Sams in Gefahr (2003)

Why so much hype?

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Brilliant and touching

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

"Sams in Gefahr" is a German 95-minute film from 2003, so this one will already have its 15th anniversary next year. It is the second of three Sams movies (so far) and Ben Verbong, Paul Maar and Ulrich Limmer returned for this one here as they also collaborated on the first movie two years earlier. The third entry came out almost a decade later. The cast also includes several familiar faces. Urspruch plays the title character again. Noethen is back as Mr. Taschenbier and Eva Mattes and Armin Rohde return for their supporting characters too. Admittedly Noethen is also pretty much a supporting player in here really as this sequel is much more about his son struggling at school than about anything involving his father. This is also why admittedly the part about the relationship struggles between Nothen's character and his wife (this time played by Ina Weisse) did not feel too interesting. The main antagonist is played by Dominique Horwitz this time and he is perhaps the main reason why I still somewhat enjoyed the watch here. His physicality and approach fits perfectly into a Sams movie in my opinion. Sadly, his major counterpart here, the young Taschenbier was not a revelation at all, mostly because of Constantin Gastmann, who was not only unconvincing as an actor, but also never really had anything to him that I would really like him for to be honest. This also may have to do with the way he was written because he seems shy and nerdy initially, but some of his actions did not fit in well with the character at all. And then there is Jasmin Tabatabai. She had the potential to be a strong co-antagonist at times, but eventually she is just a relatively one-dimensional opportunistic snake and does okay for what she has to work with.As for the Sams itself, Urspruch did what she had to do and there are some solid and entertaining scenes about the title character again, perhaps the second best aspect next to Horwitz in here. I could have done without the scene where we see the real Urspruch, but I guess this one was for the Tatort audiences, actually millions of people. Referring to the story, there are some flaws in terms of realism, so you need to try to approach this entirely from the fantasy perspective, but with the main character and all the quirks and magic surrounding it, that should not be impossible. Anyway, overall I enjoyed the watch here. Core story could have been a bit better or a better child actor should have played the son at least. Noethen definitely should have received more screen time. Still it becomes very obvious that the Sams character is interesting enough for a second movie and with the proper execution I have no doubts that a third film can also turn out well, actually even a forth and fifth or an entire series. But lets take a look at that third film first a couple weeks from now or so. Until then, I recommend this one we have here. Thank you Mr. Horvitz for turning this into a quality watch. Final note, the second half was definitely way better than the first, which at times just felt a stupid collection of school pranks to be honest. Go see it and don't be discouraged from the beginning.

I can't remember if I read something or if I heard or saw an interview, somewhere the author and/ or the producer of Sams (the first film) said, if they are going to do a second one, they will take care and make it good, the same quality as the first film, because they don't want to do a second film just for the money.So far, so good.Last week I watched "Sams in Gefahr" on DVD. What shall I say... they didn't quite keep their promise, I'm afraid. The film is funny, full of action, good ideas, nicely set again in Bamberg, some great new characters, but...The biggest mistake was to replace Aglaia Szyszkowitz. Full stop.About the rest, the film just doesn't work the same way the first one did. Everything in the first was new, the Sams itself, the way it makes wishes come true, the way they have to be wished, the way Herr Taschenbier is treated by people around him and so on. Everything was a novelty.Now with the second film all this is old news. We know now how all this works. To simply repeat it in a different manner or more or at a bigger scale, doesn't work. It works for people who haven't seen the first film, but who hasn't? The second film should have offered something new again. I don't know what, but something. But not a new Frau Taschenbier, that is for sure.I know, I'm an adult and children still might like this film very much and fall of their seats because they laugh so hard, but still. They didn't quite keep their promise, if you look closer. 5 out of 10.