The Thief Lord

Cornelia Funke's novel has been turned into a very good "family" film. How I hate to use that term but unfortunately its true. This is the story of a couple of orphans who high tail it to Venice in search of the magic that their mother always spoke about. Their they fall in with the "Thief Lord" and his band of orphans who steal in order to survive.

This is a really good movie. I really do like it a great deal. The film is well acted by all concerned. It has great effects and is extremely well made in pretty much every area. And that is what was wrong with the film, it looks too good. Everything is picture perfect and neat. I don't think I've ever seen a film where Venice ever looked this neat and clean. It takes the film out of being very real to being a a bit of lets put on a show. Its a grand and very enjoyable show, but its a show who's technical excellence keeps you at arms distance. Maybe its just a bit of disappointment on my part, I wanted to fall into this film and enjoy it from on the inside, instead I was forced to see it through a looking glass of picture perfect perfection.

Still see this movie. If you have kids sit them down and show them this movie, it will keep everyone entertained. Its a film that people should be seeing and talking about since its too good to have get lost and disappear.

7.5 out of 10.

'The Thief Lord' is an enchanting little film that will keep people of all ages occupied since it's executed in a manner that isn't too childish or sugary. Based on fantasy novel by Cornelia Funke, the film centres on fourteen-year-old Prosper and six-year-old Bo, orphaned brothers who face being split up by their cruel aunt and uncle who intend to dump the elder boy in a children's home while they adopt the younger child. The boys flee to Venice, a city their mother told them was magical, where they are befriended by the mysterious Thief Lord and his band of street waifs. Stealing to provide for themselves, the children's lives are about to take another extraordinary turn as the Thief Lord's secret is unravelled and they discover why Venice truly is a place veiled of magic.

The child cast in this film all give decent performances and manage to carry the film well, since it is very much a film that focuses on their characters. Rollo Weeks' Scipio is portrayed in a manner that shows him to be a less flashy, more troubled hero than Harry Potter of the films (an entirely different character to the Harry of the books). Aaron Johnson is perfect as Prosper, a young teenager caught between enjoying his own childhood and providing a parental figure to his brother while wee Jasper Harris was utterly adorable as Bo, proving that very young actors can still be talented. Their young co-stars of George MacKay, Lathaniel Dyer and Alice Connor are equally as effective in their roles. And the young cast are well-supported by their adult co-stars, particularly Jim Carter as the clumsy Victor and Alexei Sayle as the slimy Barbarossa.

As an adaptation, 'The Thief Lord' is quite loyal to the books with the characters and the main plot remaining largely unchanged. The story is depicted in a manner that is involving and will endear the audience to the young characters and the musical score fitted the mood of the film perfectly. However, there were a couple of flaws, such as the scenes towards the end with the new 'children' (I don't want to elaborate too much in deference to those who haven't seen the film) were a bit too slapstick and didn't suit the rest of the film while the new version of Scipio should probably have been played by someone else since it just looked like Rollo Weeks with a bit of make-up on. And perhaps it should have been established where Proper and Bo lived previously so the audience aren't left wondering why the citizens of Venice all speak with English accents.

That said, I found 'The Thief Lord' a charming film that should appeal to all ages of the family. It's a shame it's so underrated and received little acknowledgement in the UK since surely we should be supporting our talented home-grown young actors and be eager to show the world that British child acting doesn't begin and end with the Harry Potter cast.

I was expecting it to be either really good, or really bad, but it wasn't actually either. It was just...good. I really liked it, but it's not going to be one of my favorites or anything. The actors were WONDERFUL, but the movie seemed kind of rushed. Many of the best parts in the book were barely seen in the movie, and the whole thing would have been very confusing if I hadn't read the book. They didn't describe many of the facts well, but because I had read it, I knew what was going on. It was pretty faithful to the book (compared to things like Harry Potter and LotR) and was overall very enjoyable. The main thing it was missing was Cornelia Funke's wonderful writing style, but...well...it's a movie. It's probably as good as it could have been. :) Overall, 7.5 stars. I recommend this movie to everyone of all ages, even if you don't like fantasy stories like Harry Potter, but only as long as you read the best-selling book first.

I've always been a fan of the book, and I was thrilled to find out that a movie was being released. Last night as I had the movie in my hand and was putting it in my DVD player I thought "You know, this had better live up to my expectations or I'm going to be terribly disappointed."

I was not disappointed.

I'll have to say, my only tiny complaint is that Bo was a little /too/ cute, if you know what I mean. He was also not that great of an actor, but hey, he was a little kid.

Scipio. He was fantastic. Rollo Weeks, a relatively unknown actor, did a awesome job. I don't think anyone else could have done the part quite as well. I wasn't even bothered by the fact that his hair was shorter than in the book, I thought it fit perfectly. He was definitely my favorite character. I liked him much better than in the book. Rollo Weeks gave the character much more personality and I had more sympathy for him.

The other characters were also very well cast. Riccio was perfect, as was Mosca and Prosper.

The sets were beautiful, and the filming was done surprisingly well for a low-budget film.

I give it 10 stars. *********

After finishing reading the book, I heard about the movie coming out in 2006. Of course I didn't expect much, only because books being turned into movies turn out bad. But i have say, this movie was probably the best movie i have seen in many years. This movie just blew me, and not only me, but my family away. The film was amazingly detailed and explained the character very well. The effects for this movie were just magical. This film isn't the blockbuster of the year, but this movie did have amazing acting, the effects were really well done for a low-budget movie. And, the most important, it did stay very true to the book and left very little out. Looking back on some book/movies, they leave a lot out and some of the movies don't turn out that great for some people. But this movie left out very little, and a lot of people will be very pleased. The movie overall will get a 10/10 because Cornelia Funke is just an extremely amazing writer, and the movie was just so magical and exciting, all people of any age will love it. And don't forget to catch Cornelia's soon to be made into a movie, Inkheart.