In the first scenes, the viewer is introduced to the three main characters, Julius, a young boy played by Sven Lubeck, his girlfriend Elsa, played by Marie-Luise Stahl, and his father, Professor Hansen played by Heinrich Schafmeister. Julius has to help out so much with the housekeeping that Elsa complains that he does not have enough time for her. His father is so deep in thought when he is working on his computer, apparently on planetary orbits, that he forgets such mundane things as soup on the stove or taps running.
I am much older than the target age group for this film, and was irritated by the exaggerated portrayal of the professor and his otherwise realistic difficulties in keeping the apartment clean and tidy and in preparing meals. However, many members of the target age group, which I estimate as being eight to eleven, would surely be amused by this feature of the film.
What I enjoyed most were the colour effects when love was being portrayed, a lovely idea which worked well in the context of this story. The professor's confession to his son that he needed help in running the apartment was easily the most realistic and touching scene. Another enjoyable feature were the animal noises from the apartment above the one which Julius and the professor live in, and the explanation thereof, which comes near the end.
The worst feature was the characters of the two leading child characters, annoyingly brash, which was typical for many East German children's films before the unification of Germany. I also thought that Julius's attempts, as stated in the original German title of the film notwithstanding the fact that the English language title is somewhat different, to get his father to fall in love were somewhat long-winded and lacking variety and imagination, though, once again, many viewers of the target age group may well disagree.
Taken as a whole, I was disappointed with this presentation of a theme which has been filmed so many times that I feel there is no room for such a dull offering.
