Review: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

What are the ingredients for a terrific film?

Great cast, an absorbing plot, beautiful scenery and a soundtrack that wraps you up and carries you along with the story? Well that is what I look for and this one certainly delivered.

Rarely does a film come a long that not only ticks all these boxes, but offers little if anything to warrant criticism.

As far as extraordinary cinematic experiences go, this is an absolute beauty.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel opened in cinemas a few days ago.

An odd title, but don’t let that put you off because it is well worth the £10 entrance fee.

Based on the book These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel tells the story of seven British retirees who travel to India to escape crisis in their lives.

They are all destined for "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel for the elderly and beautiful", a lavish, palatial retirement home in Jaipur run by eternally optimistic hotelier Sunny played by Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire).

Dame Judi Dench plays Evelyn, a widow forced to sell her home to pay off her husband’s debts who decides to make her home in India.

Douglas and Jean (Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton) have invested all their savings in their daughter’s internet business and cannot afford to buy a home other than a poky retirement bungalow with panic buttons and railings around the walls.

Graham (Tom Wilkinson) is a high court judge who has been putting off retirement for years waiting for the right day. He grew up in India and has unfinished business to settle.

Norman (Ronald Pickup) is an aging lothario with an insatiable desire for young women and an inflated opinion of his own capabilities in the bedroom department.

Madge (Celia Imrie) is a vivacious grandmother tired of her daughter and son in law’s attempts to keep her at home looking after their kids, and flees to India in search of adventure.

Finally there is Muriel, a racist, bigoted, interfering ex-house keeper who is outsourced to India to have a hip replacement. She is played to perfection by Dame Maggie Smith.

This is an impressive cast, and a wise investment by the film’s producers as they deliver an explosion of personality, emotion, humour and sadness.

I felt I knew each one intimately by the end of the film, and had become personally involved in each of their journeys.

The settings are magnificent.

From the moment we touch down in Mumbai and are forced to catch a bus with the characters to Jaipur, we are subjected to an assault on the senses only India can deliver.

And it really does pack a punch on the big screen - the relentless honking of horns, the deafening hustle and bustle of the crowds, fluorescent-signed street stalls surrounded by cows, soaring decorated banyan trees in the middle of the market place - the film captures the essence of India like no other I have seen.

I swear I could smell the faint scent of garam masala and cardamom seeds wafting to the back of the cinema.

Back to the story and when the group reach the hotel it is not quite how it appeared in the brochure.

The luxurious home for retirees in the peaceful foothills of india is in fact a filthy, dilapidated hotel next to a backstreet market, which had been photoshopped by Sonny to entice visitors.

The hotel is a monumental failure and he lured over a clan of elderly English folk in a bid to raise its profile and reignite the business.

And so begins the story, each goes on a different journey of self-discovery, heartbreak, and awakening.

It is a truly beautiful film, I would have to say one of the best I have ever seen and definitely one for the DVD collection when it comes out.

My personal highlight was some genius one-liners from Dame Maggie Smith which, without giving too much away, would have probably landed someone with less royal endorsement in some very hot water.

Bad points? I’m struggling to find one - I simply loved it.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - certainly the best two hours of film entertainment have had for a very long time.