Hui Buh und das Hexenschloss

Langreview Kurzkritik English Version Fakten + Credits

This is what it's all about

Burgeck Castle is once again haunted and this time Hui Buh is doing everything he can to live up to his hard-earned haunting licence. Together with King Julius and his faithful servant Charles, the castle’s inhabitants hope to earn a little extra money by putting on scary shows in the evenings so that they can continue to finance the expensive estate. In the meantime, 15 years have passed and all is not well with Julius, who has lost his wife as well as his fortune. But there are many more problems waiting for him, because one day he finds out that Hui Buh has a sister and that she has been kidnapped. Together with the little witch Orphelia, Hui Buh’s niece, the unequal trio sets off to the Witch’s Forest to protect the mystical and powerful spell book Necronomicon and put a stop to the evil witch Erla.

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Review

HUI BUH: DAS SCHLOSSGESPENST was a great success for the Warner Bros. team and director Sebastian Niemann in 2006 with around two million cinema-goers and an extremely successful home cinema release. Thus it quickly became clear that a sequel to the adventures would make sense. Nevertheless, it was to take until 2017 for this project to gain renewed importance and for producer Christian Becker to enter the planning phase together with the director. Since the popular radio plays of the 70s tend to comprise small and crisp episodes, it was somewhat difficult to knit a story out of them that could fill a feature film. So the team broke away from the originals and developed their own plot, which of course is still based on the original idea. The result is the idea of setting the film 15 years after the actions of the first film and creating a mind game about how the characters might have developed in such a long time.

This idea is not exactly revolutionary and has recently been taken up again in many surprising sequels to well-known classics. Nevertheless, the approach always brings a certain charm and explains a narrative gap in the simplest way. However, while the first part was mainly about the titular character portrayed by Michael Herbig and the role of King Julius embodied by Christoph Maria Herbst, HUI BUH UND DAS HEXENSCHLOSS is devoted to an adventure story that provides the audience with even more insights into the unusual and chronologically unclassifiable world of the castle ghost. The plot is only loosely connected to the first film, but basically functions as a self-contained and independent story, making it unnecessary to catch up with the predecessor.

As clumsy as ever

It is clearly recognisable that largely the same team is behind this film again, because it manages to strike the same atmosphere and tone. Although the work is set up as a German children’s film with a comedy factor, it fortunately does not follow the modern trend in which youth flicks are staged far too hectically and often deal in slapstick and disgusting humour. Instead, Niemann’s film’s narrative style can rather be placed in the 2000s productions and presents the charm that we have come to know, for example, in DIE PROSIEBEN MÄRCHENSTUNDE. On a positive note, the story shows creativity and repeatedly incorporates moral and value-based elements, which must be considered particularly valuable. This kind of cinematic art is unfortunately far too rare these days.

Tragically, however, not only the plot of HUI BUH UND DAS HEXENSCHLOSS is stuck in a different decade, but also the visual realisation. Special effects mostly no longer look contemporary, which justifies the question of whether the quality of the 2006 film was consciously followed here or whether the development was simply slept through. Especially Hui Buh himself, who is a mix of a digital copy of Michael Herbig and an animated figure, seems to be produced quite cheaply. This repeatedly results in unsightly scenes such as hugs, where it is far too obvious that during the filming phase the other actors had to improvise without this character. Apart from this, however, the cast deserves praise, as especially lead actor Christoph Maria Herbst and the now 15-year-old Nelly Hoffmann gave excellent performances and radiate a pleasant harmony.

Simply enchanting

But it is Carmen-Maja Antoni who remains particularly surprisingly in the memory, miming by far the best crunchy witch ever to be seen in a film. The German acting legend, who also starred primarily in THE WEIẞE BAND, but who also repeatedly delights with small roles such as in DIE KÄNGURU-VERSCHWÖRUNG, naturally delivers a witch-like charisma (and that is by no means meant disrespectfully), brings the perfect vocal range and, on top of that, is also put into a role that can convince with both humour and a certain creepy factor. It is also a stroke of genius by Sebastian Niemann to reinterpret the crunchy witch from the Hansel and Gretel fairy tales and to portray her in a contemporary way. Instead of a deceitful and nasty deceiver, we get a lovable, charming and funny character who also suffers from “witch tourettes” and therefore gets to the point precisely and amusingly with a few remarks.

Conclusion

With some influences from other magical films – in particular HARRY POTTER, from which some set designs and characters are clearly inspired – we get a second part that has much more to offer than its predecessor and also seems much more adult, without losing sight of the childlike entertainment. Unfortunately, the story repeatedly loses itself a little in its love for the characters and forgets to develop a little more suspense and a more interesting dramaturgical arc, as a result of which HUI BUH UND DAS HEXENSCHLOSS plods along rather clumsily at times and can only be titled as a pastime. While children thus encounter a film that offers an all-round package of emotions, adult companions should be prepared for the fact that a good cinematic time only begins with the appearance of Carmen-Maja Antoni in the second half.

How did you like the movie?
(3 Bewertungen, Durchschnitt: 6,33 von 10)