Too much of everything

Sadly Over-hyped

A Disappointing Continuation

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

"Urmel aus dem Eis" is a German mini-series from 1969, so this one will soon have its 50th anniversary. And unlike other mini-series, you can actually watch this one easily in one sitting as it consists of 4 episodes of about half an hour each, which means that the entire thing is shorter than 2 hours. The director is Harald Schäfer and I think the original work is written by Max Kruse. Manfred Jenning is the one who adapted it and he is also one of the voice actors in here. I must say I am not familiar with any of the voice cast. It is a very fantasy-themed movie as none of the creatures or the fact that they can talk have anything to do with the real world. This is somewhat fine in terms of the idea of movie magic, but I must say the material here was not good enough for anything over 60 minutes. The characters are so many, yet they become all pretty uninteresting quickly and maybe less characters and better writing/elaboration on them would have made a batter film. And while the story early on with the other scientists was still good, the plot about the King (a hunter) being the main antagonist really dragged a lot and the ending (with everybody becoming friends after saving him from the cave) made all before that pretty pointless. I don't think this was a really bad watch, but most of the characters are style over substance and I also believe that there is a reason why films with string puppets don't get made anymore. It is an outdated concept and even here, in the late 1960s, it did not feel modern at all compared to other stuff I have seen from around that time. I give it a thumbs-down. Only worth checking out for really young audiences and even many of these probably won't like it.

I just recently saw Urmel again with my 'little one' almost 40 years after it had enchanted my childhood, respectively parts thereof, and I can firmly say: It did not loose anything! The characters are extremely lovable, even those whom you dislike are not real villains as in many children's stories and fairy tales. There are for all practical purposes no special effects at all, but that does not affect the movie at all. It derives its magic from completely different sources; it touches the heart. Compared to today's children's movies (and more so adult movies) everything happens at an incredibly low speed. One takes time to develop the characters and to have a relationship with them.

The "Augsburger Puppenkiste" and its famous marionette plays are known to every person in Germany, and loved dearly by several generations. Among the many classics that were aired on television countless times, is "Urmel aus dem Eis", the wonderful adaption of a children's novel of the same title by Max Kruse.Professor Tibatong is a scientist who eventually moves onto an far-off island with only his assistant and the sow Wutz - who is keeping his household, and who's been taught how to speak by the professor. On the island, he also teaches a variety of other animals how to talk, but all of them end up with their own, cute, speech impediment. One day, an iceberg appears with a frozen egg, and once hatched, it reveals the Urmel, a mischievous baby dinosaur thingy.Urmel is a classic and has everything it needs to make the show unforgettable. The characters are lovable, the dialogues (and the way they are spoken) are extremely fun. When watching "Urmel" again recently, I discovered that I had not forgotten many of the dialogues and sentences. At other times, I was pleasantly thrilled to discover that the dialogues really were so very witty, funny, even more so than I remembered from my childhood. This is an absolute gem!