"Jim Knopf und die wilde 13" is a German mini-series from 1978, so this will have its 30th anniversary next year. Actually, it is a remake of the far lesser known black-and-white version from the early 1960s. It's written and directed by Manfred Jenning based on Michael Ende's novel. It may not be as known as "Die unendliche Geschichte", but here in Germany everybody knows the Augsburger Puppenkiste and this is among the most known from it. It follows another mini-series and both consist of a total of 4 episodes that run for slightly under half an hour each, so you can watch this one here in 2 hours really, not longer than a full feature film. Of course string puppets are not to everybody's liking, but I managed to enjoy this one as well as the previous despite not having seen these as a boy, which is usually a good basis if you want to appreciate stuff like that as an adult.
Just like with the first I must say that Jim does very little for me despite being clueless all the time and asking questions to Lukas permanently. You can imagine I did not like the end that much with that doofus now apparently being a prince even. So yeah, Lukas is definitely my preferred character from the two central characters, but it is at least as much about the supporting characters too. They all add something important to the story and I think that it was nice they brought back almost everybody from the first like the (not so tall) giant or Nepomuk and still managed to introduce us to new colorful characters like the mermaid. Yes there are occasional weaknesses with the story, but hey taking the genre and general premise into consideration, it's all good. It is also a bit of an educational film with the references about magnetism and the Poles. Well done there. And the geographic aspect won't come too short as the duo once again travel the world and meet interesting characters in all kinds of interesting destinations like deserts, oceans, mountains and Lummerland of course. If you liked the first, then give this one a go too, but yeah for chronology purposes I really recommend to watch the 1977 mini-series first.
Just like with the first I must say that Jim does very little for me despite being clueless all the time and asking questions to Lukas permanently. You can imagine I did not like the end that much with that doofus now apparently being a prince even. So yeah, Lukas is definitely my preferred character from the two central characters, but it is at least as much about the supporting characters too. They all add something important to the story and I think that it was nice they brought back almost everybody from the first like the (not so tall) giant or Nepomuk and still managed to introduce us to new colorful characters like the mermaid. Yes there are occasional weaknesses with the story, but hey taking the genre and general premise into consideration, it's all good. It is also a bit of an educational film with the references about magnetism and the Poles. Well done there. And the geographic aspect won't come too short as the duo once again travel the world and meet interesting characters in all kinds of interesting destinations like deserts, oceans, mountains and Lummerland of course. If you liked the first, then give this one a go too, but yeah for chronology purposes I really recommend to watch the 1977 mini-series first.
