Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver (2018) User Reviews

Nice fantasy journey

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 2 April 2018]

"Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer" (based on Michael Ende's work of course) is a new German 105-minute movie from 2018 and the newest work by director Dennis Gansel who is most known for "Die Welle" probably and made his transition to Hollywood not too long ago. But here he returns to a German kids classic, namely a film that is based on a classic from the Augsburger Puppenkiste, so a little film starring string puppets from decades ago and a classic for many (not so young) Germans from their childhood. I am probably not even the biggest fan of said old project, but it was easy to appreciate this one here. You will find many familiar faces from the German acting branch, basically everybody except the boy in the center of the story. But he is just there anyway, does not need to bring range or character development as it is usually all about the characters that he and Lukas share the screen with. Lukas is played by Henning Baum and I am usually pretty hard on him, but he was fine here I believe. And same applies to the supporting actors Frier, Peschel, Herbst, the bullyparade boys etc. Also there is a big Asian cast here due to certain story twists. It's about a man and a boy taking a journey together and ending up in the most daring adventures and locations, like on their way to saving a young princess they have to get through a massive and dangerous mountainside, a devastating desert and eventually a dark valley with the danger to fall down into gigantic abysses. But of course they manage all these tasks and find out a lot more about themselves and each other than where they really are from and where they belong. And one example of how much of a success this movie is is that it managed something that usually only Pixar manages, like that they actually manage to depict an item in a way where it really felt like a creature, I am talking about the locomotive train Emma of course.

I would say that the film lacked a bit in the comedy area, except really very early on at Lummerland, and also that not all the emotional and dramatic parts were successful, but the adventure component made more than up for it to be honest, so it is all good. And still like I said the fun early on is good enough and there are strong dramatic moments like the female dragon falling asleep near the very end and her farewell was pretty memorable. And then there is of course the visual side and in terms of costumes, makeup, cinematography, sets etc. this was really well-executed, almost too good for a kids movie. But that is also one reason why I think this is a film for grown-ups too. I myself am not a huge fan of the original, even if I don't dislike it, but it came pretty easy for me to enjoy this one here. If Gansel or anybody else ever plans to follow up to this one with a sequel, then I am definitely all ready for it. It's closer to 4 out of 5 for me than to 2 out of 5 without a doubt. It is fairly difficult to say something negative for me about this film. There were no major flaws and it was fun to watch from start to finish and I am positive that the young ones and the ones young at heart can definitely have a fun time seeing this one. It is not a short kids movie by any means, but it also never drags. Good stuff we got here. Finally, let me say that it's been too long for me since I saw the old original to really compare these two, but you can completely ignore this old one and just have a fun time with this new one. Go for it, especially if you are an English native speaker that loves Shirley MacLaine.

A very childish live action representation of Jim Knopf

[MihaiSorinToma · 6/10 · 15 June 2019]

This live action movie tries to bring to the big screen the story of the Jim Knopf cartoons which once entertained my childhood, but as far as I'm concerned, it quite fails. The biggest problem with it is by far its screen time. As you might have guessed, it's simply impossible to fit an entire tv series into a movie, let alone a very short one like this one is, thus you're going to miss a lot of events. Another side effect to this is that the characters are not very well introduced and developed, fact which the series manages without breaking a sweat, thus for someone who hasn't seen the cartoons it would be unpleasant to link them all together. They'll figure it out as it is after all a film intended for children, but again, not the best experience.

Speaking of children, this one seems to have been made solely for them. I'm speaking of course about the way it treats every single situation it encounters. Everything gets sorted out very easily without any drama, through inexplicable exaggerations (even by fantasy standards) or head scratching events, thus expect to be quite a lack of emotion or suspense throughout the entire film. It might be good if you're a little boy/girl watching a movie at the cinema with your parents but for someone like me, it's simply way too childish. The action is meh at best, even if they chose to include a couple of more "intense" events from the series, hoping to impress the viewers but from my point of view, it did a bit too little in this direction. The cast could also have been better if you ask me, as too many actors don't manage to transmit anything through their characters which are very expressive in the animated show.

It's a movie which unfortunately misses the point, or at least the one that I was expecting. It indeed manages to be a movie for the small ones who obviously haven't seen the series but for me who simply loved the cartoons it's a bit too hard to bare.

If I was six I'll rate it higher but I'm not.

[deloudelouvain · 4/10 · 19 January 2019]

Before you base yourself on my ratings if you are going to watch this movie or not there are a couple things to clarify. I watched this movie without reading anything about it before, I just stumbled on this movie and gave it a shot. The problem is not that it's in German, even though it's quite funny to see that all Asians speak German, but the fact that I'm fifty years old and that this movie is made for kids between five and eight. So the whole movie looks and sounds very childish. I have a wide imagination but this one is just too childish. If I were six years old I would probably love this movie, but I'm not, I'm fifty and so this movie is, even if it's well made, just not for me. But if you have kids this movie will get their attention and keep them quiet for a while.

Excellent rendition of a German children's classic

[CommanderVimes · 9/10 · 30 January 2019]

Michael Ende didn't write as many books as others, but most of his books became instant classics. The tale of "Jim Knopf und Lukas, der Lokomotivführer" ist his best known, next to "Neverending story", which has become a classic both as a book and a film. While the latter aims for adults as well as for older kids, "Jim Knopf" is a great children's story - although it contains elements that will ring more with grown ups.

The book is great in it's detail, and the pictures are fantastic on their own account. Then there's the marionette-version, made for TV by the "Augsburger Puppenkiste", in the 1970s.

Now, Jim finally and well deservingly hits the big screen - and the makers did really, really well! They took lots of inspiration from the beloved TV-Version and didn't change a lot of the story: Jim being brought to the island of Lummerland with only a few habitants and a train engine as a baby, later sailing away (on the engine!) with his fatherly friend Lukas, to explore the secret of his heritage, trying to save princess Li Si from the dragon's city on the way, meeting lots of curious people on their journey...

The director tells the story very straight, the action is well paced, and there are hardly any important parts missing. The visuals are fine, except for Nepomuk, the half dragon, who REALLY looks animated! No 3D, thankfully! The actors are doing a great job, especially both leads, but also all the secondary characters.

A minor annoyance to me was the unnecessary change of the fact that Jim can't read or write at the beginning. That's why he has to DRAW a letter to Mrs. Waas when he's leaving. They kept the drawings in the movie but ADDED additional writing!

Apart from that there's hardly anything to criticise. I rate this fantastic adaption 9/10 and look forward to the sequel "Die Wilde 13"!

Badly aged story in a remake showing all its flaws

[lapratho · 2/10 · 30 July 2021]

The movie itself as a piece cinematography is beautiful.

This is where the good part ends, because Michael Ende's story has too many flaws from a mind with a narrow imagination. This is a remake from a puppet show, that should have never been made. Prize winner many years ago or not, his stories are aging very badly.

After seeing the actually very faithful remake of Jim Button (Jim Knopf, an black orphan infant left on a small island in a basket) as a life action movie, the generally fondly remembered and beloved German "Augsburer Puppenkiste" puppet performance on TV from the early 70s was far superior.

It turns out, in a puppet theatre, so much was left to the viewer's imagination, one did not always imagine the scene as it was actually written. The author Michael Ende was of a strange mind, and his ideas directly transcribed, turned out to be extremely insulting and xenophobic, whether he had intended so or not. With his background of being from a family pursued by the 3rd Reich themselves, this is all puzzling, but also needs to be seen as a sign of cultural isolation and a certain "innocence" when dealing with people of other skin colour and appearance. Whether it is the now frowned upon use of the word "n*gro", or depicting a particular Chinese family as being the size of little dolls, the whole story of Jim Button (the black baby found in a basket, who is then raised by the handful of people on the small island, and who becomes friend and apprentice of Lucas, the locomotive engineer) manages to step into one faux-pas after another.

The whole movie is indeed just like the puppet theatre show, but everything now being put fully on screen, with little left to imagine, the full onslaught of anachronistic views is embarrassing.

I have that DVD in my shelf, and I ended up cringing through it all in pain, just to finish it.

Perfect in Every Way!

[dahmenjudith · 10/10 · 5 August 2019]

Michael Ende's "Jim Knopf" books were among my favorite books as a child, and of course I had watched the puppet series by "Augsburger Puppenkiste" and still listen to the wonderful audio book today. So, as a decades-old fan, I was sceptical when this real life adaptation came up, but now that I've finally seen it, I can say: This might be the sweetest movie I've ever seen, and it made my heart jump with joy from beginning to end!

Everything about it is perfect, from the script to the actors, from the sets to the music. They really managed to capture the essence of the books, dusting the story off a little bit without losing the enchanting atmosphere Michael Ende had created in the original story. Even the unavoidable romance which even stories for children seem to need these days was not annoying or awkward but refreshingly natural and lovely.

The sets, especially Morrowland and the different versions of Emma, are super cute, and all the actors are perfectly cast. Eden Gough is the sweetest Png Pong you could imagine, and Milan Peschel's Tur Tur touched me to tears! Solomon Gordon is such a natural, and his smile & laughter are simply contageous. Oh, and I love that Thomas Fritsch was chosen as the German narrator, I could listen to his voice for hours.

Last but not least, the soundtrack played a big part in making this movie so magical. As someone who had already enjoyed "Wickie und die Starken Männer", I recognized Ralf Wengenmayr as the composer right away, and once again, he has done a fantastic job creating atmosphere and joy with music! I still had a smile on my face hours after I had finished watching this movie, it made me so happy.

I can not wait for the sequel!

Great fantasy adventure for children

[charlucking · 8/10 · 9 April 2020]

Very personal review following:

My young son loved this movie. He wants to watch it over and over and over... It speaks for the quality of the film that we (his parents) haven't grown completely sick of it yet.

What I like about the movies is how much it inspires the imagination of my boy. He endlessly wants to play scenes from the movie, calls himself Jim and his father Luke. At first I thought it might be a bit too scary for a 3 year old but he doesn't mind the slightly darker sequences.

Excellent live-action remake of a famous German children's serial

[johannesaquila · 9/10 · 11 January 2022]

This live-action fantasy film is based on the 1960 children's novel of the same name, which was the first published work of Michael Ende. Internationally, Ende is best know for the book on which The Neverending Story (1984) was based, although Ende himself didn't like that film. But in Germany, Jim Button is better known than the Neverending Story.

Ende's excellent book won the German Youth Literature Award, but part of the book's success is owed to two adaptations for television by Augsburger Puppenkiste, a marionette theater. The first, Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer (1961), consisted of 5 half-hour episodes in black and white. The color remake, Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer (1977), was shortened to 4 slightly shorter episodes. Regular re-runs of the serial ensured that generations grew up with it, and generations looked forward to passing on the joy of watching the serial to their children, often rewatching it on the occasion. Special cross-over episodes combining Jim Knopf and his friends with other Augsburger Puppenkiste stars were long an important staple of German TV's Christmas Eve programming. But an even more obvious indication of the production's popularity is probably the fact that a remix of the title song (the Lummerland Song "Eine Insel mit zwei Bergen" -- "An Island with Two Mountains") by Dancefloor project Dolls United was in the German charts for 33 weeks in 1995/96, reaching second position at some point. I am not sure they made the song more popular; they just gave people an excuse to play it outside its original context.

It was always obvious that any new adaptation would be received as a remake of the classic marionette version, and so would be held to the highest standards in terms of narrative charm. Failure was almost guaranteed, but in the end they did pull it off. Compared to the 2 hour color serial, some cuts were required, but the result is still a complete, coherent story with all the important highlights intact. And most importantly: The film's visual quality is just stunning. It cannot have been easy to accurately reproduce so many of the marionette serial's shots by means of special effects that hit the sweet spot between realism and overt but seamless artificiality. The casting and acting is also excellent. The actors seem aware at all times that they are replacements for marionettes, acting naturally with just a hint of woodenness.

A few words on the plot / the underlying book: Michael Ende famously wrote its beginning with no idea where it would lead him. So he started with a tiny island in the sea with two mountains, a castle, two houses, and a tiny railway system. It has a king and three subjects, including the shopkeeper and Luke, the train driver. When Ende wrote about the surprise delivery of a large parcel, he himself did not know what it would contain. Similarly, much later Jim, Luke and steam engine Emma find themselves in mortal danger in an extremely dark and cold place. Here again, Ende wrote down the problem before spending weeks in search of a solution.

The film is targeted to children and to adults who grew up with the underlying book and TV serial. But the plot's highly original blend of fantasy and fairy tale, combined with the stunning visuals and high production values, makes the film well worth watching for a more general audience. Just not suitable for those who feel they must constantly prove they are adults and run screaming out the cinema when the film opens with the description of Morrowland -- a tiny fantasy island in the sea that only makes sense as a model railway landscape.