"Prinz Himmelblau und Fee Lupine" is a German television film from 2016, so this one will have its fifth anniversary this year, but still eleven months to go because this is of course one of these many fairytale movies they recently made and they always aired first around the Christmas holidays. And like almost all of the others, this one also runs for minimally under an hour. The director is Markus Dietrich and he is still certainly most known for his movie Sputnik from three years earlier. Watched that one too back then and I kinda liked it. In general, you can say that the majority of projects he has been a part of was mostly for younger audiences and this is of course also the case with this movie here. The title is a bit difficult to translate I guess. It is about a prince and a fairy and the prince's name is Himmelblau, which means "blue as the sky" and the female's name cannot be translated. In the French version, they simply said blue (i.e. blue) for the name of the male protagonist. The title makes it very obvious we have a fairytale here too. It is not a particularly known tale, also because it is not from the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen and this may explain why they made many, many other fairytales into films first for this series. Not really a series though obviously. No connections between the tales and characters except that some have the same writer. As for this one here: Christoph Martin Wieland was the one behind the key story back then, centuries ago already, while Anette Schönberger was responsible for coming up with the screenplay. Her massive involvement with "Verbotene Liebe" (trashy German soap opera) had me doubtful this could become a quality watch and in the end it is sadly true that the outcome is not really worth seeing.
If we take a look at the cast, we weill see some familiar names. The women may seem more familiar, but the males also all have successful careers. Just take lead actor Jonathan Berlin. Not familiar with the face or name, but he seems to be in demand, even if I must say he did not impress me here. Normally, they take less experienced young actor for the key players, but here the two central actors are also fairly known. Ruby O. Fee sure is. And no surprise either that she was chosen to play a fairy character with her name. "Fee" means fairy in Germany. I must still say I do not like the actress at all. I have heard her music and not liked it at all and when I saw her act, not only in this film here, I see no talent either. However, not a big surprise probably, but I am also a bit biased there because her relationship with Schweighöfer, maybe Germany's most overrated actor (even you have to blame those that go to the movies for him even more), does not really say anything positive about her either. At least, they are probably a good match with their absence of range and versatility. Normally in these films, the supporting players are more known actors. Definitely the case here. We have this Tatort Münster duo, Großmann and Kempter, and they also share the screen quite a few times, especially in the first half. About Güldenberg and Hesse, I cannot say a lot, simply because I don't know/remember the actors, but their careers seem to be thriving too. Good for them!
As for the story, one key struggle I have here is again very subjective. Or at least partially. It is really tough for me to accept that Kempter plays an evil withc here and Ruby O. Fee the desirable fairy. Yeah right. Kempter is just so infinitely more attractive and interesting than Ruby and there is even this scene in which the witch (haha nice rhyme) in the second half asks the male protagonist to marry her, but he of course only wants his Lupine. I mean I can get it that Kempter's character is really unlikable and evil too, but still. For me, it was very unrealistic. As for Kempter's character and Großmann's (she is also always easy to recognize), you could wonder for quite some time who will be the main villain, especially when the queen (played by Großmann and no husband in sight for her character) has the witch taken back to prison after she did as ordered. The witch could have been out of the picture there. But no, The queen returns to the prison quickly and is tricked by the witch, who is definitely the smarter from the two. So Kempter plays a dark, smart and stunning character? Exactly up my alley. I take her. Always had a soft spot for her despite the blonde hair and me usually going for dark-haired girls. The idea of the two lovebirds being unkind to each other because of the spell that changed both their characters and looks in some kind of rotation was a good idea and I think this is also an essence from the original tale. So good moments were certainly present here. I also liked the two aides to the queen, they were kinda funny with their behavior and they are really getting away with the over-the-top approach here to please the queen.
What nobody is really getting away with are the last 20 minutes. Before that I even thought I could give it a thumbs-up, but the ending scenes turned out a major disappointment. This refers already to the scene in which Kempter's character is about to reverse the spells if she gets what she wants and also immediately afterwards when the two make it more difficult for her. But this was far from the worst. Things go even further south when we see the death of the witch. I mean the pure idea that these chants are painful for her to listen to because they are personified good is alright, but that she really literally explodes or implodes from the pain was just too much. At least the way it was shown to us here. I guess this is also handled like that in the original story, but it felt so fake and forced here that I cannot approve one bit unfortunately. Already with how they all came out of nowhere. Besides, the witch seemed really powerful with how she is able to bring on stasis to any creature so easily, so we are supposed to believe this is how she dies? This easily? Nah. We also find out that the mother is not this evil and finally sees her faults. Did not feel credible either. I mean she agreed to have a dangerous witch turn her son into a cold-blooded person and into an ugly person. Okay, he was not thaaaaat ugly. Not exactly mother-of-the-year material from any perspective. And finally, there is this lengthy sequence in which Lupine almost gives her own life to revive her seemingly dead prince and this was supposed to be an emotional highlight, also with how the queen would now accept her after this act of kindness and love, but this was not even elaborated on. But the act of revival did almost nothing for me either, which once again may have had to do with Ruby O. Fee. But the other fairies suck too in the end. When we see them dance and all the glitter in the air, it could have been a pretty nice closing shot, but it turned out the exact opposite. Feel-good for the sake of it and not beautiful at all. Not visually stunning.
So I think that overall this was not a good watch unfortunately. Some of my thoughts may be subjective, but I tried to make myself clear that some of it is also objective. There are more inclusions that felt weak for me in terms of both acting and writing, such as the blossoming romance between the two people closest to our heroes and in the end there the guy also tells the girl he is attracted to her, so a double happy ending or triple happy ending even if we see how both title characters survive or maybe even a quadruple happy ending if we also include that the witch died and the mother has accepted his son's relationship. Which is not stated exactly, but implied. This is not an animals-based fairytale and these I usually like more, which is another subjective reason for me to not like this film that much, but I know it's more difficult to turn these into good films. Especially if they come short with the humans only as they did here. There's still a crow depicted in here and if you pay close enough attention, you will also see a horse here and there. Some small moments also made no sense, like how the female protagonist in her ugly (or uglier) state hides her face before entering the tent, but then steps out with it fully uncovered seconds later. That is all now. I give this film a thumbs-down and I think there are many other tales from recent years that you might want to check out before you give this one a go. It may not be a failure, but I was still glad it was this short. Not recommended.
If we take a look at the cast, we weill see some familiar names. The women may seem more familiar, but the males also all have successful careers. Just take lead actor Jonathan Berlin. Not familiar with the face or name, but he seems to be in demand, even if I must say he did not impress me here. Normally, they take less experienced young actor for the key players, but here the two central actors are also fairly known. Ruby O. Fee sure is. And no surprise either that she was chosen to play a fairy character with her name. "Fee" means fairy in Germany. I must still say I do not like the actress at all. I have heard her music and not liked it at all and when I saw her act, not only in this film here, I see no talent either. However, not a big surprise probably, but I am also a bit biased there because her relationship with Schweighöfer, maybe Germany's most overrated actor (even you have to blame those that go to the movies for him even more), does not really say anything positive about her either. At least, they are probably a good match with their absence of range and versatility. Normally in these films, the supporting players are more known actors. Definitely the case here. We have this Tatort Münster duo, Großmann and Kempter, and they also share the screen quite a few times, especially in the first half. About Güldenberg and Hesse, I cannot say a lot, simply because I don't know/remember the actors, but their careers seem to be thriving too. Good for them!
As for the story, one key struggle I have here is again very subjective. Or at least partially. It is really tough for me to accept that Kempter plays an evil withc here and Ruby O. Fee the desirable fairy. Yeah right. Kempter is just so infinitely more attractive and interesting than Ruby and there is even this scene in which the witch (haha nice rhyme) in the second half asks the male protagonist to marry her, but he of course only wants his Lupine. I mean I can get it that Kempter's character is really unlikable and evil too, but still. For me, it was very unrealistic. As for Kempter's character and Großmann's (she is also always easy to recognize), you could wonder for quite some time who will be the main villain, especially when the queen (played by Großmann and no husband in sight for her character) has the witch taken back to prison after she did as ordered. The witch could have been out of the picture there. But no, The queen returns to the prison quickly and is tricked by the witch, who is definitely the smarter from the two. So Kempter plays a dark, smart and stunning character? Exactly up my alley. I take her. Always had a soft spot for her despite the blonde hair and me usually going for dark-haired girls. The idea of the two lovebirds being unkind to each other because of the spell that changed both their characters and looks in some kind of rotation was a good idea and I think this is also an essence from the original tale. So good moments were certainly present here. I also liked the two aides to the queen, they were kinda funny with their behavior and they are really getting away with the over-the-top approach here to please the queen.
What nobody is really getting away with are the last 20 minutes. Before that I even thought I could give it a thumbs-up, but the ending scenes turned out a major disappointment. This refers already to the scene in which Kempter's character is about to reverse the spells if she gets what she wants and also immediately afterwards when the two make it more difficult for her. But this was far from the worst. Things go even further south when we see the death of the witch. I mean the pure idea that these chants are painful for her to listen to because they are personified good is alright, but that she really literally explodes or implodes from the pain was just too much. At least the way it was shown to us here. I guess this is also handled like that in the original story, but it felt so fake and forced here that I cannot approve one bit unfortunately. Already with how they all came out of nowhere. Besides, the witch seemed really powerful with how she is able to bring on stasis to any creature so easily, so we are supposed to believe this is how she dies? This easily? Nah. We also find out that the mother is not this evil and finally sees her faults. Did not feel credible either. I mean she agreed to have a dangerous witch turn her son into a cold-blooded person and into an ugly person. Okay, he was not thaaaaat ugly. Not exactly mother-of-the-year material from any perspective. And finally, there is this lengthy sequence in which Lupine almost gives her own life to revive her seemingly dead prince and this was supposed to be an emotional highlight, also with how the queen would now accept her after this act of kindness and love, but this was not even elaborated on. But the act of revival did almost nothing for me either, which once again may have had to do with Ruby O. Fee. But the other fairies suck too in the end. When we see them dance and all the glitter in the air, it could have been a pretty nice closing shot, but it turned out the exact opposite. Feel-good for the sake of it and not beautiful at all. Not visually stunning.
So I think that overall this was not a good watch unfortunately. Some of my thoughts may be subjective, but I tried to make myself clear that some of it is also objective. There are more inclusions that felt weak for me in terms of both acting and writing, such as the blossoming romance between the two people closest to our heroes and in the end there the guy also tells the girl he is attracted to her, so a double happy ending or triple happy ending even if we see how both title characters survive or maybe even a quadruple happy ending if we also include that the witch died and the mother has accepted his son's relationship. Which is not stated exactly, but implied. This is not an animals-based fairytale and these I usually like more, which is another subjective reason for me to not like this film that much, but I know it's more difficult to turn these into good films. Especially if they come short with the humans only as they did here. There's still a crow depicted in here and if you pay close enough attention, you will also see a horse here and there. Some small moments also made no sense, like how the female protagonist in her ugly (or uglier) state hides her face before entering the tent, but then steps out with it fully uncovered seconds later. That is all now. I give this film a thumbs-down and I think there are many other tales from recent years that you might want to check out before you give this one a go. It may not be a failure, but I was still glad it was this short. Not recommended.
