"Hui Buh" is the tale of a medieval knight who, upon being discovered to have cheated at a deck of cards, is turned into the ghost Hui Buh, cursed to haunt Castle Burgeck. 500 years later, Julius the 111th and his wife to be try to inhabit the castle, originally prompting the ghost to drive them away but eventually becoming good friends with the humans and helping them through various adventures.
Growing up during the 80's in West-Germany, there was really no way to avoid the "Hui Buh" audio-book series, essentially a Germanized retelling of Mark Twains "The Canterbury Ghost". Heart and soul of the series was the distinctive voice of Hans Clarin, who played "Hui Buh" (which wasn't his only signature role, having also voiced "Pumuckl" and the German audio-version of "Asterix").
Herbig may likewise have grown up with "Hui Buh" but I doubt he understood what gave the series its magic. Where Clarins voice was uniquely captivating, Herbig and his squeaky, childlike voice comes across as nothing less than annoying. And that's not even mentioning his pseudo-Bavarian accent.
Where the original Hui Buh only existed in voice, on the covers of the audio-tapes (depicted as an illuminated skeleton wearing a medieval suit) and the imagination of the listener, Herbigs version is a badly animated cartoon character who spends a lot of time grinning and grimacing.
There are many fans of Herbigs type of slapstick, often (and aptly) described as "Grimassenschneiderei" or grimacing – but there just as many who find it infantile and free of intellectual humour.
People who enjoyed Herbigs similarly-minded "Lissi und der wilde Kaiser" or kids who didn't grew up with the original Hui Buh might enjoy this film – let's face it, media-standards hasn't exactly risen over the last decades – but if you were likewise a fan of the original, I'd steer clear from this movie. Likely you'll be disappointed.
To keep the saddest point for last: Hans Clarin appears here as the "Castellan", Hui Buh's trusted friend and benefactor. It would be his last role in a movie; Clarin passing away shortly after the films release. I believe he would have deserved a more fitting epitaph than this film.
Growing up during the 80's in West-Germany, there was really no way to avoid the "Hui Buh" audio-book series, essentially a Germanized retelling of Mark Twains "The Canterbury Ghost". Heart and soul of the series was the distinctive voice of Hans Clarin, who played "Hui Buh" (which wasn't his only signature role, having also voiced "Pumuckl" and the German audio-version of "Asterix").
Herbig may likewise have grown up with "Hui Buh" but I doubt he understood what gave the series its magic. Where Clarins voice was uniquely captivating, Herbig and his squeaky, childlike voice comes across as nothing less than annoying. And that's not even mentioning his pseudo-Bavarian accent.
Where the original Hui Buh only existed in voice, on the covers of the audio-tapes (depicted as an illuminated skeleton wearing a medieval suit) and the imagination of the listener, Herbigs version is a badly animated cartoon character who spends a lot of time grinning and grimacing.
There are many fans of Herbigs type of slapstick, often (and aptly) described as "Grimassenschneiderei" or grimacing – but there just as many who find it infantile and free of intellectual humour.
People who enjoyed Herbigs similarly-minded "Lissi und der wilde Kaiser" or kids who didn't grew up with the original Hui Buh might enjoy this film – let's face it, media-standards hasn't exactly risen over the last decades – but if you were likewise a fan of the original, I'd steer clear from this movie. Likely you'll be disappointed.
To keep the saddest point for last: Hans Clarin appears here as the "Castellan", Hui Buh's trusted friend and benefactor. It would be his last role in a movie; Clarin passing away shortly after the films release. I believe he would have deserved a more fitting epitaph than this film.