Chantal im Märchenland

Admittedly, I am clearly the target audience for this film, as for whatever reason I enjoy writer-director Bora Dagtekin's humor in many (though not all) cases. Yes, he's a little rougher, a little more down-to-earth, not always nice and certainly not every joke is always right - but the bottom line is that his films and series are mostly good entertainment.

The film is accused of embodying everything that is bad about German film. It would be rubbish with no quality, made for the uneducated lower classes (the accusation alone says more about the aloofness of the critics than about the film). It's filmed "Trash TV". Nothing could be more wrong and anyone who believes that either hasn't seen the film or hasn't understood it.

Rarely have values such as friendship, willingness to sacrifice, willingness to learn, but also female emancipation and LGBTQ been treated so casually and humorously in a German film. When the main actress was confronted with a dragon (not a real spoiler), I had to think of the film "Damsel", which had only appeared on Netflix a few weeks earlier - and how intensively it was all handled there.

The film is just great fun. Not every gag works, but given the abundance of gags and the different tastes of people, everyone will find their own points of criticism. In the end, this film is carried by Jella Haase, who is without a doubt not only one of the most gifted comediennes Germany currently has to offer, but also one of the best actresses. Her "Chantal" is a stunner.

No pun intended - Chantal could be described as German Barbie - "real life" that is. But while she became a phenomenon after the F you Goethe trilogy (I think the international title is different, like Suck it, because ... well the F word is bad) ... she gets her own movie! And the turnout in cinemas proves whoever greenlit this, knew what they were doing. Not saying that you have to like it.

Just a side note about the swear words and youth: there is another F word (german) used, that is quite offensive! And yet this gets a rating 12 and above - which actually means kids under 12 can watch this if they are accompanied by an adult. Germany does not really care much about words - this would surely be at least an R rating in the US. Just saying - and for your consideration.

Now to the fact that this made good money, even though the reviews may suggest otherwise ... well the screening I attended was half full - and while some may want you to believe this is not funny at all - there were quite a few laughs. Comedy is in the eye of the beholder - is this silly? Is this even cringe as they say at times? Many times yes ... does it work though? Also yes - because the target group identifies with it. Or them - the main characters that is.

I would not call myself a big Jella fan, but what she did with that character (Chantal) ... even if you are not a fan of the movies, you can't deny the impact she had to modern German movie history. Cry more silently Chantal - not sure how this is translated ... but one of those things that got transported to society ... she may have sullied the name forever ... but also given it new life in a sense.

Same is true for fairy tales - and the message this has. She is anything but a princess ... and yet she is everything a princess is (nowadays) ... strong, independent ... maybe not intelligent - but still mostly on the morally good side ... and finds herself to be a feminist too - maybe another thing in common with Barbie ... nice outtakes during the end credits by the way.

Typical German cinema. Clichéd, flat, simply shameful.

The director is obviously not capable of more.

The dialog is so bad that I get the feeling that my uncle, who doesn't really know how young people talk, wrote it.

I can't understand how a movie like this can still be released in 2024.

The movie is humorless and has neither entertainment value nor does it teach you anything.

How can a director despise his job so much to deliver such trash?

How little self-esteem an actor must have to be part of a production like this.

If that's all Germany has to offer in film, then there's no reason to invest even one more euro in this industry.

Can we also give it a 10 minus? This is not a film, it is a filmed, pretty bad play aimed at small children. And then again, it is not, because it is so full of gutter language that is neither funny nor original that it hurts your ears. Even as a comedy, you can't take this garbage seriously. There is no talent to be seen here, no matter what area. This piece of work isn't even fun and you can barely understand anything. A fact that is perhaps a good thing, then you don't get to see every embarrassing moment. So much could have been done with the character and the fact that she ends up in a fairy tale, but they apparently decided to go with less effort.

The entire Movie is a straight up insult to the viewers willing suspension of disbelief and to make it through you have to willingly suspend any and all function of your brain.

One really has to ask the question how little anyone responsible for this cared about the general concept of Filmmaking as a whole, to think it was a good Idea, to take an extremely one-dimensional comic-relief-character from a Teenie-Franchise about a dysfunctional school and send her on an epic quest through a fantasy world with castles and dragons.

All of this wouldn't even be half as offensive if the entire point of the character in question wasn't to point fingers and make fun of the lower class population, instead of asking the question what the issue with trapping and abandoning people in poverty could be, which should've been outdated even when the first movie of the franchise hit the cinema in 2013.

German Film Funding will put money into anything that is backed by an already successful franchise (by domestic standards anyways) and you basically get free tax-payer money to fund absolute dumpster fires like these, keeping an entire film-crew busy that could've worked on something more meaningful in the meantime. But if you're a young, talented writer, who thinks outside the box and has ideas for something fresh, new or dare I say experimental even, good luck pitching any ideas to the officials responsible. So much talent going to waste in this broken industry.

It's as if the Middle-Finger in the Movie's Poster was meant literally, insulting not only the viewer for watching this crap but also the entire-german movie industry, saying:"Look what we can get away with while you will never get to realize your dreams.". Poetry.