No offense to anybody, but I think that it is very hard for anybody who didn’t grow up in Germany in the past forty years to appreciate the impact that this story has had on kids and adults here (Urmel is now the official mascot of Germany’s national ice-hockey team!). This is, after all, the third adaptation of the original book (not counting the 2-D cartoon series) and, I must say (being very skeptical about remakes), a very good one. It was good to see Max Kruse, the author of the book (1969), who is now 86 years old, commenting on the DVD how much he appreciated this version, and I understand why. In many aspects, it has been carefully (!) updated and adapted to current taste, but in other ways it is MORE faithful to the original book than the more famous TV puppet version from the 1960s. And the dialog is so faithful to the book that I could anticipate all the punch lines! Apart from that, I was also surprised (not having read the book or seen the older version for a while) to see how topical the theme still is. I certainly never watched it for its “message” when I was 8 years old, but it has one: It is the old theme of the conservationist (who wants just to preserve nature) vs. the scientist (who wants to analyze and dissect everything) vs. the trophy hunter (who is purely destructive for the sole purpose of achieving personal “glory”). It is in no way subtle – but it is told in a way that children understand. I can tell, because my daughter is now about the same age that I was when I saw it for the first time, and the impact hasn’t changed. And thanks to DVD, we can all watch the 1969 version alongside the new one – I think we have two wonderful version of one wonderful book. And tell your kids to read the book, too (the book is called “Urmal from the Ice Age” in English, “Plodoc” in French).
Review of Impy's Island
