Die Schule der magischen Tiere 2 (4½ Stars)

Amazon Friday #39

It's the school holidays at the moment, so I'm letting Oliver decide what he wants to watch. He loved "Die Schule der magischen Tiere 2" ("The school of magic animals") when we saw it in the cinema, so he was overjoyed when he saw it was available on Amazon Prime.

The title comes from the habit of an explorer to bring children magic animals once a year. There are only a couple of animals each year, and the animals themselves decide which child it wants to adopt, or rather be adopted by. They're natural animals, such as parrots, penguins or foxes, but what's magic about them is that they can change themselves into stuffed animals whenever necessary. It's often necessary, because wild animals aren't allowed in school. The only person allowed to see the animals in their true form is Miss Cornfield, the explorer's girlfriend. She's in on the secret.

How old are the children? My guess is that they're the 10th class, i.e. 15 and 16. They looked a lot younger in the first film, made two years previously. That's a problem with series of films about children. The actors grow so fast, so their development has to be built into the films. In the case of the Harry Potter films it was done very well. Each film was a new year in school. The magical animal films are a bit more chaotic. Two more sequels have been planned, and if they're not made fast the boys will have beards and the girls will look like old women.

Surprisingly, the film deals with subjects that aren't directly related to the magical animals themselves. A play is being made to celebrate the school's 250th anniversary. The headmaster has written a screenplay about the school's founder, but there are doubts whether he really was the founder. Miss Cornfield knows more than she's willing to tell. There's a mean girls clique that wants to derail the play and make themselves the main actresses, even if they don't have the required acting skills. They have good looks, but that's not all that's needed.

I'm glad Oliver persuaded me to watch the film again. I can hardly wait to see the third instalment in the cinema later this year.