User Reviews

"Liliane Susewind - Ein tierisches Abenteuer" or "Little Miss Dolittle" (really?) is a new German kids movie from 2018 that runs for a bit over 90 minute and this one was directed by Joachim Masannek and written by a trio of screen writers. And if iI take a look at this quartet's other works, then I really should not be surprised that I did not like this film here as much as I hoped I would. There are actually many quality kids films from Germany from recent years, but this is not one of these. The cast in theory is not too bad. The young actress that plays the title character is fine, and Christoph Maria Herbst is as good as always and it is pretty amazing what he does here with what he is given. The likes of Becker and Tezel are solid actors otherwise, but they just cannot make an impact here, not their fault. Tom Beck is as limited as always, but also has nothing to work with really. As for the film itself, it starts with a key story line, namely that the main character is able to talk to and understand the language of all animals. This is so crucial and it is shocking what they did with it. After the first 20-25 minutes, this plot part was messed up to an extent that seemingly they decided to basically ignore it for almost the rest of the entire film and instead throw in a random crime plot about animals stolen from a zoo and its likable owner and gardener. It's not a who's done it story either as that gets clear really quickly and Herbst's character is the only that shows some kind of shades in here from start to finish, even if it becomes clear right away that he is not a bad guy by any means. The main antagonist for the kids, namely a vain girl, whoch still becomes a bit of a friend in the end is as forgettable as it gets with her clique. And the worst is that the actress seemed actually solid and it could have been even worse. But there are also weak child actors. the young male character with his bat-like introduction was a joke and the other girl who becomes a friend is completely forgettable. These kids films also stand and fall with the antagonists overall and the lady in the sports car here who decides to abduct the animals (or have them abducted) is way too over the top in terms of mannerisms, make-up (yes it was intended) and costumes. So another negative aspect here. She is what you could call the prime example of a gimmicky caricature that has nothing to do with an actual human anymore. Yes even (or espcecially) in kids films you need some kind of touch to reality too. No idea what was up with the other antagonist who got rushed in towards the end, she added nothing and could have been left out entirely. She buys the animals yes, but well we could have done without her for sure. What else? Oh yeah, the 2 or 3 moments that were intended as emotional felt very cringeworthy and for the sake of it. Also interesting how they wanted to keep it from becoming too serious when the ruthless woman tells the kids at one point that they are not in danger and will get released. The comedy is justg as bad. The fact that they added thick accents to the dog for example did not make it funny from any perspective the way it was intended to. Donkeys are the best usually, but the one here with his stupid unicorn idea and how he unleashes his feces into the face of a human character just isn't entertaining at all. And no words on the animated elephant that failed completely to include the sweetness element he was supposed to deliver. As for romantic cuteness, the kids parents are cringeworthy to watch the way they were written and honestly they were as generic as it gets for parents from German kids movies and nothing stands out about them whatsoever. 4 stars out of 10 is really incredibly generous here for a rating and it's almost exclusively thanks to Herbst's scene-stealing moments. Close to a failure otherwise and that includes the final song too. Don't watch.