The Thief Lord (2006)

worst piece of junk i ve seen in a while, terrible acting (acting??even vanessa redgrave is pitiful here), and they managed to make Venice look like a cheap touristic trap. racist depiction of the poor scared black kid with a thick African accent, haven't seen such characterization since the 30'soverall, its a shame that so many kid's authors take kids for idiots.one hour and a half of absolute boredom, unfunny jokes all over the place , predictable turns, not a trace of action or , god forbid, violence (yes!kids love violence!!or i did, growing up in the 80's..)avoid at all costs

I love this movie. After I saw it, I decided to read the book. I was glued to it. It took me less than 3 days to read it. The next day, I compared the book to the movie and realized that the movie hardly left anything out and stayed very loyal to the book. The movie is one of my very favorites and so is the book. I told my friend to read it and she loved it, too! I suggest to everyone to see the movie and read the book. This movie is amazingly detailed for having the low budget it did. The acting was wonderful and Cornelia Funke (the writer of the book) did a great job writing it. It is just the best. It is the perfect movie for the whole family.

'The Thief Lord' is an enchanting little film that will keep people of all ages occupied since it's executed in a manner that isn't too childish or sugary. Based on fantasy novel by Cornelia Funke, the film centres on fourteen-year-old Prosper and six-year-old Bo, orphaned brothers who face being split up by their cruel aunt and uncle who intend to dump the elder boy in a children's home while they adopt the younger child. The boys flee to Venice, a city their mother told them was magical, where they are befriended by the mysterious Thief Lord and his band of street waifs. Stealing to provide for themselves, the children's lives are about to take another extraordinary turn as the Thief Lord's secret is unravelled and they discover why Venice truly is a place veiled of magic.The child cast in this film all give decent performances and manage to carry the film well, since it is very much a film that focuses on their characters. Rollo Weeks' Scipio is portrayed in a manner that shows him to be a less flashy, more troubled hero than Harry Potter of the films (an entirely different character to the Harry of the books). Aaron Johnson is perfect as Prosper, a young teenager caught between enjoying his own childhood and providing a parental figure to his brother while wee Jasper Harris was utterly adorable as Bo, proving that very young actors can still be talented. Their young co-stars of George MacKay, Lathaniel Dyer and Alice Connor are equally as effective in their roles. And the young cast are well-supported by their adult co-stars, particularly Jim Carter as the clumsy Victor and Alexei Sayle as the slimy Barbarossa.As an adaptation, 'The Thief Lord' is quite loyal to the books with the characters and the main plot remaining largely unchanged. The story is depicted in a manner that is involving and will endear the audience to the young characters and the musical score fitted the mood of the film perfectly. However, there were a couple of flaws, such as the scenes towards the end with the new 'children' (I don't want to elaborate too much in deference to those who haven't seen the film) were a bit too slapstick and didn't suit the rest of the film while the new version of Scipio should probably have been played by someone else since it just looked like Rollo Weeks with a bit of make-up on. And perhaps it should have been established where Proper and Bo lived previously so the audience aren't left wondering why the citizens of Venice all speak with English accents.That said, I found 'The Thief Lord' a charming film that should appeal to all ages of the family. It's a shame it's so underrated and received little acknowledgement in the UK since surely we should be supporting our talented home-grown young actors and be eager to show the world that British child acting doesn't begin and end with the Harry Potter cast.

Do we rate movies like we do commercials? Then a young pup nibbling on the leg of a teenage stunner should be rated 11!Anyway, this movie is not bad, but it's not very good either. It's average for its time, budget and genre. It is basically a children's story, with pretty good acting and casting, but with bad directing and scripting. Someone probably took a children's book and adapted it, then left the film to the actors.Conclusion: if you are looking for a nostalgic reminder of a childhood movie, then watch it. Else you will just get bored by an outdated and pretty pointless film. I am not against these kind of movies, but I've seen movies with children and for children that were way better and impressive.