The Thief Lord

Based on the novel by German author Cornelia Funke - who is probably best known for her Inkworld series, the first of which was more recently made into a film as well - The Thief Lord did not get an American theatrical release.  The cast is an ensemble of lesser knowns, at least for North America as I believe the entire cast is from the UK.  Being lesser known, however, does not necessarily mean that talent is lacking.

The story opens with orphaned Prosper (Aaron Johnson pre-Kick-Ass) stealing away his younger brother Bo (Jasper Harris) from his adoptive yet unkind aunt and uncle (Carole Boyd and Bob Goody) to prevent being separated from each other.  They flee to Venice where their mother told them that magical things happen where they unexpectedly fall in with the young Scipio (Rollo Weeks) who is the self professed Thief Lord of Venice.  They make friends with this apparent scoundrel and his group of orphans (Alice Connor,George MacKay, and Lathaniel Dyer) - it's very Peter Pan and the lost boys.  They soon rely on these new friends to help protect them from their scheming relatives who have sent a very British bumbling detective (Jim Carter) after them who reminds me somewhat of Thomson and Thompson from Tin Tin.  If it has not yet been said, let me be the first to make the observation that Carter is the poor man's Alfred Molina.  The film also stars Caroline Goodall and Alexei Sayle.

Other than some very forced allusions of things to come, this film initially gives no indication of being anything but a British drama about orphans finding their place in the world and the shenanigans they have along the way.  It isn't until near the end that it takes a bizarre swan dive into urban fantasy becoming more Harry Potter and less Oliver Twist.  Production wise, it has a very "made for tv BBC special event" feel to it in the same vein as the early adaptations of The Chronicles of Narnia, which does bring things down somewhat.  It really wasn't bad though and I found myself enjoying the likable characters.  Harris is especially adorable as the young Bo.  The characters really are the driving force behind this film as it is somewhat lacking in the area of plot.  It almost feels like they were shoehorned into what plot does eventually develop and I think I would have rather seen their characters played out further and developed more than what is allowed.  I have a feeling there is more of that in the book as movies seem to decide that character development is the best thing to cut from an adaptation such as this.

Overall, not a bad film, but it's not the greatest either.

*** (3/5 stars)