Mr Hoppy is a shy, elderly bachelor who lives alone in a small flat London, but he has a problem.
He has fallen head over heels in love with his neighbour Mrs Silver, but she is only interested in her pet tortoise Alfie, and he’s so shy he daren’t even start a conversation with her. To make things worse he has another rival for his affections, not just the tortoise. Every day he goes to his balcony, the second love of his life, and one day he sees she is upset and plucks up the courage to ask her about her tortoise. She shares her problem with him, Alfie isn’t growing, so he hatches a plan to help her in order to win her heart.
He tells her he knows how to help Alfie grow, he tells her about a Bedoin chant “Esio Trot”, and it seems to work, but he has a secret, he is actually swapping Alfie for other, tortoises of increasing size which he gradually substitutes for Alfie, but she thinks it’s the magical chant that is making her pet grow.
“ESIO TROT, ESIO TROT,
TEG REGGIB REGGIB!
EMOC NO, ESIO TROT,
WORG PU, FFUP PU, TOOHS PU!
GNIRPS PU, WOLB PU, LLEWS PU!
EGROG! ELZZUG! FFUTS! PLUG!
TUP NO TAF, ESIO TROT, TUP NO TAF!
TEG NO, TEG NO, ELBBOG DOOF!”
(The words are, reversed, Tortoise, tortoise, get bigger bigger! Come on, tortoise, grow up, puff up, shoot up! Gorge! Guzzle! Stuff! Gulp! Put on fat, tortoise, put on fat! Get on, get on, gobble food!)
Based on a story by Roald Dahl, this film will have you spellbound.