"Arabella, mereröövli tütar" (Arabella the pirate's daughter) is a wonderful kids' novel. When i heard for the first time that an Estonian film company was going to bring the novel to the screen i was hesitating. How should it be possible to produce a pirate movie with a low budget and no proper experience ? I was right. The movie is only a shadow of the novel. The ocean scenes were filmed in a silent gulf of the Baltic Sea, so it looks fake from the beginning. The story is strongly simplified, so many interesting points of the novel are removed. The young mysterious adventurer Hassan from the novel who is good in sword fighting, becomes a ridiculous jerk Aadu in the movie. So there is no romantic and positive hero in the film at all ! Secondly, the director has formed a rival pirate captain Raudpats (Iron Pigtail) and a theater manager Manuel into an one person. It's just pointless. A fact that there was no real rival pirate (Raudpats) spoils remarkable the whole concept of the movie. Thirdly, the character of the young woman (i don't remember her name), a friend of Arabella, was removed from the film. That woman was an important character as there was love of mother and daughter between her and motherless Arabella. So what's left is just kid's action and does not deeply concentrate to Arabella and her feelings.
Well, it has it's strong points too. Kai Puskar is a good choice for Arabella. Again the character isn't exactly the novel's Arabella but it suites into that film well. The pirates are fine, even Hollywood could learn from Tallinnfilm. They are not too cruel to watch for children but they are not fake kind-hearted good pirates either. Everyone has it's own face and character. Lembit Peterson's captain Taaniel Tina is the character just what it should. May-be the acting could have been a bit more dominant. Perhaps the most strong thing in the movie is Lembit Ulfsak as Ruuge tüüp (original character, not from the novel), unique and funny. In general, all the acting (except Kibuspuu) is good. The strong point is also text, as there's many funny memorable dialogs and sayings.
However, due to the above mentioned I rated the film "6". In general i can't say that it is a very good movie.
Well, it has it's strong points too. Kai Puskar is a good choice for Arabella. Again the character isn't exactly the novel's Arabella but it suites into that film well. The pirates are fine, even Hollywood could learn from Tallinnfilm. They are not too cruel to watch for children but they are not fake kind-hearted good pirates either. Everyone has it's own face and character. Lembit Peterson's captain Taaniel Tina is the character just what it should. May-be the acting could have been a bit more dominant. Perhaps the most strong thing in the movie is Lembit Ulfsak as Ruuge tüüp (original character, not from the novel), unique and funny. In general, all the acting (except Kibuspuu) is good. The strong point is also text, as there's many funny memorable dialogs and sayings.
However, due to the above mentioned I rated the film "6". In general i can't say that it is a very good movie.
