Impy's Wonderland
Impy's Wonderland
G | 01 May 2008 (USA)
Impy's Wonderland Trailers

A winged baby dinosaur inhabits an island in the middle of the ocean with a group of loveable animal friends. Everything changes when a dimwitted dinosaur hunter turns up and lures the creature back to captivity with rather sinister plans for his discovery.

Reviews
Horst in Translation ([email protected])

"Urmel voll in Fahrt" or "Impy's Wonderland" is a German German-language film from 2008, so this one will have its 10th anniversary next year. Several writers and directors worked on this one, maybe the most known tale of the Augsburger Puppenkiste to turn this into a movie. Oh well, actually Urmel is the most known character, but this is probably not the most known tale as it has nothing in common with the original story. This original story was dealt with in the first Urmel film and not in this one here, which is an entirely different story. But I do not think that this is a major problem or anything because if you see this film as an entirely fictitious standalone movie, then you won't be disappointed. Maybe I am a bit biased as I like animation more than the average grown-up does, but still. I can see how many people who loved the original Urmel did not love this one, but it is always about opening up yourself to new aspects and directions.This is probably also the approach that all the voice actors in this 80-minute film gave. And these are quite a few pretty well-known ones, for example Kalkofe, Engelke, Herbst, Völz and Boning. Some of them of course also performed in the first Urmel film from I think two years earlier. I am yet to see this one I think, at least to review this one, so we will see if I think it is as decent as this sequel we have here. Don#t get me wrong. This is not a perfect film by any means and nothing I would consider anywhere near my top10 of the year 2008, but it is two hours of decent animated entertainment and does not deserve the weak rating it has here. The one thing I found the most annoying was probably Urmel's voice or I should say Hannes Maurer's voice. This is one area where they could have done better for sure. But it is not a negative deal breaker by any means. I give this one Impy (English name for Urmel) a thumbs-up, Go see it.

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ulrichburke

I don't know what all the other reviewers here saw or were expecting. I saw a movie absolutely BEGGING to be watched in full-on 3D, with a rock-solid storyline, Pixar-quality animation, great characterization and, above all, a true sense of FUN. It never took itself too seriously, that was its huge strength. It laughed at itself, so you could laugh with it more.I don't want to spoil one moment of this for anyone who's going to see it - so I'm not going to say what actually happens. I'm going to let you feel the magic for yourselves. Watch it with a heart full of popcorn and a child in your eyes. Watch it when you've had a bad day and it will fill you with champagne and carnival. Watch it when you want to see all the games of make-believe you played as a kid made real, somehow, and fitted into ninety minutes of roller-coaster dreams.I don't work for the company, but I beg to differ from a lot of the reviewers here. If certain sequences - you'll know them when you see them, trust me - had had the funds for full-on 3D - maybe they did, what do I know? - if it had been given the chance by a distributor NOT blinded by the word Hollywood, this film would have been a Pixar-style smash. But there is a key to it you must remember.Go into it WITH a child, and you'll come out of it AS a child, laughing like you might not have laughed for years.See it. Impey's Wonderland - innocence sugared with starlight.

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KidVidGames

Based on the book, which was turned into a stop-motion animation, then a live action segment in Kaept'n Blaubaer's show, this CGI sequel to the first movie is okay. The storyline is a little weak, and seriously lacking details.I saw it at a "Panda-fest" room party at a furry convention. I resisted the temptation to leave and see some of the activities outside, but it was kind of worth it, since there are some tender scenes between Urmel (Impy) and Babu, a young panda. There's no references about where Babu came from, possibly left out on purpose to build a leader for a third movie.Other scenes were not quite so tender, and I saw a few scenes that would prevent this from being distributed in American venues. One such scene is a semi-closeup of a CGI dog whizzing on a robot dinosaur. This scene cannot be cut without seriously impairing the already-weak storyline.Others weren't done too well - one of the Arab buyers was fiddling around with an ice cream cone. Was that a hint at an "Urmel Eiscreme" flavor? It's easy to get lost with a movie that's seen outside its target venue, as there's no marketing.The whale that's seen breaching at the beginning of the movie irked me, as it was doing that a few yards away from shore. Unless the island has a very steep drop where the island meets the sea, that couldn't be physically possible. I know it's a CGI cartoon, but that was unexpected.The best part of the movie was the roller coaster sequence. It's a bit fantastic in places, but makes up for the mediocrity of the rest of the movie. Too many elements were borrowed from the first movie, though.So, if you like dragons, dinosaurs and/or pandas, give this one a watch It's not too bad.

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dbborroughs

On the English language DVD I saw this is called Impy's Wonderland.German made animated film isn't bad, nor is it very good.Its about a year old dragon (or dinosaur with wings) living on a island with other talking animals and people who is tempted away from his island by a millionaire who needs monsters for his amusement park. The animation is uneven with it hovering around TV quality material. The plot and such is too dull to amount to much. I don't know if its the English dub or if the original German was just as bland since th copy I saw only was dubbed. There is some connection to an earlier version of the characters on a German TV show, but I don't know anything about it other than the connections I can gather up from the IMDb listings. There are better ways to spend your cash then renting or seeing this, but if you do get stuck watching it you probably won't pluck your eyes out.

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