Hilfe, ich bin ein Junge (2002)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Oliver Dommenget

Writers:

Oliver Dommenget (story) and
Ronald Kruschak (story) ...

Release Date:

17 October 2002 (Germany)

Genre:

Family | Fantasy

Plot:

In Hamburg, an aged sorcerer is searching for a replacement. Freddie, who's about 12, finds the wizard's...

Plot Keywords:

Sex Change | Body Swap

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Sarah Hannemann	...	Emma / Mickey
Nick Seidensticker	...	Mickey / Emma
Philipp Blank	...	Vierauge
Pinkas Braun	...	Albert Tartov
Nina Petri	...	Emmas Mutter Paula Uhland
Stephan Benson	...	Schwimmlehrer Hendrik Hopp
Tanja Schumann	...	Lehrerin Frau Kahl
Dominique Horwitz	...	Mickeys Vater Olaf
Marie-Lou Sellem	...	Mickeys Mutter Ulrike (as Marie Lou Sellem)
Antonie Boegner	...	Helena
Nadine Fano	...	Michelle
Tim Troeger	...	Emmas Bruder Lenni
Christoph Metke	...	Sprecher Frau Fauli (voice)
David Kross	...	Paddy (as David Kroß)
Franz Paul Stiller	...	Attila

Also Known As:

Help, I'm a Boy! (International: English title)
Verzauberte Emma (Germany) (alternative title)

Runtime:

USA:95 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Certification:

Switzerland:9 (canton of the Grisons) | Germany:o.Al.

Filming Locations:

Hamburg, Germany

Company:

Besiktas Kültür Merkezi (BKM)

Soundtrack:

Ich bin du und Du bist ich

Yet another entertaining body swap film

This film is obviously aimed at a very young age group of, I would estimate, nine to twelve year olds. Nevertheless, it contains enough charm to fascinate, though not enthral, older viewers too. By no means for the first time in the history of cinema, two people swap their bodies by magic. As usual, they are very different personalities, and in this case they have the advantage of being in their formative years. Emma, who is good at school and such a good swimmer that she is being considered for training for the Olympic Games, and Mickey, both played by Sarah Hannemann and Nick Seidensticker, are helped in their plight by their classmate Four Eyes, played by Philipp Blank, who has a very different, more practical character from the leading pair. Before he loses the book of magic which enabled Emma and Mickey to swap bodies, Four Eyes deciphers the fact that they only have fifty-four hours to reverse the magic. Then the magician disappears, making the race against time even more difficult.

The three children playing the leading roles are sufficiently good to give credibility to the three characters, and how they cope with the situations they land up in.

The film is set in Hamburg, and does not fail to show a backdrop of various typical buildings in fairly ordinary parts of the city, the highlight of which is a short visit to Hamburg Dungeon.

Albert Tartov, the magician played by Pinkas Braun, displays even more than the magicians in other films that his magic cannot do everything imaginable. For instance, instead of the usual animals, he has a tortoise, which, of course, does not have quite the mobility of many other creatures.

The other characters do not get much time to develop within the plot, and tend too much towards displaying stereotypes.

Conforming to the main purpose of the body swap genre, Emma and Mickey are helped by the insights their consciousness in someone else's body presents them with, as the plot unfolds. The ending is not entirely predictable, although the direction of the film is relatively obvious.