The Amazing Wiplala

Decades ago, when I was about 10 years old, the book Wiplala was one of my favourites; it is still on my book-shelf, a bit worn... Its translation was excellent, I remember, even the verb "tinkelen" was distinctively translated into my native language.

So, when I heard about the film, under appropriate opportunity, I decided to introduce its mood and characters to my young relatives and their friends. They liked it, but they told it was unusual to them: no violence, only a few rude words (mild ones), values and nice ideas presented in a pleasant and convincing manner without further blathering... Still, there was a lot of excitement, and the hot car ride was fast and catchy. Both I and my younger fellas could easily identify ourselves with the characters as well.

I was a bit disturbed about the plot brought into today (the book was published in 1957) and not-so-smooth depiction of airy-fairy stuff - under superb digital opportunities the world currently has. But still, a nice family film to all those tired of constant obscenities and cruelties present in various modern creations.

What a delightful twist on the classic children's books by Annie M. G. Schmidt! I loved these books growing up, and now my daughter has also fallen in love with them. We both thoroughly enjoyed the movie adaptation too.

While the movie doesn't stick strictly to the original story line (it's set in the present day), I appreciate how it maintains a lively pace and captures the essence of the books while adding a fresh layer on top of it. It strikes a wonderful balance between keeping the excitement alive and weaving in the beloved themes from Schmidt's stories. Perfect family movie in my opinion.

Rubbish film. Boring, bland and predictable. Not in the same league as the "Honey, I shrunk the kids!" movies that its thumbnail and international title rips off.

While the American voiceovers use swear words, I am not sure how the original script read. Based on the book by Annie M. G. Schmidt, this film was a treat. I have to buy the book now. As with many Dutch family films, the characters are delightful. Someone must have read Schmidt's book, written in the 1950's, to get the idea for Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. I really wish that the distributors would have left the title for this film as The Great Wiplala. Maybe then, there would not be so many negative comparisons. This was wonderful to watch. I want to find the song from this film about birds of a feather, it was great.

Not as bad as I thought it would be, was expecting to give this one about a 3/10. Fun plot, I myself have never read the book however me and 2 other friends watched it and we had a blast. I didn't like some of the poor acting however the music ("How We Belong" to be specific), the lighting, and the CGI/green screen was all quite good! I still don't understand how this is supposed to be a Christmas movie, its more or less a movie with Christmas mentioned every now and then. The actors weren't all that bad however, some of the facial expressions were pretty funny. Overall not too rubbish of a movie, its dubbing however and the closed captioning weren't all that great.

"wannabe wizard can't drive"