Kampf der Kobolde

I think that this was a great movie. My daughter (4) and I have rented it several times. It makes you want to be a kid again and to believe that there really is a magical world that exists. That this world exists in the here and now.

No doubt, Shakespeare is still alive - even in the dawning century. But, undoubtedly, "Romeo & Juliet" has seldom been so much fun - maybe the Bard should have set the play in Eire to begin with, so it could turn out to be rather funny than tragic. I mean, the mini-series is a fun throughout, with all the actors seeming to have had a very good time off the set and performing in great spirit (pardon the pun) as well. All in all, to me, it's an extremely entertaining mixture of the Leprechaun Legend and contemporary humour - and even that some of the Special Effects tend to be a bit behind par doesn't hinder the joy. But what astonished me the most was that Randy Quaid could actually be charming and - believe it or not - good looking. I mean, I always knew, that Quaid was a great and versatile actor, though somewhat tending to be a ham ("Independence Day" for example). But most of his previous roles were anything but "ordinary" and definitely far from "Romantic Hero". So it's not only a surprise but also good to see, that Randy Quaid can now claim that he can play any role and convincingly so. Dennis has finally found his match. And, by the way, Brad, watch your step...

A nice story of Leprechauns and Fairies. It stars Randy Quaid in probably his most subtle role to date, which is fitting and appreciated. Colm Meaney is excellent as the leprechaun, Seamus Muldoon. This movie falls a little short of being a classic in the fantasy genre, but it's a decent enough tale for the St. Patrick's Day season. It was made for television, so it lacks a little of the bigger production but the costumes are good and the special effects aren't bad. Probably the biggest fault of this movie is it's running time at nearly 3 hours. It has a fair bit of romance thrown in along with the battles in the forest, Irish song & dance, and other bits of merriment. I think the wee ones might be more patient with this epic length movie, while older folks may grow a bit weary waiting for it to play out.

**1/2 (Out of 4)

It is the old story of a boy and a girl in love who are forbidden to love each other because they come from two different worlds who hate each other. Yes, it's "Romeo and Juliet", it's "West Side Story" and I even would go so far to say that there'S a little bit Rose and Jack in it but never before has this story been told in such a charming way.

Here, it's a story within the story. An American businessman comes to Ireland in order to check the location and prepare everything for his American company who wants to build a golf territory in Western Ireland. At his second day of Arrival, the businessman by chance saves the life of a Leperchaun which means that the Leperchaun is devoted to him for the rest of his life. Through this incident the businessman gets to know another, magical parallel world that exists in the real human world. The parallel world has mainly two groups of human-like beings in it, the Leperchauns and the Fairys. The Leperchauns are lazy, always playing tricks on somebody and always in trouble. The Fairys on the other hand, are royal, prissy and always trying to make the world beautiful - they are responsible for the appearance of flowers and trees, e.g. for the perfect shape of the leaves and so on. Now, the son of the Leperchaun whose life the businessman saved, Mickey, falls for Jessica, a fairy and the daughter of the Fairy king. Of course this leads to trouble and you can guess how the story will go on, but it's still a pleasure to watch.

The movie is a feast of colours, nature and music, always with a bit magic in the air. Besides, the cast is brilliant. We've got Colm Meany as the Leperchaun dad, Daniel Betts as his charming son Mickey, Caroline Carver as Princess Jessica and - watch out - Whoopie Goldberg as the Big Banshee, a goddesslike creature observing all that goes on in the magical work. The movie might not be a big piece of cinema, but is really charming and a pleasure to see. It is crowned by a great music score and the title song "Fly away" performed by Emma Townsend.

The scenery was gorgeous and Colm Meaney was a hoot as Seamus Muldoon. I did greatly enjoy the Romeo and Juliet story between Princess Jessica, and Mickey. The fairy half of the story was probably the best. The graphics were fair to poor considering this was a Hallmark production and I was very disappointed with them. Too much sterotyping with the oafish brothers, and Jack's 'mission' could have been more original. The humor was fairly consistent throughout and that was a big plus.

All in all it was a decent piece, but could have been far better. C+ rather than an A+.