Review of Emil und die Detektive

This engaging film takes a German children's classic of the 1920s and updates it to today's multicultural Berlin. The main characters appear to be between 8 and 12 years old, old enough to understand a lot about the world..but not everything, which adds some humor to the plot about a gang of children trying to track down a thief who has stolen money from the title character, young Emil. Some of the children are immigrants, some are homeless, and one is the son of a woman pastor. They travel through the streets of Berlin on skateboards, they rap about their adventures, and they are definitely not dutiful or respectful.

I saw this movie at a film festival, and I think it would make a good family movie. Unfortunately, young Americans don't have much patience with subtitles, and it has never been released in the U.S., nor, apparently, is it on DVD.