote her singing career, but it soon fizzled. They then started a new animation project, an animated series based on a character they created: Sir William Sedgewick, a veterinarian in the Scottish Highlands, who they dubbed Sir Billi. Tessa wrote the script, and Sascha served as director. They had one particular actor in mind to voice the character: Sean Connery.
Nabbing Connery
The Hartmanns crafted an animated concept trailer forSir Billi, and through a mutual friend, passed the footage, concept art, and a script on to Sean Connery, in hopes that he would see the film’s potential. However, Connery had just retired from acting, soured by his experiences making 2003’sThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The Hartmanns were somewhat surprised, then, whenConnery agreed to voice the character.
With the iconic actor on board, the project grew from an animated series to an 80-minute feature film. According to a2006 BBC article, the budget grew from $3.6 million (in American dollars) to over $5 million, and actors Alan Cumming (X2: X-Men United,Goldeneye) and Miriam Margolyes (theHarry Potterseries) joined the cast.
Connery told the BBC that he loved the idea of doing an animated film with a small studio that could turn out big studio-like films. His true reasons, however, were likely more personal. Connery was a lifelong advocate for Scottish charities, anda patriotic activist for Scottish independence. He donated the million-dollar salary from his Bond filmDiamonds Are Foreverto an educational foundation for Scottish children.
The idea of portraying a distinctly Scottish character, for an animation studio based entirely in Scotland, seemed understandably irresistible for someone with such a passion for the country. Unfortunately,Sir Billiwas not a film project worthy of his talents. Lacking a coherent plot and hampered by animation below TV commercial standards, the film relied on terrible James Bond callbacks in a failed effort to generate laughs.
By the fall of 2006, production onSir Billiwas well underway. Connery had recorded all of his lines without even leaving his home in the Bahamas — the production came to the then-76-year-old’s home in Nassau. The film, however, took another six years to complete, and it became obvious the production had issues. The animation team was never larger than 10 members, when an average big-studio animated feature requires at least 100 animators. Funding issues meant animators couldn’t work on the film constantly. There might as well have been a curse on the film, as hackers infiltrated the studio’s servers and deleted a number of scenes, requiring them to start over.
A Savage Response
The film was finally completedand premiered at the 2012 Sonoma International Film Festival, and that’s when things really went south forSir Billi.Variety’s Peter Debruge posted a short review of the film within hours of the premiere, slamming its terrible CGI and simplistic story. Having Connery in the voice cast only invited more critical scrutiny, and none of it was positive. “So cheaply and unimaginatively made it would hardly pass muster on children’s TV,” wrote Peter Bradshaw ofThe Guardianin his 2013 review.
It opened in a handful of Scottish theaters in 2013 and flopped immediately, earning less than $16,000. User reviews on Rotten Tomatoes were more forgiving than the professional critics, but the film still only mustered a 21% audience score. Over onIMDb, the film has a user rating of 3 out of 10, with viewers not holding back in their reviews. “This has got to be the worst film I have ever seen,” one viewer wrote, while a Scottish film fan wrote, “My nation didn’t deserve this abuse.”
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Every criticism, whether from critics or filmgoers, is deserved.Sir Billiopens with an embarrassing James Bond homage, in which the film’s titles are set against a dancing female figure, as most 007 films did. In this case, however, it’s disconcerting to see an oddly-proportioned female figure dance sexily to open a children’s film. The film continues as an incoherent succession of gags with a thin plot showing up between them. Connery, already in declining health when the film was released, did not comment on the film after its DVD release, andhe passed at his home in 2020at the age of 90.
An Unsuccessful Rebrand
WhenSir Billiwas released on DVD and Digital in the United States in 2014, it suddenly had a new title. Perhaps in an attempt to avoid the negative publicity the film had garnered online, the movie was now known asGuardian of the Highlands. As hilarious evidence of the indifference and cheapness on display here, Pinnacle Films didn’t even bother to change the title credits, so the film still featuresSir Billiin the title sequence.
The film’s problems, however, didn’t go away with a title change. The animation still features bad character design, including giving nearly every female character outrageously large breasts, with a few boob jokes to drive the point home. Alan Cumming voices a talking goat that drops terrible jokes and is incontinent, for some reason. 007 references abound, none of which are even remotely clever, including a scene in whichSir Billi drives an Aston Martin-type car, as if its mere appearance is enough to make you laugh. A Russian submarine inexplicably appears in a Scottish loch, just so Sir Billi can make a sadHunt for Red Octoberreference, after which it disappears without mention. You will be embarrassed for Connery by the time the credits roll.
Siobhan Synnot of the newspaperThe Scotsmanwondered in her review, “Why is a children’s film so keen on smut,” likely a reference to the odd sexualization of the female characters, and a double entendre joke that incorporates the words “beavers” and “balls” into it. Whatever joke you’re mustering in your mind upon reading that is far better than the actual joke the film offered.
In their interview with The Telegraph, the Hartmanns are unapologetic over the film, insisting the criticism is “unfair” and the movie is “actually, objectively, okay.” You can decide for yourself if this film is “actually, objectively, okay,” asSir Billi(akaGuardian of the Highlands) is streaming for free throughAmazon Prime Video’s FreeVee service.
