When I was 17 or 18, I remember watching the television series on the now-defunct Discovery Kids channel and not realising they were based on the books that I never knew existed until earlier this year since I realised that the TV series had a similar animation style to the book illustrations. When I heard of this film, I thought it would be based on the TV series but it wasn't due to its animation that differs from that in the series. I recently bought this in a 4-DVD pack along with 'The Powerpuff Girls Movie,' 'The Magic Sword: Quest for Camelot' and a DVD of Dr Seuss cartoons.
The animation itself was rounded, fluid, detailed and smooth while the backgrounds had an acrylic painting/pastel drawing look to them. I was blown away by the musical score because it was magical and suited the film's theme very well. While the song 'Stay' was pretty mediocre and hard to hear in places, I loved the closing song 'Touch The Sky.' The British voice acting was full of clarity but it differed from the voices in the TV series and Laura's voice was a tad grating to begin with, although she became an endearing character as the film progressed. The dubbing was sometimes off but this is forgivable since this film was originally made in German. I found the opening sequence phenomenal but when it finished I was confused because I couldn't tell if Laura and her family had just moved in or if they were going to move house. The scenes with Laura flying with the star were breathtaking and the scenes that took place during the night were some of the most detailed I've seen compared to the darker scenes being less detailed in 'Kung Fu Panda.' Laura's and Tommy's toys coming to life were reminiscent of the 'Toy Story' franchise in spite of them coming alive in their presence as opposed to Andy's toys coming to life in his absence.
All in all this is a stunning children's film if its animation differs from that in the TV series, probably due to them being made in different studios. 8/10.
The animation itself was rounded, fluid, detailed and smooth while the backgrounds had an acrylic painting/pastel drawing look to them. I was blown away by the musical score because it was magical and suited the film's theme very well. While the song 'Stay' was pretty mediocre and hard to hear in places, I loved the closing song 'Touch The Sky.' The British voice acting was full of clarity but it differed from the voices in the TV series and Laura's voice was a tad grating to begin with, although she became an endearing character as the film progressed. The dubbing was sometimes off but this is forgivable since this film was originally made in German. I found the opening sequence phenomenal but when it finished I was confused because I couldn't tell if Laura and her family had just moved in or if they were going to move house. The scenes with Laura flying with the star were breathtaking and the scenes that took place during the night were some of the most detailed I've seen compared to the darker scenes being less detailed in 'Kung Fu Panda.' Laura's and Tommy's toys coming to life were reminiscent of the 'Toy Story' franchise in spite of them coming alive in their presence as opposed to Andy's toys coming to life in his absence.
All in all this is a stunning children's film if its animation differs from that in the TV series, probably due to them being made in different studios. 8/10.