Plustown
A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.
Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Die Gänsemagd" or "The Goose Maiden" is another one-hour fairytale movie directed by Sibylle Tafel. She did some more of these and also some romance movies in the past. So you could probably say that she is as experienced as the writer duo Kömmerling/Brinx who have also worked on quite a few children's television projects in the past, usually together."Die Gänsemagd" came out Christmas 5 years ago and the cast is top-notch, better than for many theater releases these days. Herfurth, Lukas and Hübchen are in this film and even the other lesser known actors have appeared in the likes of "The Baader Meinhof Complex", "Sophie Scholl", "Ninja Assassin", "Soul Kitchen" and "Oh Boy". Herfurth made this shortly after the reader and she is currently maybe the best-known younger actress from Germany. Lukas, who plays the prince, is still mostly known for "Good Bye Lenin".The story is about a young princess who goes on a journey to meet her future husband, but faces many dangers on the way. The biggest danger, however, comes from within as a power-greedy goose maiden blackmails her into a change of characters. Of course, as usually with Brother Grimm tales, there is a happy ending and it is a movie which is not too cruel, so children can watch it. It's probably not my favorite fairytale adaptations from the many there are right now, but it surely makes a good watch. Recommended.
