I wouldn't normally go to a film designated as for children, but I was encouraged by the previous IMDB reviews. Pünktchen and Anton are friends. Pünktchen has rich parents but not enough attention from her mother. Anton is poor but with a lovely mother. There are a number of bad films this could be, ranging from fluffy candyfloss with a contrived and implausible happy ending, to grim social realism. But the film avoids all these traps and has a satisfactory and convincing ending. There is also a huge amount of very well done action, including a a little slapstick of the sort I'm more used to seeing in black-and-white with piano accompaniment. In particular this film ought to be nominated for a Food Oscar if such existed, because the number of times food is used as a plot device is staggering. I enjoyed this film and so did the children in the cinema.
5 Reviews
Truly Recommended for the USA
jedi787plus12 November 2005
This Caroline Link masterpiece deserves to be exported to the USA. Why? It can easily fall into the Kids & Family section in the USA, unlike Astrid Lindgren's films which often pack quite a punch of child nudity (remember Madicken/Madita? Even Pippi Longstocking had to be edited before being brought to the States).
This film was directed by the same gal who filmed the intense/suspenseful "Nirgendwo in Afrika" (Nowhere in Africa); besides, the same main actress of the latter, Juliane Köhler, also appears here as lovely Pünktchen's mother Bettina Pogge. Whereas Nowhere in Africa is not recommended in the USA for all ages (remember Köhler's topless & sex scenes and little Lea Kurka's nude buttocks?), having snatched instead an R rating, Pünktchen & Anton is absolutely safe for everybody; it can easily snatch either a G or a PG rating.
My favorite scene is Anton's own thrilling stunt driving the poor Volkswagen Microbus (risky, right? Kids aren't supposed to drive cars for real, but that didn't even deter Max Felder from performing his own major-league driving stunt). I think that stunt is unique in the cinematographic class (in most movies, children never really get the chance to drive cars during filming, but stunts-men do).
This film was directed by the same gal who filmed the intense/suspenseful "Nirgendwo in Afrika" (Nowhere in Africa); besides, the same main actress of the latter, Juliane Köhler, also appears here as lovely Pünktchen's mother Bettina Pogge. Whereas Nowhere in Africa is not recommended in the USA for all ages (remember Köhler's topless & sex scenes and little Lea Kurka's nude buttocks?), having snatched instead an R rating, Pünktchen & Anton is absolutely safe for everybody; it can easily snatch either a G or a PG rating.
My favorite scene is Anton's own thrilling stunt driving the poor Volkswagen Microbus (risky, right? Kids aren't supposed to drive cars for real, but that didn't even deter Max Felder from performing his own major-league driving stunt). I think that stunt is unique in the cinematographic class (in most movies, children never really get the chance to drive cars during filming, but stunts-men do).
Wonderful, magical movie
tin-310 March 1999
It's a great film, not only for children, it's a movie for the family. The "old" story of Erich Kästner from 1931 in a young and fresh adaption, but - thanks Caroline Link - you can recognize the story. The actors are playing great, the music is fantastic.
Dumbed Down Version Of The Book
Karl Self29 May 2002
I normally don't like to compare a movie with the book it is based on (because a book is a book, and a movie a movie, simple as that), but in this case I have to make an exception. "Pünktchen und Anton" by Erich Kästner was a exceptionally progressive book when it came out, because it took children seriously, and unlike many other books of that time it didn't moralize or belittle them -- Kästner essentially wrote literature for children. Unfortunately, the movie is rather conventional in an end - of - 20.th - century way, in that it suckers up to the children and idealizes them. The result is an enjoyable, but rather conventional and very much unbrilliant movie, though I have to admit that my nephews enjoyed watching it (then again, they are young and haven't had the chance to develop a cinematic taste yet).
What spoilt it for me was that I frequently had the impression that the film makers had tried less hard than they would have with an adult movie, simply because they felt that the standards for a children's movie are by definition lower.
What spoilt it for me was that I frequently had the impression that the film makers had tried less hard than they would have with an adult movie, simply because they felt that the standards for a children's movie are by definition lower.
Not a successful adaptation
Horst_In_Translation6 August 2016
Warning: Spoilers
"Pünktchen und Anton" or "Annaluise & Anton" is a German 100-minute film from 1999, so three more years and this one will have its 20th anniversary. This is of course based on the children's book by famous writer Erich Kästner and here we have the second movie adaptation of the material. Sadly, all in all, it was equally disappointing as the one from the 1950s. The writer and director is Caroline Link and I must say I liked most of the stuff I have seen from her, but not this one. She made this movie 2 years before her Oscar-winning "Nirgendwo in Afrika" came out. Before that, she made "Jenseits der Stille" starring Sylvie Testud and Testud also plays one of the main characters in this 1999 film. Actually, she plays possibly the most interesting character of the film as the scenes with her character were the rarely entertaining moments in here. This is the story of a girl (with rich parents) and a boy (with poor parents) who become friends despite their different backgrounds. On the rocky road of their friendship, they face problems involving theft, bullying, bad parents and a criminal boyfriend. But they go through all of this together.
And in the end, there is a happy ending for everybody involved, well at least the good guys as always in kids films. And I don't mind that. What I do mind though, however, is the way the story was told and the plot. It was extremely unrealistic on a handful occasions and the film lacked authenticity completely. I have not read Kästner's book, but i really hope this one was not as bad. Another problem here is that the jokes weren't great all, so I cannot recommend this film from a comedic perspective either. Acting wasn't bad for the most part, but also not in a way where anybody really had me glued to the screen. Still, this one here is an example of how kids film also attract big name actors like Köhler, Zirner, Becker, Testud and Fürmann. A solid cast for sure. But they did not succeed in making this pretty weak script (sadly pretty tough to care for any of the characters) work. And several actors gave really stereotypical performance that were embarrassing, but not convincing, especially Köhler. I do not recommend the watch. Thumbs down.
And in the end, there is a happy ending for everybody involved, well at least the good guys as always in kids films. And I don't mind that. What I do mind though, however, is the way the story was told and the plot. It was extremely unrealistic on a handful occasions and the film lacked authenticity completely. I have not read Kästner's book, but i really hope this one was not as bad. Another problem here is that the jokes weren't great all, so I cannot recommend this film from a comedic perspective either. Acting wasn't bad for the most part, but also not in a way where anybody really had me glued to the screen. Still, this one here is an example of how kids film also attract big name actors like Köhler, Zirner, Becker, Testud and Fürmann. A solid cast for sure. But they did not succeed in making this pretty weak script (sadly pretty tough to care for any of the characters) work. And several actors gave really stereotypical performance that were embarrassing, but not convincing, especially Köhler. I do not recommend the watch. Thumbs down.
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