"Die Salzprinzessin" is a German television film that aired for the first time almost five years ago during the 2015 Christmas holiday season. The director is Zoltan Spirandelli and if we don't count television series (i.e. Tatort), it is his most recent filmmaking effort. Same is true for writer Anja Jabs with the slight difference that this is her only filmmaking credit and otherwise she worked exclusively on German television series, most of them for kids. No surprise because this one here is also really mostly for children, even if perhaps grown-ups can enjoy parts of it as well. And with that I do not only mean the cute looks of lead actress Leonie Brill. Actually, one of the two shallow sisters is also portrayed by a pretty stunning actress, but they did their best to have her look only vain and superficial, also from the physical perspective. As you maybe guuessed already from the photo here, this is a fairytale movie, one of many made in the last decade(s) for German television. There is no fairytale that has the name "The Salt Princess", but I read it is a mix of a tale from the Brothers Grimm and a tale from a Czech writer, so if you are familiar with either of these (both are not too famous at all), then perhaps, you will recognize some motives. Like most of these other fairytale films, this one here runs for one hour exactly, so not a long watch by any means and still the running time feels too long for its own good. I only mostly enjoyed the scenes with Leonard Lansink's character here early on, simply because I like the actor quite a bit, not only on "Wilsberg". I would also say that the cast list here is below-average compared to other of these fairytale films that really attract fairly big stars. The other slightly famous cast member here is Sophie von Kessel. I mean the young protagonists are never played by famous actors and they certainly aren't here, but usually they come up with something better for the supporting cast. More known cast members than here.
I would not necessarily say though that this is the main reason why this film did not turn out so well. It probably has to do more with the writing. Maybe "Die Pfefferkörner" is what explains the writer's talent the best already and this project here was too challenging for her already. I don't really think the flaws are in the specific original tales. There were several aspects that did very little for me here. The beginning was still alright (for me mostly because of Lansink as I already said) until basically the moment she is send away from the court after making her salt-related statement. When she is disguised like a male and spends time with the group of the African prince, this is a very forgettable movie to be honest. This basically includes everything linked to said African prince, who was as bland as it gets in my opinion and obviously this is not a good bases for being interested in the characters' love story. Besides, it never really felt as if they were fallling in love, at least from the girls' side and then boom, all of a sudden they get married at the end. The scenes when with the wiser female character in the second half of the film (the one linked to her mother) are not much better sadly. It feels as if they wanted these to be really meaningful, but I would not say that this worked out particularly well. As a consequence also these brief moments with the mother missing from the painting were not half as effective as they could have been. Pity. There was definitely potential for more in this movie with a better execution. The final scenes are slightly better again (except the fairly stupid marriage/romance idea), but it's not enough to save this film from mediocrity and my negative recommendation because the lengthy middle part was entirely forgettable. I must say I also struggle slightly with the key plot, namely the statement about salt and how at the end salt is really missing everywhere and the king understands his daughter's words finally. Perhaps I also did not like it because it could not have been predicted at all, but of course it happens for the sake of a happy ending and then also the salt return all out of nowhere and even in a sufficient quantity for everybody. The entire salt idea would have worked better in one way or the other as a sub-plot I believe, not really as the central idea. Oh yeah, to still finish my review on a positive note, I'd like to say that the prince's aide was fairly funny here and there. And that costumes and sets were as good as they always are in these fairytale films made for television. Make-up probably too, especially Lansink's beard haha. We should not take the visual side for granted here. Still, overall, this is nowhere near my favorites from the genre. I give this one a thumbs-up and I am glad it was over after 60 and not 90 minutes. Watch something else instead, one of the many others perhaps.
I would not necessarily say though that this is the main reason why this film did not turn out so well. It probably has to do more with the writing. Maybe "Die Pfefferkörner" is what explains the writer's talent the best already and this project here was too challenging for her already. I don't really think the flaws are in the specific original tales. There were several aspects that did very little for me here. The beginning was still alright (for me mostly because of Lansink as I already said) until basically the moment she is send away from the court after making her salt-related statement. When she is disguised like a male and spends time with the group of the African prince, this is a very forgettable movie to be honest. This basically includes everything linked to said African prince, who was as bland as it gets in my opinion and obviously this is not a good bases for being interested in the characters' love story. Besides, it never really felt as if they were fallling in love, at least from the girls' side and then boom, all of a sudden they get married at the end. The scenes when with the wiser female character in the second half of the film (the one linked to her mother) are not much better sadly. It feels as if they wanted these to be really meaningful, but I would not say that this worked out particularly well. As a consequence also these brief moments with the mother missing from the painting were not half as effective as they could have been. Pity. There was definitely potential for more in this movie with a better execution. The final scenes are slightly better again (except the fairly stupid marriage/romance idea), but it's not enough to save this film from mediocrity and my negative recommendation because the lengthy middle part was entirely forgettable. I must say I also struggle slightly with the key plot, namely the statement about salt and how at the end salt is really missing everywhere and the king understands his daughter's words finally. Perhaps I also did not like it because it could not have been predicted at all, but of course it happens for the sake of a happy ending and then also the salt return all out of nowhere and even in a sufficient quantity for everybody. The entire salt idea would have worked better in one way or the other as a sub-plot I believe, not really as the central idea. Oh yeah, to still finish my review on a positive note, I'd like to say that the prince's aide was fairly funny here and there. And that costumes and sets were as good as they always are in these fairytale films made for television. Make-up probably too, especially Lansink's beard haha. We should not take the visual side for granted here. Still, overall, this is nowhere near my favorites from the genre. I give this one a thumbs-up and I am glad it was over after 60 and not 90 minutes. Watch something else instead, one of the many others perhaps.
