Die Wilden Hühner

I've never been much of a fan of Cornelia Funke's "Wilde Hühner" books, so I took my 7-year-old daughter to see this with some reluctance. I was agreeably surprised, though. The story works, the kids are great, and what I liked best was the realistic portrayal of their family backgrounds, not quite the common fare in kid's movies. Most of it was subtly done, like in some of Astrid Lindgren's stories. These kids' troubles are for real, and if there's evil in this film, it's the evil of thoughtless neglect on the part of the parents. Every kid (and adult) can identify with that. The dialog tended to be too heavy sometimes, but this is the only real fault I could find. Gripping and touching.

For children of this age a nice movie without bad insults, but without any depth in problem solving too. It isn't a must watch, and does not to much different compared to other films of this genre from german movie makers. It would have been more interesting and better for female watchers, if the boys group would be a boyish girls group that the main girls group need to work with. New story perspectives could have been build. It still remains a solid film of female friendship (in childhood years) and with commitment for female animals (chickens). These are already important values that found their way into the movie and makes the movie worth to watch.