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This weekend, my kids forced my wife and me to go to the cinema and watch „Chantal I’m Märchenland“ (English title is most likely „Chantal in fairyland“). It’s a German comedy - and as usual for contemporary movies - it’s of course just another spin-off.
The movie is the highest grossing German movie in German cinemas since the Covid-19-lockdowns. And by now it’s the movie with the best ticket-sale at the first weekend in 2024.
The story can be summarized as: Chantal and her friend (both from today’s Berlin) get teleported into the fairyland. There, they will have to perform some quests to return home.
My critics: I have mixed feelings about this movie:
Germans are known for their terrible taste of humor. And the film started with a lot of jokes that are very low - even according to German standards. Hence, for the first 20min, I thought that this will be the worst German comedy ever. But then, the movie became much better (with becoming serious when touching the topic of friendship etc.).
Most of the gags relate to the conflict between the „proper German“ spoken in German fairytales (and hence in the fairyland) and the „contemporary juvenile German“ spoken by Chantal and her friend. And without having teenage kids, I probably would have only understood the „fairytale German“.
Hence, I doubt that this humor will survive any translation. The movie is also full of reverences to German and international fairytales and their Disney-fied versions. Hence, I also doubt that the movie would be understood outside of the German speaking countries.
Anyway: The better part of the movie is making fun of whether the fairytales have been altered by a mad male king, replacing all female heroes with male heroes, instead turning all females into poor, helpless victims. (This part of the movie can be understood as an answer to the current debate about „gender neutrality“ in German.)
When you know a lot about German fairytales and know what „nach rechts swipen“ means, then you might find the film entertaining enough to watch it in your local cinema (especially when having teenage kids). Otherwise I would not recommend it. I also fear that the film will sound completely outdated in five years (due to changes in „juvenile German“).
This weekend, my kids forced my wife and me to go to the cinema and watch „Chantal I’m Märchenland“ (English title is most likely „Chantal in fairyland“). It’s a German comedy - and as usual for contemporary movies - it’s of course just another spin-off.
The movie is the highest grossing German movie in German cinemas since the Covid-19-lockdowns. And by now it’s the movie with the best ticket-sale at the first weekend in 2024.
The story can be summarized as: Chantal and her friend (both from today’s Berlin) get teleported into the fairyland. There, they will have to perform some quests to return home.
My critics: I have mixed feelings about this movie:
Germans are known for their terrible taste of humor. And the film started with a lot of jokes that are very low - even according to German standards. Hence, for the first 20min, I thought that this will be the worst German comedy ever. But then, the movie became much better (with becoming serious when touching the topic of friendship etc.).
Most of the gags relate to the conflict between the „proper German“ spoken in German fairytales (and hence in the fairyland) and the „contemporary juvenile German“ spoken by Chantal and her friend. And without having teenage kids, I probably would have only understood the „fairytale German“.
Hence, I doubt that this humor will survive any translation. The movie is also full of reverences to German and international fairytales and their Disney-fied versions. Hence, I also doubt that the movie would be understood outside of the German speaking countries. Anyway: The better part of the movie is making fun of whether the fairytales have been altered by a mad male king, replacing all female heroes with male heroes, instead turning all females into poor, helpless victims. (This part of the movie can be understood as an answer to the current debate about „gender neutrality“ in German.)
When you know a lot about German fairytales and know what „nach rechts swipen“ means, then you might find the film entertaining enough to watch it in your local cinema (especially when having teenage kids). Otherwise I would not recommend it. I also fear that the film will sound completely outdated in five years (due to changes in „juvenile German“).