Overcoming the Black Magic of gender education by bright wiz
Reinhard Liebe | Vienna, Austria | 03/13/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I saw this movie in the original German version, when my daughter Rosa was 8. Proudly she explained the plot to me, making sure she already was "knowing". > By accidental wizardry a boy and a girl change their bodies, but not their mind. The girls mother desperstedly wants her daughter to be trained for swimming championship while the boy comes from an artist's family, where his dreaming and fantasy are encoureged. They both find out, that they have only few hours left to change back to their original bodies (and life!)They manage to coordinate their personal abilities, overcome their prejudices and find the old hobo-wizard in charge for the key to turn the spell back. A fantastic comedy not to be recommended for rednecks and bible-belters because of its freshness.The movie is made with lots of love, respect on sense of humour. Reinhard Liebe, family-therapist, Vienna"
Cute body-swap comedy
wiredweird | Earth, or somewhere nearby | 04/29/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This kid-safe amusement takes the Freaky Friday premise, two people swapping bodies for a day and desperate to get back home. Like It's a Boy Girl Thing, this involves a surprise sex change for both. Here, though, the protagonists are pre-tweens - body issues pretty much end at "Hey, it's not so hard to do this standing up." That keeps it charmingly innocent.
The big tension is getting the two kids straightened out again, but side plots work well too: the misfit friend who finds his place, catty schoolyard rivalries, and the pressure of a mother try to live her dreams in her child. The two lead kids do a good job too, conveying the attempt to live the other's life but desperate not to let go of their own identities.
Parents will appreciate the lack of violence and adult themes, without giving over completely to saccharine inanity. This isn't the most memorable flick around, but a pleasant one anyway.
-- wiredweird"