Der Räuber Hotzenplotz

Der Räuber Hotzenplotz

On the 9th of May, the Year 10s, 11s and 12, went to the German Film Festival ‘Kino for Kids'. We took the replacement busses into the city and walked to the Palace Kino Cinemas. 

Der Räuber Hotzenplotz was an interesting movie to say the least and had a chaotic storyline that led most of the laughs to come from the obscurity of the whole thing. Central to the storyline were two friends Kasperl and Seppel, who try to catch the robber Hotzenplotz after he steals Karsperls’ grandmothers’ musical coffee grinder. They believe that the town constable is incapable of capturing Hotzenplotz and they set off into the woods. They set a trap for Hotzenplotz, which quickly backfires and leads to them being captured, which is no surprise as their basis of deception is centred around them switching hats as a disguise. Kasperl is sold off to the wizard Petrosilius Zwackelmann, and is tasked with preparing him potatoes, the one thing he can’t do with magic. After a while Kasperl escapes and meets a fairy who gives him a side mission to set her free. Zwackelmann finds Kasperls hat, which is actually Seppels hat due to them switching hats earlier, and uses a summoning spell, which summons Seppel. Seppel was cleaning Hotzenplotzs’ boot, which Zwackelmann uses to summon the robber as well. They get in a fight and Zwackelmann turns Hotzenplotz into a bullfinch and puts him in a cage. Kasperl completes his mission, which is to save a fairy in the castle. He does so by becoming invisible, and sneaks into the hidden room, and frees the fairy. Zwackelmann tries to stop them but falls into a pond and dies. The fairy destroys the castle and returns to the fairy world, after giving the boys a magic ring that gives them three wishes. They wish for Kasperls’ hat and for a new coffee grinder for Kasperls’ Grandmothers coffee grinder. They use the last wish to make Hotzenplotz human again who is swiftly arrested by the constable, who claims credit for the whole escapade. There was also a dog named Wasti was turned into a janky looking crocodile by his owner who was a witch, a bad witch at that. 

Overall, I give it 6/10 for creativity. 

Review written by Gyan Holtzner and Patrick Knight

Year 11