Le Prince des mille et une nuits

sure, all is well known. the boy, the evil housekeeper, the dream as door to a fantastic world in which the boy becomes the hero. but this detail is the basic good point. because it is not a film for children. but wise pledge for the true love, for the multicultural, for the friendship and for the family. in same measure, it is a film of actors. Karl Alexander Seidel is admirable as new version of a kind of Little Prince. Moritz Bleibtreu is the right spice for a film who has as hero the father. and Anke Engelke gives the precise mixture of the great feminine evil characters. the result - a lovely film for all the ages.

I have just seen this new German Movie at the Berlin Film Festival where it premiered. I went along more in hope than expectation as it was billed as a children's film. The audience was made up primarily of pre-teen school groups. They became totally engrossed in the story of a boy who is left in the not so tender care of a new housekeeper while his father travels to America on business. He is left a copy of 'Arabian Knights' in which he becomes engrossed and every night he dreams that he is taking part in the adventures. People he knows in real life appear in his dreams. The dream sequences look to have been filmed in Morocco (I could be wrong!) The movie succeeds on all levels and had the young audience cheering the hero and booing the villain - almost like a pantomime. The effects are excellent and the charismatic young lead actor clearly has a future in movies. Recommended for the young and young at heart!