Der Herr der Elfen

This movie is not about special effects or dialogue or script writing or even acting. This movie is about belief: Belief in yourself, in others, in the healing power of faith and the power of good.

Just like the after school specials of yore, this movie is an ingenious way to facilitate the continued growth of children's' faith in humanity and mankind. It helps open adults' eyes to what children take for granted.

If you want a striking movie with superb acting and state-of-the-art special effects, then this movie is not for you. However, if you love fairies and you Believe in the Goodness Within, this movie should have a special place in your collection.

I know my children will watch this movie when the time comes.

Maybe people do not like this movie, but my 10-year old son really likes it and has already seen it a few times, each time commenting on it and telling me about it endlessly. Although the story might be slightly lame and predictable, it is a regular feel good movie with lots of slightly moralistic moments, it is better then many other movies in the same genre I've seen. The storyline is indeed thin but since it is a fairy tale, that is part of the fun. The children act well, there is enough suspense in the air to stay interested for the whole time and in the end things do not seem what they looked like. In short, a family movie, well fitted for dreamers like my children.

I would guess one of the dreadful things about being an actor is that you can't ever take your name off your work. Directors can hide behind pseudonyms, producers can blame the director, and everyone else can throw up their hands and blame everyone else for letting them down. The actors however are stuck there up there, on screen for all the world to see, unable to hide from the awfulness that surrounds them. And this movie is awful.

Most of the blame lies with the direction - not that there appears to have been any, and a script that may well have been, judging from what arrives on the screen, little more than a rough outline, semi-improvised by the actors as they were shooting. The whole thing looks like it was shot in single, unrehearsed takes with no one having bothered to tell the cast and the few background artists what was going on or what they were supposed to be doing.

In short it looks like an amateur production and I can't begin to guess at the behind the scenes events that left reliably professional jobbing actors like Corbin Bernsen*, Glynis Barber, and Malcolm McDowell so helplessly adrift; I occasionally work with youth drama groups and have seen more conviction from bored High School kids than is on display here. Still, I guess the principals all got a nice holiday in South Africa out of it - though I don't suppose anyone involved in this turd will be including any part of it in their show reels.

Having said all that my hyper-imaginative, six year old, fairy loving daughter was hooked throughout and genuinely terrified during the 'climactic' trapped-in-the-mine sequence, and even my four year old got 'the message'.

*Bernsen also has to suffer the indignity of most incredibly underwritten, non-specific terminal disease in the history of movies since the Production Code of the thirties prevented anyone from mentioning the clap.

I thought that I would enjoy the movie because it featured Malcolm McDowell, one of my favorite actors. I was quite wrong. I would never believe that so good an actor could be so tainted by the surrounding cast.

Aside from the horrible production quality (boom mic dipping down in the opening scene, BAMBOO AND PALM TREES in the "english forest"), the plot is subtle as a mack truck and the whole thing is stupid beyond words. Some of the characters even drift in and out of their accents.

I kept hoping that at some point, McDowell's character would kill and eat the family to liven things up. Never happened. Oh, Malcolm, how could you?

Well, what can I say. I watched The Fairy King of Ar (or also know as Beings). This film was released in 1998 as a direct to video film. It notably has Malcom McDowell in this film which begs the question. Is his performance one that would save this film? The answer is a hard no. For my viewing of this film, I watched it on the release where it is part of a crappy collection released by Echo Bridge called the 8 Family Movie Collection which is basically a collection of crappy family movies that literally nobody has heard of. This film was directed by a man named Paul Matthews who apparently has directed a fair share of fantasy movies and has only nine director credits to his name and even still was not active for the longest time until 2017 when he recieved a writers credit. Is this film a hidden gem and possibly one of the decent films that seem to pop up in these Echo Bridge collections? You already know the answer to that...

Kyle and Evie are being told a story about fairies and demons by their grandma. (I don't know I was not paying attention). Their grandma passes away and leaves a house and some land to Kyle and Evie and their parents. Apparently it is cursed or something and the locals want the family to leave. Oh and throw in the father being sick with something. (It is never specified). Apparently years ago, the locals trapped creatures in a gold mine located on the property. The kids believe that what is trapped in the mine could help their dad...

This. Movie. Blows. Though that should not come as a surprise for anyone. It is late 90s direct to video garbage. From the very beginning I was not invested in this film. First of all, it seems the story told in the beginning would have been far more interesting if that was the main story of the film. But since it is not, I don't even care about what even happens in the story. I could not even tell you what the story was even about. The whole story of this film also seems unfocused. I feel that at most times, the film is focused on the family and stuff (and honestly that is what some of it is, stuff). Then it very briefly focuses on the fairy stuff and the thing is, the film is watchable when the fairy stuff come on. I come here to watch a fairy film and when it does deliver the fairies, I am actually happy (but not that happy). The computer effects are PS1 graphics at best. I mean, this is a 1998 film so, I guess it works. Then again, you cannot expect much from a low budget direct to video film. You just cannot. The practical effects are worse. The makeup for the one main fairy we see is an absolute abomination. Just apply a thin layer of blue paint because that should do the trick. Speaking of the fairies, I have several questions. First, is their existance. It is like the question of whether or not Stewie Griffin can be heard or not. The fairies appear to have their existances to be known by everyone and then don't. But then again, when people do see them, the acting is so bad that when they "act surprised" it does not seem like a geniune reaction. As I already alluded to, Malcom McDowell does not save this film at all. He honestly does not do well in this film and I honestly do not blame him. So when I find out that Malcom McDowell stars in this crappy film, I am happy that an experienced actor is in a crappy film. Then again, WHAT THE HELL MALCOM MCDOWELL?!?!?! I love how this little town has a group of bullies that only appear once and that one time is only for a minute at the most and they do not have any huge lines.

The Fairy King of Ar is just what one would expect out of a low budget fantasy film that sucks. It is unintentionally funny due to it's execution of literally everything. But it is far from being the worst movie I have seen. I only give it three stars because I know there are going to be far worse movies in this collection that this movie appeared in. It is completely harmless to watch as one will most likely soon forget that they even watched it.