Krabat (2008)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Admirable film.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Hm. I read the book as a kid (a long time ago) and was impressed back then. So no movie could ever live up to that. I've seen it in English but would probably have preferred the German version. To late now. But anyhow. The cinematography is great, the art direction is good (a bit too much 'puppet house style' for me) and the acting is OK. The story is just like I remember it. But without the magic. I do not mean wizardry, of that there's enough. But it never really got to me. Unfortunately. It might be the art direction that does not feel real enough. It might be the acting. I do not know. I need ten lines so here is the tenth line.

I went to see this movie a couple of days ago, not knowing what to expect. I never read the book. I kind of liked it, but it wasn't as good as I hoped it would be. It was really easy to predict the way the story unfolded and in the end it's just another 'love conquers all' storyline. (which isn't that bad, because we all want love to conquer, don't we?) I found the transformation to ravens was very beautifully done. And there's the scene when Krabat meets his girl, which was a nice way to visualize the magic. I enjoyed myself with this movie, but I don't think I will remember it a year from now...

After watching the film, I was unsure what was wrong with it. The pictures are magnificent, the acting was OK to good the score was good and the plot was there. Palpatine replacing the Gevatter was may be OK. I think the Gevatter as described in the book is really hard to transfer onto the screen.The magic was changed in a bad way as described in comments before. The landscape is changed, too. I did not like this, but one has to see the film as an own work. A "Plan 9 from outer space" like goof is the Kantorka entering the mill in the night and the journeymen leaving with her in bright daylight only minutes later. But this only explains, why the film is not a really great one and not, why it is only a film as thousands more.After rethinking what did not work, things came back to the missing year. The point which worked the least in the book is the shortage of time. Krabat is getting from the newbie to one main antagonist and the possible successor of the master within three years in a ritual death cycle lasting one year. So in the book he is able to see the rhythm of new trainee to prey only two times completely while other journeymen had an advance of at least 9 years for this and react accordingly at the end of the year. And the relationship of Krabat to the Kantorka can built up by very few meetings within year 2 and 3. So the development of Krabat himself is very fast and nearly unbelievable in the book.By omitting one year in the film, the pace goes over the edge. To explain the Krabat/Kantorka relationship, the journeymen have to stumble massively into the town life as positive figures, therefore the awful fight scene. And Krabat has to go to the town on easter himself and Juro has to catch him in the town (and reveal himself). The original scene in the book, where Juro is "accidently" burning Krabats' hand is much more appropriate but give not enough time for Krabat to physically meet the Kantorka during the rest of the film. As a result of all this, the changing of Krabat during the story is getting implausible. So is for an example to add the suicide attempt.The film is simply lacking plausibility by telling a story of breaking a cycle in too short time. You can not give the real impression of a cycle by only showing it once. An additional hour for the third year would have made the film a much better one. Even then, Pumphutt or Dresden had to be left out which still changes the picture of the master, but a film can never suit a novel.

Went to see the movie yesterday.I have been a fan of the krabat-book since i was young and the film ,made by Zeman, made me some kind of fanatic and it seems i am not the only one.I read a lot of critics about this films. Other people like me, being disappointed what they made of the book, but as a real fan you have to see it all, even if it breaks your heart. In fact i cannot share most of the bad reviews about it. It is not a literature film, but i does not intend to be it. When you keep that in mind it was entertaining, more like the "Hollywood"-Version of the book.OK! The behavior in the film of the boys is not affected by fear, as described in the book and they are more like individuals, than a band of lost souls. The acting could have been better of some actors, but Daniel Brühl and some others kept the level very high to the point of his characters death. For the rest the story was very close to the book, so it held itself. I think it is important to show their despair and they did with the suicide scene, which is also in the book. The only thing i really did not like was the fighting scene in the middle of the movie, which is not in the book. I could hardly watch it. Very fast and the picture seemed to be broken. It was very eye- and mind hurting for me. Some funny, important scenes from the book are left out, which might have done the movie good. Why they use Magic is not explained in the movie and the master is more like a father figure, then the all evil in the book. If they did, then movie would have been a mess. The book tells, that they learn Magic to trick other people, to rob them, to betray them, to gain power over them, which is very tempting. It is more like an allegory for the youth in the third Reich. The movie is more like the youth in the 30-years war and their search for a home, a base, at all costs.But they kept the main aspect. Power can lead you on the wrong way and everything has its price. This is important.