A Tabaluga movie review from IMDB.COM

hi everyone! Watched the Tabaluga movie a few days ago and I have extremely mixed feelings about it. Because I complain about the movie a lot in it(though I praise a lot of things in it too) I don't recommend reading it to those who have zero problems with and don't wanna see anything bad about it. Those who want to knw my opinion about it can read it below, here it is

"Hey everyone! Die-hard Tabaluga fan here, who has been a fan of the 90-s series (it’s first season only) for nearly 17 years now. I wanna start off by saying this is by no means a bad movie some people say it is. It’s really well directed, animated and decently written. This review will consist of 2 parts – with and without spoilers. Here is the spoiler-free part of my review. I will mark the spoiler part before it starts.

Obviously lots of work was done on the characters and their development, especially Tabaluga. So let me describe the characters a little bit more here.
Since the movie is based on the original musicals and has no connection to the 90-s series, most of the characters from the TV show (like Happy or Shouhu) or absent and do not appear here. Instead we have Bully, the ladybug, and Kolk the raven as the new ones. Kolk is a typical parental figure who is left to care for Tabaluga after Tabalugas parents are gone. He is quite well developed and we see that while he worries for Tabaluga, he trusts him and believes in him. The ladybug however, is a typical comic-relief character, who’s main goal is to keep the younger viewers entertained. He does give a little lighter tone to an overall dark movie, although sometimes it goes too far and nearly ruins the scene.

Limbo is a big, silly polar bear who plays a similar role to Bully.

Arktos is much darker than he was shown in the 90-s series, and it looks like a good thing here. He is tricky and smart enough to pose a real threat.

Lilli is surprisingly well-developed, not simplistic she was shown to be in the 90-s series(although the tv-show creators did not have time for her development at all), here she has a clear, believable and well-defined character.

Nessaya also makes a brief appearance, though I can’t say much about her. She was a typical wise character that seems crazy at first but actually gives a great advice.

Tabaluga is developed the best of all. He is courageous, kind, but still is quite young and makes mistakes. There was something I didn’t like about him. When he falls in love with Lilli he is consumed by this so much that he follows her like a puppy with love on his face every time he looks at her even though he just met her. That’s not the calculating and smart Tabaluga I know from the 90-s show. Sure, he lost his head in the 90-s episode “Tabaluga and Lilli” as well, but in there at least he was younger. Here he almost looks like a teen. Overall I wish there was a little more depth about him and more time was devoted to him.

The Greenlanders are among my complants though. Just like in seasons 2 and 3(which I absolutely loathe) of the original tv-series there were only mammals and birds among them, which is racist given the fact that it should have all kinds of animals, including reptiles. “well, we have a dragon, that should be enough”. Well, it wasn’t. Especially given the fact that you aren’t considering dragons as Greenlanders in this movie.  

Music: the music was, for the most part, outstanding. My favorite songs were the first one where Tabaluga was growing up(I haven’t felt so excited about watching anything for many, many years) and the song in the ending credits, which brought me to tears. Both were absolutely amazing. Arktos-es song was also good, the original music from the albums was used in there I presume, as it was the same theme used in the 90-s series, same goes for Lilli’s theme. Most of other songs were just ok. The soundtrack was great and fits perfectly into the scenes where it plays.

Story and pacing: The pacing is really good, it never seemed rushed or going too slow, the creators pretty much found a perfect balance here. The story is well-done, though some parts – let’s just say I wish they were done a lot differently.
And now my spoiler-free part of the review comes to an end. The movie is excellent overall and it’s obvious not just a lot of work, but a lot of soul was put into it. I just wish the things I will describe below didn’t ruin it for me, otherwise to me personally, it would have been near perfection.

SPOILERS BELOW


First of all, let me just say that the scenes with the Tabaluga’s parents dying and a pile of dead dragon bodies shown to Tabaluga was way too dark. Even I, a 28 year old person was emotionally devastated by it, it’s no surprise many of the children who watched the movie were really scared too. It’s been almost 2 days since I watched the movie and it still haunts me. If “the last one of his kind” thing was sad, but still gave us hope in the 90-s series, then here it’s absolutely depressing and just makes me wanna kill myself. It’s that sad.

Another thing I disliked in the movie(as I already mentioned above) is the love at first sight of Tabaluga to Lilly. There is nothing inherently wrong with it, it’s just they form long-lasting relationship with this without getting to know each other better. I know that’s how it happened in the original albums but I personally find such rushed relationship which turns out to be a developed long lasting one so quickly unacceptable. They could have showed that Tabaluga and Lilli spent some years together or at least months, but they become a couple after a few weeks or even days!

And what was with Tabaluga being able to talk to Nessaya only once? They didn’t explain that part at all, and we see her among other Greenlanders later.
Another thing I disliked is the Deus ex Machina scenes, like when Limbo saves them in the last moment. Some humor was also completely out of place, in one scene they repeat EXACTLY the same joke that was overused in seasons 2-3 where James comes up with an idea, tells Arktos about it, he dismisses it, makes it look like he came up with the idea himself.

Verdict – it’s an excellent movie with some parts that I wish were not included in here, without them it would have been absolutely amazing, and to me personally would be a nearly a masterpiece. I would give it 7 stars out of 10, but the “only mammals and birds among Greenlanders” makes me take away one more star. A solid movie which I can’t recommend to little kids and people who are very sensitive like me.

TabalugaDragon wrote:Since the movie is based on the original musicals and has no connection to the 90-s series, most of the characters from the TV show (like Happy or Shouhu) or absent and do not appear here."

You can add a sadly to that. The movie seems to be based, although rather loosely, on the book Tabaluga - Die Suche nach dem Feuer ("The search of the fire"). Tabaluga is brought up by a raven in that one and is desperate to find his Fire, while the musicals have it that Tyrion is still alive when Tabaluga is born. One could say that the book is the embryo stage of the cartoon series (as far as I know, it was published a few years before it), as a very rudimental draft of Happy emerges under the name of Ojo along with a mistreated figure of a penguin butler named Johann, who's meant to become James later on. It's a really nice take on the original musical plot and the missing link to the tv series. Here's hoping they'll eventually translate it into English, as it's only in German for now.

TabalugaDragon wrote:Arktos is much darker than he was shown in the 90-s series, and it looks like a good thing here. He is tricky and smart enough to pose a real threat.

THIS. Totally, completely agree. And I loved his wickedness to the core! There's this cut while he's singing where he opens his mouth wide and seems to swallow the viewer. Shudders. I watched the movie on a small computer screen: it wouldn't surprise me to hear children got traumatized by that scene alone at the cinema.

TabalugaDragon wrote:When he falls in love with Lilli he is consumed by this so much that he follows her like a puppy with love on his face every time he looks at her even though he just met her.

LOL. Looks like it wasn't just an impression of mine: Tabaluga was drooling over her. It could very well be because of his teen age, the age when emotions are cranked up to maximum.

SPOILERS ALERT

TabalugaDragon wrote:It’s been almost 2 days since I watched the movie and it still haunts me.

I know what you mean, because for a split, endless second I felt that way. Not at Tabaluga's looking at the bottom of the gorge towards the dead dragons, no. It was a later scene, where Tabaluga's holding his injured shoulder and Arktos tells him "Lilli is out, your fire is out... just like your father, just as he lost your mother". Tabaluga's pupils. Just look at Tabaluga's pupils: that's PAIN embodied. For a split second, I despised Arktos on a molecular level. While Arktos from the tv series, especially in seasons 2 and 3, is but a whimsical and overgrown baby, this Arktos is a real villain. He was meant to be since the first musical came out, and I both loved and hated this "back to the origins" take on his character.

TabalugaDragon wrote:There is nothing inherently wrong with it, it’s just they form long-lasting relationship with this without getting to know each other better. [...] They could have showed that Tabaluga and Lilli spent some years together or at least months, but they become a couple after a few weeks or even days!

Totally agree. Love at first sight, as they say... I tend to run away from books that paint such unrealistic relationships, but I can turn a blind eye when it comes to watching this movie.  

TabalugaDragon wrote:in one scene they repeat EXACTLY the same joke that was overused in seasons 2-3

Yes, yes, YES! I was like "here we go again, Arktos stealing words...". I just like to think the producers wanted to pay homage to the cartoon series.

What a thorough review!