Le maître des sorciers

I went to see this last night at the Toronto Film Festival. My wife picked it out, and I had expected it to be a silly kid's flick about magic and I was happily surprised. Krabat turned out to be a very good movie.

It is not at all cheesy or goofy. I found the screenplay well written, the acting was impressive, and the plot that keeps you engaged. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a change of pace from American fantasy flicks.

The basic story takes place at the end of the 30 years war in Germany. It focuses on a young orphan named Krabat. I won't give any more details, except to say that it's an interesting twist on the idea of magic.

I'm not saying it's a 10/10 (I gave it 9) there are a few inconsistencies in the film, but they exist outside the main line of the story, and you don't notice them until after the credits are finished.

Hm. I read the book as a kid (a long time ago) and was impressed back then. So no movie could ever live up to that. I've seen it in English but would probably have preferred the German version. To late now. But anyhow. The cinematography is great, the art direction is good (a bit too much 'puppet house style' for me) and the acting is OK. The story is just like I remember it. But without the magic. I do not mean wizardry, of that there's enough. But it never really got to me. Unfortunately. It might be the art direction that does not feel real enough. It might be the acting. I do not know. I need ten lines so here is the tenth line.

Krabat, boring??? How can that be? I just don't get it - Preussler s novel would have made a wonderful script, if they stuck to his idea instead of changing most of it. didn't they see it? In an age when fantasy works like the Lord of the Rings are made into fantastic movies, it is inexcusable that the screenwriters changed so much of the original storyline, and killed so much of its beauty and depth. The movie was shallow at best Yes, the basic story is about love being the only thing that can overcome the darkness. the biggest crime that was done here was to change the characters: The deep bond between Michal and Merten, which leads to Merten trying to run away and finally kill himself. Lyschko not a bad guy in the end, the betrayal played down to nothing... I really like Daniel Brühl, but Tonda? Also, whatever magic there was, it didn't come through.

It was all about power over people, why not lighten the story up as Preussler had done magnificently in the book and send them off to the market or show how the master - and therefore the devil whom he served - manipulated the politicians of this time? could it have been a matter of budget? Or is it just impossible for us Germans to dive into the spiritual side of things? I don't think any of the changes made to the story were really necessary - it was perfect as it was written, and the screenwriters changed it into a mediocre, lenghty dark tale, nothing more or less. Definitely not what the book was: A story that captured generations of readers. I predict that this movie will be forgotten very quickly.

I found Krabat to be rather disappointing. I expected something better after reading some extremely positive reviews on here. And it's not because of the German language, which is a nasty aggressive language to listen to by the way, but more because of the plot that wasn't that interesting to follow. I do like fantasy and tales, but sometimes it's just not there. Krabat lacks of good entertaining scenes and even if the acting wasn't bad I never got completely into the story. I read that the book was better, maybe I should have done that instead of watching this movie.

I went to see this movie a couple of days ago, not knowing what to expect. I never read the book.

I kind of liked it, but it wasn't as good as I hoped it would be.

It was really easy to predict the way the story unfolded and in the end it's just another 'love conquers all' storyline. (which isn't that bad, because we all want love to conquer, don't we?)

I found the transformation to ravens was very beautifully done. And there's the scene when Krabat meets his girl, which was a nice way to visualize the magic.

I enjoyed myself with this movie, but I don't think I will remember it a year from now...