A German production, filmed in Luxembourg and Venice, with a mainly British cast.  It is based on a popular book for children by Cornelia Funke.

Whether the film follows the book, I cannot say.  As a film, it is quite peculiar.  The action is set in a very naturalistic Venice (taking full advantage of the beauty of the city) but the action is that of magic realism.  Here the two do not quite gel – perhaps a more magical city would have kept the whole thing more in the realm of the imagination.

A youngster escapes an orphanage, picks up his six year old brother from guardians and they escape to Venice where they join a gang of rather well-mannered thieves who are given a commission to find a large wing broken from a merry-go-round and sell it to a Count.  They do.  However, the oldest boy and leader, Thief Lord, wants to ride the merry-go-round which has powers to make you older or younger.

Again, the film is peculiar because the children act in a naturalistic fashion – even if what they do is odd and far-fetched.  It is the adults who clown around and are caricatures.  Maybe that is how the children see them.  Jim Carter is a private detective in the employ of the guardians who changes sides.  Alexei Sayle is a dodgy shyster.  Vanessa Redgrave turns up as a nun to explain the magic merry-go-round – in a habit that should have got the costume designer sacked so unreal does it seem.  The cheery thing is that Caroline Goodall is the other star – she is genial, kind and a jolly-good-show kind of mother-figure.

Box-office may have been best in Germany. 

Did you enjoy this article? Please bookmark it onto:

Be first to comment this article

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.