The Little Witch

The Little Witch is a hundred and twenty seven, and among witches that counts as very young. She wants to attend the great gathering held once a year but she is not invited. She goes anyway and is caught. As a punishment she is given a year: in that time she will learn the whole book of spells by heart and sit an examination at the end. She is also required to be a good witch. She misunderstands what being good means; she starts helping people, which is not at all what the witches wanted. She has a talking raven with her; Abraxas objects at every step. Michael Schaerer directs. Karoline Herfurth, Axel Prahl, Luis Vorbach and Momo Beier are in the cast. It is a German and Swiss co-production. The source is Otfried Preußler's children's novel; the book has been read by generations in Germany and translated into many languages. The matter it builds is misunderstanding the rules; the comedy comes from there and the character is not naughty on purpose. The film was made for a young audience and keeps its frightening sections limited. The effects and the design sit in a classic fairy tale shape; the scenes stay close to the illustrations of the book. Its second matter is exclusion; the Little Witch is kept outside the community because of her age. Its limit is predictability; the plot moves straight ahead and it offers an adult viewer little. Who it is for: viewers who like family films and classic German children's literature. Who it is not for: it is simple for adults, the humour light, and the ending clear early.