Laban makes a mess of it – Lilla Spöket Laban: Bullar Och Bång (2009)

Directed by: Per Åhlin, Alicja Jaworski, Karin Nilsson, Lasse Persson | 60 minutes | animation, family | Dutch voice cast: Wiebe Pier Cnossen, Hetty Heijting, Sien Diels, Lucas Dietens, Tim Koper, Jurjen van Loon, Birgit Schuurman, Donna Vrijhof

In the category ‘guaranteed fun for the target group’, the Swedish foursome Lasse Persson, Per Åhlin, Karin Nilsson and Alicja Jaworski come in 2009 with the fourth film adventure in a row of the popular ghost Laban. Excellently dubbed in Dutch, this is again a very nice movie experience for children who can’t get enough of the pleasant stories of the most frightened but also sweetest ghost in the world. In the now familiar set-up, six stories of less than ten minutes, each with six different themes, they are served their needs: Laban again experiences exciting (but not too exciting!) things, which will be very recognizable for toddlers and preschoolers.

‘Helping Mommy’ is one of those activities that will appeal to children. In the first story, Laban and Labolina get to work in the kitchen when Mama’s freshly baked castle cake accidentally falls on the floor. Mama is very sad because the king and queen and their children are coming for dinner and now they have no dessert! Laban and Labolina each follow their own recipe and Laban pays particular attention to ensure that he uses the right ingredients from Grandma Ghost’s cookbook. Labolina puts her own spin on her cake. The expectations of the viewers are put to the test, because every child now naturally believes that Labolina’s cake fails. After all: you can never make a tasty cake with ketchup, lollipops and cookies as a base, can you? But when Laban’s pie comes out of the oven, he sadly throws it out the window, he’s so ashamed of this black misfire… Or will it still be okay?

Labolina thinks in the second story that it is gift day. At first she likes wrapping an empty box, but when Laban asks her what ‘the present’ is, she is surprised. Together they look for a suitable surprise for Papa and Mama Ghost. But then, what would they consider a nice present? Perhaps the Queen knows what to do. However, Laban doesn’t always get along well with his sister. For example, if she makes a lot of noise in a story and disturbs his play. Laban puts a stop to it, but then he finds out that silence isn’t everything.

Going out to stay is always very exciting for small children. In ‘Laban makes a mess’, Laban goes to stay with Prince Bas for the first time. During the day it’s still okay, because the king turns out to bake the most delicious pizza and frolicking just before going to sleep is also wonderful to do. But as soon as the lights go out, Laban suddenly finds it a lot less fun not to be with Mom and Dad Ghost. How does he solve this?

The cartoon style is now known to Laban fans: simple animations with humorous details (the crown of Prince Bas’s goldfish!). against a background of beautifully colored collages. The duration of the cutscenes is just right and kids will love the ghost family if they haven’t already. You will see: when in 2030 people in their twenties talk about good childhood memories, Laban definitely scores very high.