Spoilers Alert:
In her first cinematic adventure MY FRIEND CONNI – SECRET ABOUT KATER MAU the popular children’s book character goes on a daycare trip. And her clumsy cat Mau is along for the ride. Of course, this causes a lot of chaos – prepared in an age-appropriate manner and with lots of likeable messages, but with some changes compared to the original that are not absolutely necessary. We reveal more about this in our review.
Luca and Conni are looking for a troublemaker.
The only thing that takes a little getting used to for the trained eye is the animation style. The classic two-dimensional cartoon look is pleasing at a time when most animated films indulge in the three-dimensional CGI style (and sometimes go wrong, especially in cheaper productions) and is pleasantly reminiscent of the picture book original. The images impress with lifelike colors and shadows as well as detailed backgrounds. This return to the animation origins does not only have advantages, as the movements in “My Friend Conni – Secret of Tomcat Mau” never seem 100 percent fluid. What initially seems like the image has a mistake has a reason: With this new type of animation technique, one frame is always left out, which creates this choppy impression.
“The images impress with lifelike colors and shadows as well as detailed backgrounds. But this return to the origins of animation doesn’t just have advantages.”
The purpose of this is to remind us of the early days of trick cinema, but it seems quite strange compared to modern (animated) cartoon cinema. The eye first has to get used to it, which is why this effect should be less disturbing for untrained (children’s) eyes. By the way, if you want to get a better picture of it than the trailer for the film already offers, you can take a look at the series “The Prince of Dragons” on the streaming service Netflix, which was animated according to the same principle.
Conclusion: “My friend Conni – The Adventures of Mau the Cat” is a sweet trick adventure that only has some disappointments in store if you have learned to love and know the book inside and out.
“My Friend Conni” can be seen in USA cinemas from July 2nd.
