In 2007, there was hardly a name that went through the gazettes as often as that of the little polar bear Knut. The cute bear from Berlin Zoo and his keeper Thomas Dörflein could be seen almost daily on TV or in newspapers, there were Knut DVDs, his own TV show and some rather unspeakable Knut songs. But as Knut slowly but surely grew into a handsome young polar bear and lost much of his high cuteness factor, polar bear mania in Germany ebbed a bit. But then Flocke was born at Nuremberg Zoo and is now preparing to take over Knut's legacy. But Knut is not going to let the sceptre be taken out of his hands that easily. And so he is now preparing to give his worldwide popularity a new boost with a feature film.
"Knut und seine Freunde" features lots of previously unreleased footage from the months when Thomas Dörflein hand-raised the baby polar bear. The film also shows how Knut's relatives grow up in the Arctic and observes two brown bear orphans in Belarus who have to stand their ground against a number of dangers and adversities. The idea behind this is to show young children, who are clearly the film's target audience (which is made clear by the very fact that the wind acts as narrator!), that it makes a big difference whether animals grow up and live in a natural environment, or under unnatural circumstances in a zoo. And even if Knut's omnipresent cuteness dominates the entire film, this basic idea is quite commendable in itself.
The fact that the nature shots can't compete with comparable works like "Kingdom of the Arctic" or the surprise success "Our Earth" will hardly bother the little ones. What is really disturbing, however, is the obtrusive soundtrack. Knut's performances are accompanied by very simple pop songs, with one of the few songs being repeated almost countless times. Already at the third time the song is extremely annoying, but when it is played again and again and at the end it even spoils the credits in a very bad German, it is more than too much of a good thing.
But even this disturbing factor will be rather less noticeable to children. They want to see their beloved Knut and get there also really some wonderful moments offered. "Knut and his friends" is a pretty children's documentary with good ambitions. The realization has some small weaknesses, but probably only the adult companions will be bothered by them. And that's not really a bad thing, because even the biggest critics can't escape Knut's charm. As a conclusion, the whole thing can be reduced simply to one word: Cute!
Directed by Michael Johnson
Length: approx. 89 min.
FSK: o.Al.
Ein Artikel von Frankfurt-Tipp
