Heidi - Die Legende vom Luchs

Now this does get off to a distinctly ropey start with song called “Heidi” that we could probably have done without, but thereafter it’s actually a perfectly adequate little family feature. As per Johanna Spyri’s book, “Heidi” lives in the mountains with her kindly but grumpy grandfather and near her best pal, the goatherd “Peter”. When a family of peckish lynxes is caught trying to get onto the chicken coup, they are scared away and the community - egged on by visiting lumber entrepreneur “Schnaittinger” - set up traps for them. Luckily for one she names “Pepper”, “Heidi” rescues one and together with “Peter” goes up above the tree line to reunite it with its family. That is where she discovers the real intention of their new, unscrupulous, benefactor and so concludes that his similar plans for their pristine valley must be kiboshed. He’s devious, though, and soon everything she holds dear is in peril…! No, there’s not really much jeopardy but for the kids it has some amiable characters, playful kittens and a thumping great environmental message that is writ large, but actually quite gently. The animation is all fairly standard, big-eyed, stuff, and some of the movements do look a little stilted but it’s all perfectly watchable summer cinema fayre. Quite whether children will be interested or not is a good question. I saw it on my own.