User reviews

This movie is based on the popular children's book, Emil and the Detectives. Emil lives with his long-term unemployed father in a small town in eastern Germany. His father finally finds work as a vacuum-cleaner salesman. Emil's mother has left to start a new life in Canada, so when his father has a car accident, has his license revoked and is in hospital, Emil is sent to stay with his teacher's sister in Berlin. However, on the train to Berlin he befriends a stranger, who drugs and robs him. From there, it's an old-fashioned adventure as Emil meets some street smart local kids who help him track down the thief. Stars Tobias Retzlaff, Anja Sommavilla and Jürgen Vogel. Directed by Franziska Buch

This engaging film takes a German children's classic of the 1920s and updates it to today's multicultural Berlin. The main characters appear to be between 8 and 12 years old, old enough to understand a lot about the world..but not everything, which adds some humor to the plot about a gang of children trying to track down a thief who has stolen money from the title character, young Emil. Some of the children are immigrants, some are homeless, and one is the son of a woman pastor. They travel through the streets of Berlin on skateboards, they rap about their adventures, and they are definitely not dutiful or respectful.

I saw this movie at a film festival, and I think it would make a good family movie. Unfortunately, young Americans don't have much patience with subtitles, and it has never been released in the U.S., nor, apparently, is it on DVD.

At first when i saw Emil & The detectives i did not think it was a children's film. I stumbled upon it in the school holidays when there was nothing to do.I thought it was going to be a sad drama film when i saw how Emil and his father lived - they seemed quite sad . I continued watching it to see how the film would go, but it wasn't what i expected. It's about a young boy, Emil who, because of unforeseen events, goes to Berlin to live with his teacher's sister. On the way more trouble lies, but luckily Emil has some new friends to help him out. This is probably the best German film i've seen so far. I recommend it for children under the age of 10. It also has some funny scenes. I give it 8 stars.

While this movie certainly has it's flaws when watching it as a grown up, I still remember it watching it as a child. I completely remember how satisfying to watch this movie was back when I was a child myself. It was everything I could have asked for: Funny, adventurous, exciting and packed with a lot of action. This movie is easily my favorite child movie.

I first watched this movie when i was in grade 6 while I was in Israel and I never stopped loving it. Over the years I have been looking for this movie in the US and Canada and couldn't find it. I was really disappointed but a couple of month ago when I was in Israel again I went into the BlockBuster (movie rental store) there, and there I saw Emil and the Detectives for purchasing and for a very cheap price too. So I quickly grabbed the opportunity and bought it. When I got home I was positive it was going to be German with subs but when i played the movie it was in English dubbed. I was amazed and I recommend if anyone wants to buy the movie to contact BlockBuster there and order it.

I would rate this movie 10/10 just because it still makes me smile whenever I watch it.