Zoop in South America (2007)

Directed by: Johan Nijenhuis | 90 minutes | adventure | Actors: Nicolette van Dam, Monique van der Werff, Peggy Jane de Schepper, Thomas Berge, Vivienne van den Assem, Jon Karthaus, Juliette van Ardenne, Patrick Martens, Erwan van Buuren, Ewout Genemans

Sequels are, according to many, by definition worse than the original. That one is always the best, part two is always disappointing and the third film is another nice attempt to make up for that. This statement does not hold for ‘Zoop’, because the first film, ‘Zoop in Africa’, received moderate critical acclaim, as befits the Dutch media, although it did attract a large audience (director Johan Nijenhuis will be there after ‘Costa’ and ‘Full Moon’ have become accustomed to). In part two something surprising happened again, this time the film was praised by the press and the public alike! Comparisons were even made with ‘Indiana Jones’, which shouldn’t have surprised the makers of ‘Zoop in India’; Indiana Jones must have been an important ‘source of inspiration’. Either way, getting something like this done on no budget (compared to Hollywood) is quite an achievement.

And now part three. A film is probably always disappointing when you compare it with a successful predecessor. Then you look colored. Perhaps it is therefore best to judge the film separately from the others:

‘Zoop in South America’ is cleverly put together. With a variety of character types. Moes is a sweetheart with a good heart and an independent, punky girlfriend, Taffie, who loves him dearly. Bionda is a super babe, dumb blonde, heartthrob, but seems to be left alone by the men of the club. Sira is the more ordinary type, a bit tough, sometimes insecure. Alwin is beautiful and tough (type for the cover of ‘the girls’ magazines’). Mike is the leader type, mentally strong and practical and best friend of Bastiaan, narcissist with a big mouth and a small heart. Clichés? Maybe, but can you get around that? It’s not flat as a dime here, because it’s well written, in short: it works.

The actors are well attuned to their roles, it has to be, at least it looks like that, game level soap, but no point. The story flows well and is simple and simple in design, clearly worked out. Cinematic stumbling blocks are subtly circumvented or avoided (no goodbye at Schiphol, for example), so that the story continues smoothly. That remains credible, except for a few moments: Moes and Taffie break into something ‘unseen’ in broad daylight and later destroy a market stall, to which no one responds, where is the market stall owner, who sees his precious goods transformed into pulp?

The image quality is high (beautiful colors) and there are some beautiful shots in it. Like on that salt flat, a beautifully chosen location that produces beautiful material. The score is (again) Indiana Jones-esque and so it works, sometimes it’s even a bit funky, also fun. Everything sounds and looks neat. The story is mainly for the kids, but it seems that adults have also been taken into account (especially with the men: see Bionda’s beautiful long legs).

‘Zoop in South America’ is modern without being too over the top. It is a smooth film for children, which the parents will also enjoy. And so the makers have proven that sequels are not always worse than their predecessor(s), sometimes even better!