"Hui Buh" is a German movie from 10 years ago and it includes all kinds of genres: fantasy, comedy, drama, horror, family. The horror factor, however, is pretty minimal because this was clearly also intended as a film for children. Unfortunately, this film is really nothing you want your kids to see. It is simply not a quality movie. So many genres and it does not really deliver in a single one of them. Writer and director Sebastian Niemann certainly proves again that he is nowhere near Germany's best in filmmaking. The film runs for 90 minutes without credits and includes a couple good actors for sure. But I was disappointed by almost all of them. Admittedly, almost all of them had no good material to work with, but they also did not elevate the material here. I am a great Christoph Maria Herbst fan (in "Stromberg"), but even he was underwhelming here as the main human character. Still he was better than almost everybody else and this also includes child actor Martin Kurz who was pretty bad on several occasions and delivered almost nothing positive here. His story was forgettable and just included for the sake of evoking emotions, which never happened. A failed attempt. A failed film for the most part. Do not watch.
3 Reviews
A surprisingly wonderful movie
Equinox2320 April 2012
I must admit that my young daughter forced me to watch this movie and my expectations were pretty low, thus slightly bored and awkward I joined her after she had already watched about half of it...And what a surprise, I instantaneously fell in love with it.The sets are wonderfully old-fashioned and German, the thing German viewers would probably get annoyed at is that a lot of German clichés are made fun of, e.g. ghost soldiers wearing spiked helmets, a castle that is reminiscent of Neuschwanstein Castle - I felt like being way back in Texas in 1987 and being asked if Germany still was a kingdom - and if they had watched this movie beforehand, they would have definitely believed so -, especially because it is hard to tell which specific time this movie is actually set in. In a way I can imagine that this feature would be more appreciated in the countries outside Germany, I do not exactly know why but most Germans do have an exceedingly hard time laughing about themselves.
Though the movie's namesake the ghost Hui Buh may be a little bit over the top according to my taste, the acting is superb, especially Christoph Maria Herbst as König Julius,der 111.; his timing is absolutely brilliant (and this is probably the closest he will ever get to playing a romantic lead). The humour in this comedy is at times hilarious and silly,but never ever turns nasty.
BTW I immediately ventured to watch the entire movie... ;)
Though the movie's namesake the ghost Hui Buh may be a little bit over the top according to my taste, the acting is superb, especially Christoph Maria Herbst as König Julius,der 111.; his timing is absolutely brilliant (and this is probably the closest he will ever get to playing a romantic lead). The humour in this comedy is at times hilarious and silly,but never ever turns nasty.
BTW I immediately ventured to watch the entire movie... ;)
There's no magic in this Hui Buh
t_atzmueller8 September 2011
Warning: Spoilers
"Hui Buh" is the tale of a medieval knight who, upon being discovered to have cheated at a deck of cards, is turned into the ghost Hui Buh, cursed to haunt Castle Burgeck. 500 years later, Julius the 111th and his wife to be try to inhabit the castle, originally prompting the ghost to drive them away but eventually becoming good friends with the humans and helping them through various adventures.
Growing up during the 80's in West-Germany, there was really no way to avoid the "Hui Buh" audio-book series, essentially a Germanized retelling of Mark Twains "The Canterbury Ghost". Heart and soul of the series was the distinctive voice of Hans Clarin, who played "Hui Buh" (which wasn't his only signature role, having also voiced "Pumuckl" and the German audio-version of "Asterix").
Herbig may likewise have grown up with "Hui Buh" but I doubt he understood what gave the series its magic. Where Clarins voice was uniquely captivating, Herbig and his squeaky, childlike voice comes across as nothing less than annoying. And that's not even mentioning his pseudo-Bavarian accent.
Where the original Hui Buh only existed in voice, on the covers of the audio-tapes (depicted as an illuminated skeleton wearing a medieval suit) and the imagination of the listener, Herbigs version is a badly animated cartoon character who spends a lot of time grinning and grimacing.
There are many fans of Herbigs type of slapstick, often (and aptly) described as "Grimassenschneiderei" or grimacing – but there just as many who find it infantile and free of intellectual humour.
People who enjoyed Herbigs similarly-minded "Lissi und der wilde Kaiser" or kids who didn't grew up with the original Hui Buh might enjoy this film – let's face it, media-standards hasn't exactly risen over the last decades – but if you were likewise a fan of the original, I'd steer clear from this movie. Likely you'll be disappointed.
To keep the saddest point for last: Hans Clarin appears here as the "Castellan", Hui Buh's trusted friend and benefactor. It would be his last role in a movie; Clarin passing away shortly after the films release. I believe he would have deserved a more fitting epitaph than this film.
Growing up during the 80's in West-Germany, there was really no way to avoid the "Hui Buh" audio-book series, essentially a Germanized retelling of Mark Twains "The Canterbury Ghost". Heart and soul of the series was the distinctive voice of Hans Clarin, who played "Hui Buh" (which wasn't his only signature role, having also voiced "Pumuckl" and the German audio-version of "Asterix").
Herbig may likewise have grown up with "Hui Buh" but I doubt he understood what gave the series its magic. Where Clarins voice was uniquely captivating, Herbig and his squeaky, childlike voice comes across as nothing less than annoying. And that's not even mentioning his pseudo-Bavarian accent.
Where the original Hui Buh only existed in voice, on the covers of the audio-tapes (depicted as an illuminated skeleton wearing a medieval suit) and the imagination of the listener, Herbigs version is a badly animated cartoon character who spends a lot of time grinning and grimacing.
There are many fans of Herbigs type of slapstick, often (and aptly) described as "Grimassenschneiderei" or grimacing – but there just as many who find it infantile and free of intellectual humour.
People who enjoyed Herbigs similarly-minded "Lissi und der wilde Kaiser" or kids who didn't grew up with the original Hui Buh might enjoy this film – let's face it, media-standards hasn't exactly risen over the last decades – but if you were likewise a fan of the original, I'd steer clear from this movie. Likely you'll be disappointed.
To keep the saddest point for last: Hans Clarin appears here as the "Castellan", Hui Buh's trusted friend and benefactor. It would be his last role in a movie; Clarin passing away shortly after the films release. I believe he would have deserved a more fitting epitaph than this film.
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