Who does not know it: you want to see a nice children’s film with children, and then you won’t find one that features really nice children, played by real child actors, with parents who are cast with well-known actors. A children’s film like it used to be before you were old enough yourself to no longer always and fundamentally oppose a cultural pessimism that pops up here and there, even if you of course find it horrible yourself and officially always fight against it.
Nevertheless, as gorgeous and ingenious cartoons can be – at this point we should once again mention “Coco”, an absolutely happy Pixar film from 2017 – films for children with real people can be just as beautiful. I was lucky the other day. You even have to say: double happiness. Movies were shown in the former departure hall of Tempelhof Airport, and that in itself was an experience. Everything looks exactly the same there as it did in 2008, when flight operations were suspended. Check-in counter and baggage carousel, everything is still there, even the signs for departure, arrival, customs. A screen was set up in front, with chairs in front of it, at a generous distance. “Emil und die Detektiven” was shown in the version from 2001. Script and direction: Franziska Buch.
The plot is well known, it was moved to Berlin at the turn of the millennium, which at that time, how long ago it seemed, was still clinging to this preliminary, this slightly sooty flair of the third backyards, this promise to be able to stumble into an adventure at any time. About three hundred children can each be seen in their own roles, there is the brave Pony, the brave Tuesday, the clever Gustav and of course the careless but ultimately heroic Emil Tischbein, to name just the bigger leading roles. The real hero of the film, however, is Jürgen Vogel, who, as the villain of Max Grundi, knows how to do magic. The film has speed and heart and a sensational finale, and while I can testify that kids like it, the whole truth is that the adults made the loudest “Ah” and “Oh” in that performance.
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