"Die kleine Hexe" or "The Little Witch" is a really new German 100-minute movie that was actually released just today. The director is Mike Schaerer, a prolific editor most of the time, and the script is by Matthias Pacht, an award-winning writer who is also fairly experienced already. Of course, the original story here is by Otfried Preußler, one of the most successful German (Czech-born) children's book authors of the 20th century, who died about 5 years ago. And like with so many other German (mostly for) kids films, the cast includes some really big names. Herfurth plays the lead, an actress who is definitely among the most known German actresses from her age group abroad too. von Borsody plays the main antagonist and the raven is voiced by Axel Prahl who isn't busy letting people into the Lux theater right now. And maybe others too. As for Herfurth playing the main character, it clearly raises my appreciation for her to see her in this fantasy movie instead of another garbage sequel to the Fack ju Göhte series. But lets talk about this one here now. I think that it is a really good achievement and an entertaining watch from start to finish for sure. The story is fun to watch and as we follow the main character during the year before her big test, we find out a lot of interesting things about her, but also about the human characters that she helps out on several occasions. You could say of course it is surprising she actually passed the exam as we never see her practice, but well it would not have been too interesting to see her study this big book all the time would it? So even for the weaker plot points, it is pretty easy to find an explanation if you want to and don't be too critical.

Let me add that I have not read the Preußler book this is based on and it is absolutely not necessary to do so in order to enjoy the movie, even better you won't be spoilered in advance, but of course I don't know how close they may have stayed to the original story. Initially I was a bit skeptical if Herfurth is maybe too old for the character as maybe I kinda expected someone near the age of Sabrina or Bibi Blocksberg, but with the final really powerful use of witchcraft, the age does make sense. It was a surprising ending somehow wasn't it, but what can you say? They wanted her to be evil, so she directed her evil act against those who can complain the least about it and not the innocent kids. The raven/cat conflict between the title character felt a bit rushed in, but it was okay still I guess. The ways in which we see her and her pet like each other were pretty sweet, especially at the very end. I also really enjoyed the moment when Herfurth says she can't turn the kids into stone and also doesn't want to and this was in fact pretty emotional and it wasn't a problem at all that it was of course expected. So the story is pretty good here and another huge strength is the visdual side. Costumes, make-up and set decorations really are all you could hope for. There are moments when I felt this deserves even 4 stars out of 5 and it was a close call eventually. Still this is without a doubt my favorite 2018 film at this point and it is a good watch for those young and also certainly those young at heart. I very much recommend checking it out. A fairly wonderful film at times and I applaud everybody who worked ot for bringing us a modern version of an old story that works really well and flies by in fact. See it.

Decent watch, probably won't watch again, but can recommend for first time viewers, particularly young ones.

I found another weirdly dubbed German movie. Despite that, the story itself is endearing, but I think there is something of a cultural perspective on witches that I'm missing as an American.

Our witch stories tend to use more of Kleine's type, but the old world leans towards old, warty, children eating witches.

If nothing else, then there is a palatable moral quandry in this that makes for a good moral.

Just watched this with my 11 yr old and we loved it! Loved the characters and the set was just full of so much to see. Cgi was pretty good and special effects makeup was spot on. I would actually be happy to sit through this again without moaning about it!