"Emil und die Detektive" or "Emil and the Detectives" is a German film from 2001, in which writer and director Franziska Buch adapted the famous tale by children's books author Erich Kästner. I watched the 1930s and 1950s films about Emil, his gang and criminal Grundeis not too long ago and it becomes obvious how different they were compared to this one here. Clearly, Buch wanted to give the film a modern rework and there are many many aspects included that do not exist in these old films and probably also not in the book. Not sure about the latter as I have never read the book. One would be the kids rapping on several occasions, others would be Gustav's mother working in a church. Emil here lives with his father played by Karl Wiesinger early on. And also the story is about gems that the kids can recover and for which they are rewarded. And there is more criminals in here chasing the kids other than Grundeis. The latter here is played by Jürgen Vogel and he is enjoyable to watch as always, even if he gives Grundeis also a completely different approach. Still I must say that he is probably almost the only good thing about this movie. One major problem is that basically all the kids actors are pretty forgettable. The one who played Gusstav is the negative highlight here and Tobias Retzlaff who plays Emil is completely bland and not memorable at all. Sommavilla (Pony Hütchen) is still the best from the gang I guess and even she is nothing special at all. Good to see most of these left film when growing up as I cannot really see a good future for the bunch when it comes to acting. Overall, there were just not too many good moments in this 15-year-old film. I cannot recommend checking it out, especially people who love Emil (the book or the old films) should stay far far away. It's also way too long at over 105 minutes and that's why you find lots of forgettable filler material like the stuff I mentioned earlier. Thumbs down for this 2001 version.
Review of Emil und die Detektive
