Johan und der Federkönig

Animated film from Sweden? I don't remember I have seen one. So probably this is my first from that region. It was less than 80 minutes, that means short and sweet. They should have stretched it a bit longer, but the point of the narration was perfectly accomplished, so it does not matter even it was shorter than the usual length. This is a pure children's film, that families might as well enjoy it. I thought everything in it was cute. The characters, and the simple story. But the animation obviously was not that great as we see in Hollywood. Also not bad to ignore it completely.

This takes place on the planet of the rabbits and tells the story of a young Johan. He's the happiest kid, living with his loving parents, but until one day when the feather king gets his mother. Missing her presence, the desperate Johan in a boat at the sea alone, uses the situation after receiving a sos radio message. He now enters the forbidden land without an invitation and his adventure begins to fight for his mother's return. It also helps him to learn an important lesson that ends with what seems the right way.

"The feather king took my mom. And I want her back"

After seeing this I think the director should get a shot at Hollywood, so that he can come back and make the international quality animated features for his nation. I said that because American production houses usually pour a big amount because of their international market that gets them five to ten times what they have spent. If you are an animation film fan, then you should try this. But you should not compare it with any Hollywood animations. I saw it during the week of Christmas and New Year, the best season to watch such magical tale.

I liked how they avoided the word 'loss' or 'death'. You would understand the situation in the story, but the film is not intended to go details. This is the film about losing someone you love and when unable to cope, especially the little kids who can't understand such concept, this film tried to give something fictional version of logic. For that reason alone, it's worth a watch with your little ones. Like the Americans say after someone had died that he/she/it is in a better place, this film set in that place and that's why it was called 'Beyond Beyond' that rhymes with 'Mirror Mirror' kind of fairytale.

6/10

Sometimes you get a hold of the movie, which makes instantly clear to you that it would be impossible to produce it in US (most of the movie production), or other studios around the world. That is mostly because Scandinavians have a very "intimate" way of depicting mosty anything in their movies. Their movies are often focused on interrelations that are often deemed unacceptable or inappropriate in other countries.

Good example would be "Let the Right One In" (Låt den rätte komma in), which would be essentially impossible to record in US.

Beyon Beyond has substance, the characters are not black and white - they are complex; both bad and good at the same time. All of the movie is in positive, childish tone, which makes it a pleasant experience to watch and learn from it, especially for children.

While this movie is not something "stellar", like Nauciaa, or Laputa, or Wall-e..., it has qualities beyond the ratings. The way this movie is made, is characteristically immersive, specific to Scandinavian culture, and I absolutely recommend it.

Watch it with your kid, and let it learn from it. We made a projection for 4yr old boy who loves spaceships and rockets, and he really liked this move. He asked to watch it again at some point later on.

Save yourself the time and bother and watch something else: I wouldn't recommend this for either kids or grownups.

After my child and I finished watching it we were not only unimpressed, we were actually a bit angry at the meandering story-line and the lack of explanation of certain actions. Now I should add that we watched the English dubbed version and so I was prepared to consider the possibility that the script was badly translated or that the dialogue was delivered in a way that it wasn't in the original. However, even if I was watching it on mute I would see the story repeating potentially emotionally powerful scenes and rendering them irritating.

I cant reveal which bits were repetitive or irritating without spoiling the film but I was amazed that no one in the creative process thought to edit the story a bit tighter. And yes, I do get that since this is a story about the afterlife we were going to be asked to accept certain rules about that world, but the story bores us by repeating these rules over and over and insisting that we couldn't be told the reason behind the rules. You end up with a world where blind faith is expected and their parallel to a God is pretty OK with vengeance and violence. (Good to know, hunh?) Given that the subject matter is children's experience of bereavement, they had a greater duty towards making the story less convoluted and confusing.

I really love the Animation and the songs and the music by Jesse Pruett they really entertain me the acting especially Evan as Jonah really fits especially Carey Elwes as Jonah's Dad and Ambyr Childers as Jonah's Mom is really great the story is meaningful the graphics are decent enough the the moral is really useful.

This was an excellent movie, I understood the meaning right off.