Catch That Girl (2002)

Undescribable Perfection

Beautiful, moving film.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Ida's Father has known to be a good climber, but in one event he fell down. A long period he has had no injuries of the fall, but suddenly he collapses and is hospitalized. He needs expensive surgery, but the Danish state does not pay for this kind of surgery. Ida, with her 2 pals Sebastian and Jonas sneak into a bank and try to steal money for the surgery. This is a heist film for children; although the 3 kids break into a bank, which is of course illegal, they act out of despair to prevent Ida's father from dying. The American remake "catch that kid" is not as good as this movie. Catch that kid is in my opinion a bad remake and my preference lies with this movie. This is original.

12 year old Ida has a talent for climbing. She shares this interest with her beloved father, and is always looking for a new challenge. Her father runs a go-kart track, her mother is security manager in a bank. Ida's two best friends, Sebastian and Jonas, are hanging around competing for her attention and hoping for the privilege of becoming her boyfriend. One day her father is diagnosed with a very serious illness and the only thing that can save his life is a very expensive medical operation in the USA. When her mother fails to secure a loan, Ida decides to take the matter into her own hands. With the assistance of Sebastian and Jonas she starts planning a stunt that will make her Denmarks youngest bank-robber ...

Yes, I am sentimental, and yes, I love movies where kids are the better humans. True, Klatretøsen does have some logical or even plot shortcomings. These are more than compensated by the kids' great acting (Julias first movie role at all!) and the charm of a Dogma film (I liked this kind of cinematografic art long before the Dogma; ever since Herzog's 'Herz aus Glas'). Well, I cried through the last fifteen minutes which is a higher tear factor than bambi or Fly away home had for me.

I just saw this movie at the Berlin Film Festival's Children's Program and it just killed me (and pretty much everyone else in the audience)! And make no mistake about it, this film belongs into the all-time-250! Let me tell you that I'm in no way associated with the creators of this film if that's what you come to believe reading this. No, but this actually is IT! Nevermind the "kid's-film" label on it, "Klatretösen" ("Climber Girl") is on almost every account a classic (as in "biblical")! The story concerns 12-year old Ida (magnetic: Julie Zangenberg), who is devastated to learn of her daddy's terminal illness. Special surgery in the US would cost 1.5 million and of course, nobody could afford that. So Ida and her friends Jonas and Sebastian do what every good kid would - and burglarize a bank! Sounds corny? Don't forget: This is not America and "Klatretösen" is by no means the tear-jerking Robin-Williams-multiplex-plat-du-jour nobody takes seriously anyway. Director Fabian Wullenweber set out to make a big-budget-action-comedy for kids and, boy, did he succeed! Let me put it this way: This film rocks like no kid-film and few others did before. And there's a whole lot more to it than just the "action". After about 20 minutes of by-the-numbers-exposition (well, granted) it accelerates into a monster that:effortlessly puts "mission impossible" to shame (the numerous action sequences are masterfully staged and look real expensive - take that, mummy!)dwarves almost every other movie suspense-wise ( no easy-they're-only-kids-antics here )easily laces a dense story with enough laughs to make jim carrey look for career alternativesnods to both damon runyon and karate kid within the same secondscomes up with so much wicked humor that side of p.c. that I can hear the American ratings board wet their pants from over heremanages to actually be tender and serious and sexy at the same time (ohmygod, what am I saying?? they're kids! they're kids! - nevermind, watch that last scene!)stars Stafan Pagels Anderson, who since last years "Mirakel" is everybody's favourite kid actor What a ride!