Ronja the Robber's Daughter

My favorite book as a child - I reread it more than five times and was deeply invested in the characters. I had the edition with Wikland's illustrations, and looking at them now brought back a wave of nostalgia. They were so vivid and full of life. When I found out that a series had been released, I was really excited, but not everything turned out smoothly.

I never expected that the series could be ruined this much by the actors - especially Ronja's father. He's supposed to be a fearsome bandit chieftain, but instead, we see a chubby man with kind, puppy-like eyes whose only abilities are throwing tantrums, looking pitiful, and waving his arms around. He even speaks like a gentleman. This is such a poor fit, so wildly out of place, that it completely breaks the immersion. His character is just a whiny, utterly foolish, and useless excuse for a... man, who doesn't command even the slightest bit of respect - and yet, for some inexplicable reason, the robbers do respect him. And he gets way too much screen time.

As for Birk - who, as one of the main characters, should at least have some charisma - the actor is a complete nobody with an empty filmography, a single facial expression, and a misaligned bite.

I've never paid much attention to actors in films before; everything always seemed more or less the same to me. But here, even I can see it's a total disaster.

The good parts: Ronja's actress does a decent job, and Lovis, her mother, feels like a real person - with emotions you actually believe in. She's the best character - level-headed, calm. Skalle-Per is also not bad.

All the other characters are just there - completely forgettable, failing to spark any interest or empathy.

The gnomes are horribly designed, while the wile-wings are OK. The nature shots, though - the mountains, castles, forests, waterfalls - are absolutely breathtaking. It's all filmed with a genuine love for nature, and the visuals are rich and vibrant.

The plot isn't particularly impressive. I remember the book being interesting to read, but here, it's mostly meaningless conversations plus the addition of a "bounty hunters" storyline - who, surprise, are all women and weren't in the original. This entire plotline is utterly pointless, dragged out, and leads absolutely nowhere. Every scene with these bounty hunters just made me want to skip ahead. Other than that, the series mostly follows the book's plot.

Overall, mixed feelings. But I'd still recommend giving it a try.

At first glance the remake had me hopeful, the more the show went on had me wondering if any of the actors are on the same page and what's even the point with this show.

I miss the songs, the characteristics from that age, the raw conversations and much more.. why mix so many dialects, deep and bright voices and how loud they speak in almost every switch of actor. It feels way off and very childish at some points.

They could've done so much more to capture the raw and chilly vibe, now it almost feels like a theater where they put different actors with totally different skill set, did one take and where satisfied with that.

I pictured what could've been a great show, but this one falls short for me.

This production passes the minimum requirements to be watchable, but the persisting impression is why they made it at all. A bit darker than the original movie, the tone is yet quite mild and the dialouge not far from the book.

After watching 3 episodes, I am still wondering, why am I watching this?

The darker angle, is bathing in poor acting and a sense of rushed production. Sometimes almost cliché driven with rather weak and not very well represented subplots and story arcs.

Production quality is on par with other low to mid budget fantasy shows, and is utilizing passable basic CGI and clever practical effects.

I will watch the rest of the season, but I am not looking forward to it.

As a youth I loved Astrid Lindgren novels, including Emil from Lönneberg, Pippi Longstocking and, of cause, Ronja the Robber's Daughter. One of the first adaptations of the story I watched was the 1984 movie version and later the Danish stage musical adaptation. So when I saw that there would be a new interpretation of the story, I was kinda hopeful.

However, the end result was NOT what I expected or wanted!

Don't get me wrong, it's not that the entire Netflix series is just horrible, as it has some elements I kinda liked, such as some of the characters, the setting and the new interpretation of the fantastical creatures. However, they've added so much unnecessary subplot about a village and its corrupt magistrate that I always zoned out whenever we got to a point that wasn't part of Lindgren's original story.

The starting scene had me excited for what to come but unfortunately it didn't follow up the way I'd hope!

It feels like the series is put together with strange acting, weird scenes and general misunderstanding. Is the series for adults or children? I don't know.

Always loved Ronja as a child and was super ready since I saw that Netflix was going to make it into a series. But feels like a bit of a flop for me.

The actors are on completely different levels, seems like they don't act on the same page, the scenes are a bit slow, the costumes feel stressed and mostly look like something that was found in a hurry.

Maybe they didn't have the highest budget for this, but then I would rather skip making a remake if this would be the outcome.

I really like the idea of a remake but I couldn't watch more than 3 episodes.. Although big ups to Mattis, Lovis, Birk and Ronja that for me, were on the same page and acted the way I'd hope. Honorable mention also to the big birds, they had me shivering!