Ronja the Robber's Daughter

My favorite book as a child - I reread it more than five times and was deeply invested in the characters. I had the edition with Wikland's illustrations, and looking at them now brought back a wave of nostalgia. They were so vivid and full of life. When I found out that a series had been released, I was really excited, but not everything turned out smoothly.

I never expected that the series could be ruined this much by the actors - especially Ronja's father. He's supposed to be a fearsome bandit chieftain, but instead, we see a chubby man with kind, puppy-like eyes whose only abilities are throwing tantrums, looking pitiful, and waving his arms around. He even speaks like a gentleman. This is such a poor fit, so wildly out of place, that it completely breaks the immersion. His character is just a whiny, utterly foolish, and useless excuse for a... man, who doesn't command even the slightest bit of respect - and yet, for some inexplicable reason, the robbers do respect him. And he gets way too much screen time.

As for Birk - who, as one of the main characters, should at least have some charisma - the actor is a complete nobody with an empty filmography, a single facial expression, and a misaligned bite.

I've never paid much attention to actors in films before; everything always seemed more or less the same to me. But here, even I can see it's a total disaster.

The good parts: Ronja's actress does a decent job, and Lovis, her mother, feels like a real person - with emotions you actually believe in. She's the best character - level-headed, calm. Skalle-Per is also not bad.

All the other characters are just there - completely forgettable, failing to spark any interest or empathy.

The gnomes are horribly designed, while the wile-wings are OK. The nature shots, though - the mountains, castles, forests, waterfalls - are absolutely breathtaking. It's all filmed with a genuine love for nature, and the visuals are rich and vibrant.

The plot isn't particularly impressive. I remember the book being interesting to read, but here, it's mostly meaningless conversations plus the addition of a "bounty hunters" storyline - who, surprise, are all women and weren't in the original. This entire plotline is utterly pointless, dragged out, and leads absolutely nowhere. Every scene with these bounty hunters just made me want to skip ahead. Other than that, the series mostly follows the book's plot.

Overall, mixed feelings. But I'd still recommend giving it a try.

They add unnecessary words that easily can be said/shown with your face or body. Some words that don't fit well with the timeline. And when it is two clans that are living in a secluded area it feels a bit off when you sometimes hear a completely different accent. I also feel like the comedic vibe is not on point, feels very staged and stiff. I actually think it works better in English than in Swedish. So if you're not familiar with the excellent original movie, and you are watching this in English. I can understand that you might like it. But some nice shots and beautiful views overall in the whole series.

As a youth I loved Astrid Lindgren novels, including Emil from Lönneberg, Pippi Longstocking and, of cause, Ronja the Robber's Daughter. One of the first adaptations of the story I watched was the 1984 movie version and later the Danish stage musical adaptation. So when I saw that there would be a new interpretation of the story, I was kinda hopeful.

However, the end result was NOT what I expected or wanted!

Don't get me wrong, it's not that the entire Netflix series is just horrible, as it has some elements I kinda liked, such as some of the characters, the setting and the new interpretation of the fantastical creatures. However, they've added so much unnecessary subplot about a village and its corrupt magistrate that I always zoned out whenever we got to a point that wasn't part of Lindgren's original story.

This show has ups & downs. The production looks amazing, the costumes were pretty good, it was well played, had some solid music, the intro is a vibe and some good cinematography too. But its just a terrible adaptation. The show doesn't focus on Ronja at all. Instead it focuses on Mattis' story and Kappa's. Kappa is an original character with probably most of the screen time. She is not likeable she doesn't do anything, her character is nothing at all but still this her show. Why? None of these characters are likeable. Bot even Ronja. She just feels like a normal 13 year old. Ronja isn't even a supporting character in her own show. The plot is boring, stupid and full of people who don't do anything. We don't see Ronja learning on the forest. We don't see Ronja trying not to fall into the river. Instead we got Mattis who is.... there and Kappa who is..... Also there? Plus who designed the Harpies!? They're just big birds with nipples! There's nothing scary or menacing about them at all.

At first glance the remake had me hopeful, the more the show went on had me wondering if any of the actors are on the same page and what's even the point with this show.

I miss the songs, the characteristics from that age, the raw conversations and much more.. why mix so many dialects, deep and bright voices and how loud they speak in almost every switch of actor. It feels way off and very childish at some points.

They could've done so much more to capture the raw and chilly vibe, now it almost feels like a theater where they put different actors with totally different skill set, did one take and where satisfied with that.

I pictured what could've been a great show, but this one falls short for me.