Rubinrot

Don't confuse this as anything else than it actually is. This is aimed at teenagers. Which means it's simple, as simple as it gets. It is nice to see a genre movie coming out of Germany, even if it is aimed at a younger audience and a female crowd at that (fantasy themed movies/books seem to have a huge female fan base in Germany). It's a nice touch to see strong female characters though (even if you can't relate to all their troubles and stipulations.

This movie is a "how it all begins". I haven't read the books this is based on and they probably have a wider reach, more character development and all that, but I can't comment on that. I can only say, that the movie at hand is well made and has some fine moments, even when filled with clichéd action.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting this movie to be a hit or anything like the book for that matter. But to my surprise, i found the movie quiet entertaining and exciting, both at the same time. Of course I read the book first so obviously I knew the plot story very well, so I didn't really expect to see anything new, as most of the movies which are adapted from books usually don't change anything about it thinking they will hurt the fans' feelings. But sometimes following everything as the book says, gets a little boring, don't you think? I mean really, when it comes to a movie which has been adapted from a book, it usually sucks. Either they don't follow the story well or they follow the story too much. But Rubinrot was simply amazing, if you ask me. They followed the main story but also changed bits and parts of the theme which adds a new, rather exciting, turn for the next movie of course. Also the way they captured Gideon and Gwendolyn's relationship is actually better than the book version if you ask me. Even though I watched the English dubbed version of the movie, I enjoyed it all the way. Looking forward to watch the next movie in the line which has been released this year. But the problem is, as i don't know the German language , I'll have to wait for the English dubbed version to come out.

i want to skip rating the story because one may like it or not. what i want to talk about is the acting, camera, effects etc.

i didn't know anything about the movie. just saw an ad and went to watch it. 6 minutes into the movie and i kinda get annoyed. after 2 shots it was clear: German production. and i can't stand German productions. i am German, but i can not stand the way German movies try to copy American stylistic elements and fail miserably or use worn out ones. 6 minutes into the movie. bad acting, as sadly common for German acting. slow-motion-lover-boy appearance. main character mistaken for waitress at snobby party. main character tough but clumsy and by accident spills drinks over lover-boy. stereotypes all the way. it may be caused by the story itself, but the task of techniques and effects in movie-making should be used to smoothen failures and to put highlights on strong elements. it totally failed in doing so. the way the actors speak, act and behave combined with those poor techniques makes me so angry. and i am only 6 minutes into the movie.

Sometimes I wonder what kind of idiots decide what is fit for kids. We might get a decent teen movie with that subject. It's not a 13+ but a 6+ movie.

There is nothing really untowards. It is full of stereotypes, you barely know more about the plot at the end of the film than in the beginning. It's lenghty, cheesy, predictable. In the next episodes you can expect a big romance and scenes of escapes where the heroes stop to kiss and have a conversation before they're safe because it's a rule of the genre.

Very few writers are able to pull a good time-travel story. Maybe the author of the books did, but those of the movie failed. Kids and young teens will find it entertaining but adults will prefer Harry Potter. See what I mean ?

Rubinrot is a decent movie.

in these times when there is a huge focus on young adults in books and movies, it is easy to label it as 'yet another young adult story' and ignore it, but lets not forget that 'YA' is just another label for 'teen', and there have been teen-oriented movies as long as there has been cinema, so its not so bad to spend some time on one more.

so we have quite a mess with mysticism, super powers, conspiracy on one hand, and of course a cast-off schoolgirl, with her own teen problems on the other.

a handsome young adult male is also in the mix, of course. and so is a change of hearts, friendship and deceit, and, yes - romance.

the movie is quite watchable if you ignore the simplicity of the story. some more jokes would've been nice. acting is quite bad, but luckily - not horrible.

overall, recommended for teens - i wonder if another YA trilogy is on its way, not of much scale and ambition, but why not jump for some time-travel fun...