Pirates, giant wrestlers and kids

Pint-sized Thai stars, pirates and one giant Australian, will be filling up the big screens in Thailand for the next few months in a couple of upcoming action films.

First up on March 6 is the pirate adventure, Salad Tadeaw. There's a trailer at You Tube.

Directed by Thanit Jitnukul, the film appears to be a parody/knock-off of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, with a bit of a Peter Pan/Lord of the Flies angle about some shipwrecked kids.

The special effects in Salad Tadeaw are comical. Even though the giant crabs and other critters are blue screen, I can't help but think of Tim Burton's Ed Wood, and Martin Landau's Bela Legosi having to manipulate the giant squid himself.

Tipped for an April 3 release is Somtum, in which behemoth Australian strongman and wrestler Nathan Jones from Tom Yum Goong and Jet Li's Fearless figures somehow into a story about spicy Thai papaya salad and some little girls.

Given the presence of the former World Wrestling Entertainment heel in a prominent role, it's not surprising that Somtum was being shopped by Sahamongkol at the European Film Market.

In both Salad Tadeaw and Somtum, the principal child star is Narawan "Grace" Techaratanaprasert. Still to come, later in the year, is the kid-friendly martial arts flick, Power Kids, also starring Grace.