ever since I was little I was apparently a big bookworm,and Crusade in Jeans was the book I devoured the most. I think I must have read it over 40 times.... so you can imagine that I was very exited about the movie. However, that level of excitement went down when I heard that they where going to put 2 of the characters into a new one, and I was afraid what would happen to the rest of the film. Would it be a Harry Potter 1 for me, when I was annoyed throughout the whole film about everything they cut&changed, or would it be a Harry Potter 4, where there where also many things cut and changed, but everything was so wonderfully done and even replaced with some fab new stuff that it didn't matter? Unfortunately, it was a Harry Potter 1. On the whole, the look of the movie is great, and it has great actors.If you haven't read the book I think it will be a enjoyable yet confusing experience. However, for me there are 2 big disappointments. The first is all of the great characters they've cut. Yes, Jenna is a wonderful girl, great actress, but I'd rather have seen both Leonardo and Mariecke. They are not the only characters that are missing, Peter, Frank, Father Johannes and many others. I also don't see the point of someone as Vick. Anselmus is awful enough on his own, he doesn't need an evil sidekick. Also, Father Johannes opposite Aselmus showed exactly what a bad character the latter has. Johannes was on the bad side too, but he repented and the children always liked him. Also, I think the brotherly protective feelings Dolf has for Mariecke are a big part of why he's so concerned with the children of the crusade. The original characters where a big part of the book, and I feel they should have been in the film. The second is that you don't really see the change that Dolf made to the crusade. He reorganised the whole crusade, giving each child a task they themselves could choose, regardless of status. This was unheard of at that time, yet it changed the children from obedient slaves into people with self confidence and a sense of unity. In the book you can see it very well by the change in characters such as Mariecke and Peter. I think this was a very important part of the book, that Dolf brings 20th century ideas to the middle ages, yet I didn't see that in the film. Overall, visually it looked very good and the actors that do appear are very good, and even I must admit that I like the change of the "process" from before the alps too the genua shore, but I hoped they'd be more true to the book. a bit of a disappointment for a crusade in jeans fan...
