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The Thief Lord (PG)

By Damon Smith

In a summer blockbuster marketplace saturated with big name Hollywood stars and explosive special effects, The Thief Lord is going to struggle to steal a slice of the UK box office.

Adapted from Cornelia Funke's prize-winning novel of the same name, Richard Claus's family-oriented adventure relies on a cast of virtually unknown young actors to carry the action, and places the emphasis on storytelling over pizzazz.

The pacing could certainly be brisker and the centre-piece sequence involving a magical carousel is an anti-climax, but the film's heart is in the right place.

Cinematographer David Slama and production designer Matthias Kammermeier make the most of the gorgeous architecture and labyrinthine alleyways of Venice, conjuring an air of mystery and magic in the ancient city. However, director Claus can't quite bring all of the various elements together.

When their mother dies, 12-year-old Prosper (Aaron Johnson) and five-year-old Bo Hartlieb (Jasper Harris) are placed in the care of their wicked aunt Esther (Carole Boyd) and uncle Max (Bob Goody).
When they decide that they only wish to adopt the younger, the boys run away to Venice - the city of their late mother's dreams. With no food or money and only their wits to protect them, Prosper and Bo are glad to meet 15-year-old ruffian Scipio (Rollo Weeks) - aka the Thief Lord - who steals to buy food and clothing.

Scipio takes the runaways to his lair, an abandoned cinema, which is also home to three other young orphans and pickpockets: Hornet (Alice Connor), Riccio (George MacKay) and Mosca (Lathaniel Dyer).

Prosper and Bo quickly settle in to their new surroundings, unaware that their aunt and uncle have hired private detective Victor (Jim Carter) to track them down.

When Scipio is hired to steal the final piece of a magical wooden carousel, rumoured to alter the flow of time, Prosper and Bo find themselves on the most exhilarating and enchanting journey of their young lives.

2:44pm Tuesday 23rd May 2006

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Definite must see.  Excellent film.

Forgot about this one.

After seeing Defiance recently, I was looking up George McKay who has a supporting role in the film. He was also in Peter Pan and he's in this as well. Good actor. I wish his role in Defiance had been a little bit more substantial. It had potential, but they just kind of ignored him for the most part. Especially at the end.

Anyway, I was going to ask if anyone had seen The Thief Lord, but then realized it was already in our database and there were several ratings and a thread about it.

Thanks for the tip.

Unfortunately, that one doesn't seem to be available on DVD in North America, which is why I was looking into The Thief Lord instead.

Yeah, I think I'm going to give that torrent a shot. Download speeds really suck now that Canadian ISPs started throttling bandwidth during peek hours. 1 G is not too bad, though.

When I downloaded the Avatar complete series, it was 10 G and took me about five days.

TheSwede wrote on 07. Feb 2009 at 01:10:

True, also on eBay (PAL region-free DVD)