Plop and the violin adventure (2005)

Directed by: Matthias Temmermans | 65 minutes | family | Actors: Walter De Donder, Chris Cauwenberghs, Agnes De Nul, Aimé Anthoni, Frans Bauer, Ellen Van Gelder, Bert Cosemans

‘Plop en het Vioolaventuur’ is already the fifth feature film about the famous Flemish gnome. In this exciting adventure, he comes to the rescue of the girl Anna when she breaks her violin just before an important performance. It is of course no problem for Plop and his followers to restore the sound box of a famous antique violin, but how do you get a new string so quickly? Fortunately, gnome Amadeus is still there, an urban musician who somewhat resembles a well-known Dutch singer.

The latter may be correct, because the film makers have found none other than Frans Bauer prepared for the role of Amadeus. In his own words, because he always wanted to be a gnome. The fact that he can do something about his name recognition in Belgium in this way is of course a bonus. Frans is allowed to sing a song and recite some lyrics, the former being a lot more convincing than the latter.

‘Plop and the Violin Adventure’ has become a film that meets all expectations. Everything is geared towards the youngest visitors. The story is simple, the humor is simple, the songs are horrific, the articulation is very clear and everything ends up on its feet in the end.

Despite the fact that there is little to criticize about the film, it all comes across as very uninspired. Maybe the gnome computers aren’t quite up to date yet, but the effects look lousy and the prospects are often questionable. It’s also a shame that they didn’t pay more attention to Bauer’s acting and that there weren’t some small humorous asides for the carried away parents in the film.

Yet. The kids will no doubt enjoy this adventure and parents should remember that a visit to the dentist is (usually) worse. In addition, ‘Plop en het Vioolaventuur’ is on the short side at 65 minutes, so that the suffering is quickly over. However, it is advisable for parents to put parsley in their ears in good time, because otherwise there is a good chance that you will be singing ‘Het Kabouterlied’ for days on end. And that’s no fun plopperdeplop.