Director: Karsten Kiilerich
Writer: Karsten Kiilerich, Vicki Berlin (Screenplay) Ole Lund Kirkegaard (Novel)
Starring: (Voice Talents) Vibeke Dueholm, Peter Frodin, Erik Holmey Rebecca Ronde Kiilerich, Sonny Lahey, Thure Lindhardt
Plot: Hodja is a boy from Pjort, who borrows a flying carpet to see the world. In return he has to find and return “diamond” to her grandfather. The all-eating Sultan wants to get his hands on Hodjas flying carpet.
Runtime: 1 Hour 21 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Nice Family Film
Story: Up and Away starts as small village boy Hodja and his goat dream of traveling the land, only for his father to want him to follow in his trade as a tailor. Hodja is given an opportunity to leave, when his neighbor gives him a flying carpet to take him to the big city to find a neighbour’s diamond.
When the carpet is stolen from Hodja, it is given to the greedy Sultan who has been waiting for a flying carpet for years, Hodja must team up with local girl Esmeralda to retrieve the carpet and escape the city alive.
Thoughts on Up and Away
Characters – Hodja is a village boy that dreams of being able to go on adventures, he gets this wish, when his neighbor offers him a flying carpet to search for his granddaughter, Hodja new to the city make the typical mistakes around the city, but will show the passion to bring a fresh approach to the greed the Sultan has. Esmeralda is a streetwise girl that Hodja meets, she helps him navigate the city and to get the carpet back, even though she has suffered at the hands of the Sultan. The Sultan is the rich ruler of the city, he eats the food, takes what he wants despite being a dumb person, he wants the carpet so he can fly and anyone that crosses him will get fed to his crocodiles.
Story – The story follows a young boy that gets to go on an adventure of a life time to try and find the granddaughter of one of his neighbours, he travels to a big city where this could become possible and must learn quickly when it comes to dealing with the all powerful Sultan. This does fall into the typical reluctant hero style film, with Hodja getting to fight for the right thing. We do fall into the of just going through a pretty generic, safe storyline, one that the family could all enjoy, with moments of peril that never feel like they would be true, with the right level of humor to make everybody get something out of this story.
Settings – The film creates the powerful looking city of gold for the Sultan to live in with the rest of the city, living in the poorer areas of the city, showing the divide between rich and poor.
Animation – The animation does feel slightly clunky at times, but it is used to show a different technology than we are used to from the Western studios.
Scene of the Movie – Sultan’s carpet ride.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Slightly too generic.
Final Thoughts – This is an easy to watch family film that gets laughs, has a strong meaning behind the actions and will not show too much peril for the younger audience.
Overall: Enjoyable Family Film.
