Watched in the cinema (219th visit in 2025)
The most beautiful stories deal with extreme experiences; they always go a little beyond the comprehensible, even at the risk of initially overwhelming the reader. This is even more true when they are aimed at children. The monsters in "James and the Giant Peach" are scarier than expected, and the Grand High Witch in "The Witches" seems nightmarish even to adults. The Welsh author Roald Dahl always took the English aphorism "No…
Watched in the cinema (212th visit in 2025)
No other studio is as closely associated with the history of animated films as Disney. After all, it has been around for more than 80 years and has created countless classics over the years. Recently, however, the pioneers have come under considerable pressure, with the studio struggling with weak revenues since the coronavirus pandemic. Although "Encanto" was a hit on Disney+, the film flopped at the box office, as did the other…
Watched in the cinema (197th visit in 2025)
They have been a fixture in the annual cinema program for some time now: Christmas films from Scandinavia. Norway in particular has established itself as a reliable supplier of high-quality family entertainment. Now, with "Hvis ingen går i fella" (translated as "If no one falls into the trap"), another festive work from the north is coming our way. And once again, the result is a success, showing the many mediocre Christmas productions…
Schocktober 2025 # 29
Watched on Disney +
It was intended as a nice bonus for visitors to "Pinocchio", which Disney had chosen to re-release in 1984. The Mouse Corporation had signed Tim Burton, who had attracted attention with his short film "Stalk of the Celery Monster", as an animator. After Burton made a very convincing short film with "Vincent", his employer considered commissioning him to make a short film for the re-release of "Pinocchio". The result was a dark…
Schocktober 2025 #27
Watched in the cinema (183rd visit in 2025 2/2)
It took more than three years for the American animation studio Laika to enchant audiences a second time after its acclaimed debut "Coraline". And once again, it relied on the supposedly old-fashioned stop-motion technique, where individual shots are strung together at such high speed that the impression of movement is created, enhanced by state-of-the-art technology. Whereas in the past every pose of a character had to be modeled…
Schocktober 2025 # 12
Watched in the cinema (176th visit in 2025)
"Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus", the classic horror novel by English author Mary Shelley, is now more than 200 years old. But the story of a scientist who creates an artificial human and thereby brings about disaster still fascinates readers today. This is also evident in the fact that it is regularly adapted into new films and series. This year sees the release of Guillermo del Toro's "Frankenstein,"…
Watched in the cinema (157th visit in 2025)
When "The Bad Guys" was released in cinemas in 2022, the response was positive. The animal heist movie, based on the books by Aaron Blabey, may not have been a super hit at the box office, but it made enough money to turn it into a franchise. Two short films were subsequently released on Netflix. The wait for feature-length film number 2 is now finally over, with "The Bad Guys 2" being…
Watched in the cinema (149th visit in 2025)
Who didn't imagine things as a child and dream of making it all come true? Whether we experience adventures in our imagination, explore foreign places or encounter strange creatures, at that age it's just part of it. But what happens when these fantasies come true? This happens less often in reality, but it is a grateful scenario for films. In the children's book adaptation "Harold and the Purple Crayon", we are not…
Watched in the cinema (148th visit in 2025)
They have a permanent place in our cinemas: Films in which children or young people make friends with animals. French director Gilles de Maistre has made a lucrative business out of it. At first glance, you might think that "Kangaroo" could be his next project. In fact, however, it is an Australian production that has nothing in common with the above cinema successes. Fans of the latter should nevertheless take a look…
Watched in the cinema (140th visit in 2025)
According to her own statement, we have Jamie Lee Curtis to thank for all of this. Because fan inquiries about a sequel to "Freaky Friday" have not diminished over the years, the acting legend ended up calling Disney boss Bob Iger personally to get the ball rolling. It is understandable that fan interest remained high. Even today, the bodyswitch comedy with the Curtis/Lohan duo is still a great watch thanks to its…
Watched in the cinema (126th visit in 2025 2/2)
No question: the comic series about the little blue Smurfs created by Belgian artist Peyo in 1958 is cult! But switching to other media was a bit of a challenge. While the cartoon series from the 1980s enjoyed greater popularity, reactions to the previous movie "La Flûte á six schtroumpfs" were rather mixed. The live-action animation mixes "The Smurfs" and "The Smurfs 2" were really bad, which makes their huge box…
Watched on Disney +
A classic variant of comedy is when you take characters out of their environment and present them with tasks that they are not up to and therefore react in funny and unusual ways. This is exactly what is shown here. Not that we've never seen the story before, but this variation on "body switching" is wonderfully entertaining, funny, charming and brilliantly cast.
The story actually gets off to a funny start when the stubborn mother has…