Secret agent Marnie – Marnies Welt (2018)

Directed by: Christoph Lauenstein, Wolfgang Lauenstein | 93 minutes | animation, family | Dutch voice cast: Janouk Kelderman, Dennis Willekens, Lucas Dietens, Juliann Ubbergen, Joost Claes

A rooster stands on the back of a cat, which in turn leans on a dog. The trio is piled on top of a donkey’s back. It is an image that we see in the streets in various places, especially in Europe. At the Anton Pieckplein in the Efteling, for example. The most famous version of the statue can be seen in the market square next to the town hall of Bremen, the city inextricably linked to the fairy tale of the Brothers Grimm who immortalized the foursome. In ‘The Bremen town musicians’, four discarded animals decide to flee to Bremen to make music in the street. Along the way, they clash with a gang of robbers. A rooster, a cat, a dog and a donkey are not directly animals that you associate with beautiful (voice) sounds. There are various stories about the reasons why the Brothers Grimm chose these animals. The Bremen, for example, would be so unmusical that they could even appreciate braying, barking, meowing and crowing. The inhabitants of Bremen prefer to say that the city is so tolerant that there is even room for these kinds of noisemakers. It probably played a role for the Brothers Grimm that Bremen was a free trading city and that everyone was allowed to practice the profession they wanted (in the eighteenth/nineteenth century, far from self-evident).

It is precisely this foursome of animals that play the leading role in the German/Belgian/Indian animation film ‘Secret agent Marnie’ from 2018. The driving force behind the film is the German twins Wolfgang and Christoph Lauenstein, who have been working on the road for years. various forms of animation (stop-motion, CGI). In 1990 they already won an Academy Award for their short film ‘Balance’. In 2018 they also released the film ‘Louis and the aliens’. Just like that film, ‘Secret Agent Marnie’ is well behaved and especially enjoyable for children. Marnie is a fat red cat who is pampered immensely by her owner, who treats her like a child. She eats at the table and has her own room where she watches episodes of her favorite detective series. She dreams of solving crimes herself, but she is not allowed to go outside. One day her mistress receives an unexpected visit from her brother Paul. He’s in a wheelchair, but that turns out to be a cover for acts that can’t stand the light of day. Not coincidentally, the sleepy village where Marnie lives is suddenly put off by a series of burglaries. Because Marnie is too curious, Paul tries to work her out of the house. But Marnie manages to escape and comes into contact with the embittered watchdog Elvis, the silly donkey Anton (who initially pretends to be a circus zebra) and IJsbrand, a rooster who is tired of life. They are wrongly accused of the burglaries and they flee. But Marnie wouldn’t be Marnie if she didn’t get to the bottom of the case, try to unmask the real culprits and seek reparation for her and her new friends.

With their years of experience in the animation world, the Lauenstein brothers have once again managed to produce a film that looks right. Don’t expect anything earth-shattering or groundbreaking, but the background of the Germans as makers of stop-motion is reflected in the CGI they show here. So there is little to say about the animation. However, the story does have some flaws. ‘Secret agent Marnie’ follows a predictable path and is not very adventurous. At rare moments, attempts are also made to address watching adults with winks and visual jokes, but these remain bogged down in half-hearted attempts. The voice work also leaves much to be desired, at least in the original version that we saw. Marnie, for example, has a squeaky voice that gets on the nerves and Arnold’s voice is annoying too. If they also spout wooden dialogues, that only intensifies the irritation. Fortunately, the dialogues pick up a bit, but they never become profound or captivating. Despite its shortcomings, ‘Secret Agent Marnie’ is quite entertaining, especially for the young viewers for whom the film is, after all, intended. The Lauenstein brothers are without a doubt talented and visually they hold their own. As far as the story is concerned, however, there is still a lot of gain to be made.