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Best movie ever!

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

It's 2015 and I am watching this show slowly in my own time. I am loving it!! Of course it helps I adore traveling myself and oh, yes, Ewan McGregor!! But he and Charlie and wonderful mates and the idea of the show is a wonderful ride with them on their motorcycles. I was upset about Ewan getting gasoline IN his eye and then very upset about him getting some sort of insect bite that swelled up around his forehead. The film was done quite a while ago so everything turned out fine, but, jeez, could have been bad, not to mention they were harassed by a bunch of thugs in Khazakstan. I was not surprised to learn from Charlie that Ewan feels things deeply. I roared in laughter when they got painful massages in Khazakstan by 2 sumo wrestler type guys in speedo's. Hilarious!! My ONLY criticism of this series they devote their lives to is, someone chose the WORST music supervisor!! Dear LORD a fantastic opportunity was missed to create an atmosphere worthy of music, journey and visuals and the majority of the music SUCKS!!!

First of all I thought I was going to see two bikies make a long and dangerous journey on their motor bikes from the U.K. to New York. I soon realized of course they had a back up team who followed them and helped them when the journey got too tough.I got the impression that Charlie Boorman and Ewan McGregor whilst being motor bike enthusiasts did not know a lot about the engineering aspects and relied on others to help them in distress.Some of the roads encountered were no more than tracks with deep pot holes filled with water. There were numerous rivers to be crossed, so many in fact one wonders how well researched their journey was in the early preparation of the long trip.The cameraman who rides the third bike is rarely seen because the documentary is about Charlie and Ewan.The warm relationship between Charlie and Ewan is felt throughout the film and the love they had for their wives and children was forever in their thoughts as they journeyed through lands which seemed devoid of people. Occasionally though they did meet families who opened their homes to them and gave them a comfortable bed for the night. Ewan remarked on the friendliness of every stranger implying that we human beings are really the same the world over despite our different languages and physical features. Food differences can be a problem at times and one can gag at even the thought of it.The journey is very long and no more than a minute can be devoted to some of the interesting places they visited. The film is divided into 10 episodes with a large proportion of the time spent in Mongolia. The Road of Bones over which our bikies travelled snakes its way for many miles and remains as a memoriam to the millions who died while constructing it and there bodies interred where they fell.When I set out to watch the 3 DVDs I thought I might find them a bit repetitive and may be boring, but it proved to be otherwise. The more I watched the more interested I became and I felt a little disappointed when their journey ended. It was really good sharing their trip in the comfort of my lounge chair and to hear their cries of "We made it! We made it!" mixed with a few tears when they reached the end of their journey.

It is difficult to write about "Long Way Round", because it is a truly extraordinary story about what people can do. I believe this is one of the greatest travel series done in the past few years, comparable only to marvels like Michael Palin's "Himalayas". I absolutely loved Charley and Ewan, and how honest they were, not trying to hide their annoyance or at times despair from the hardships they met. Yet, the entire team was really great, and it showed how much they started to rely on each other during the course of the journey, and I believe all the travails really pulled them closer, and made friends for life.But this is just a small part of the series, because it shows a whole new world that you will probably never see elsewhere. The sheer vastness of Asia is probably best captured on a motorcycle, which also lets a much more intimate look at the countries and people you are passing by. I absolutely loved the approach they took, trying to feel what everyday life means in those countries, and I do feel sympathetic, when they got a police escort through most of Kazakhstan.And of course I absolutely enjoyed the parts in Mongolia and Siberia, which probably showed what truly means to travel by a motorcycle from London to New York, the long way round. I could almost feel the enjoyment they had from each passed obstacle, and the sheer exhaustion they felt after it. Besides, you see that even though Ewan McGregor is a big film star, he doesn't get any preferential treatment, compared to anyone else on the team.In the end, I like a lot what Ewan said about his growing optimism about the human race, and how this trip has really changed him (and Charley, of course). I really wish more people to see these series, because it does show that there might be hope for us, after all.

A staged travelogue with, and about, two overgrown adolescents supposedly riding motorcycles from London to New York.This series goes to show two men can do anything, as long as they have sponsors to donate tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment including new BMW bikes, trainers and advisers, a staff of numerous people to do the dirty work of getting visas and making arrangements, and several "support vehicles" to bail them out of any real difficulties. This was billed as a road trip, but in the end, it winds up being little more than an ego trip.As entertainment, the series is padded with irrelevant footage, presumably because they had to guarantee a certain run-time minimum to get the project sponsored.Rather than waste your time on this, take your own bike out for a spin.