Die Wilden Hühner

I've never been much of a fan of Cornelia Funke's "Wilde Hühner" books, so I took my 7-year-old daughter to see this with some reluctance. I was agreeably surprised, though. The story works, the kids are great, and what I liked best was the realistic portrayal of their family backgrounds, not quite the common fare in kid's movies. Most of it was subtly done, like in some of Astrid Lindgren's stories. These kids' troubles are for real, and if there's evil in this film, it's the evil of thoughtless neglect on the part of the parents. Every kid (and adult) can identify with that. The dialog tended to be too heavy sometimes, but this is the only real fault I could find. Gripping and touching.