The Skippers of the Cameleon (2003)

I have to agree on the horrendous casting and the script as well, directing could've been better. The biggest mistake in casting was the Klinkhamer Gerben Zonderland mismatch! Gerben Zonderland should have been cast as Father Klinkhamer and vice versa. Maarten Spanjer as Gerben Zonderland looks much and much too old, while Klinkhamer looks too young. Ester looks too old, certainly with that huge bust! This is supposed to be an 11-12 year old girl!?! And they don't look like their characters either, as were drawn in the books. Neither were the twins, but that's forgivable, it must hard to find twins who can act, are the right age and resemble the book drawings. But I have to say that story and directing were worse. And such drama of the Esther character being orphaned 3 times! This is uncool for a children's movie. Why did he have to die? Other less dramatic, melodramatic solutions were possible. It looked like a Dutch classical movie, very bad. And just when we thought Dutch film had come of age and was professional .... Very big miss and they've really ruined one of my favourite childhood books.

Man, I loved the books of De Roos when I was young. So when they were going to translate them to the big screen, I wanted to see it. But it turned out to be so disappointing... First off, the books are about 4 friends, with the Klinkhamer twins as most important ones, but still... The two other friends are not mentioned at all (Louw) or only very shortly introduced (Kees)... maybe they come around in the second movie (which is scheduled this year). Secondly, there is no mention of hardly any girls in the book. It's quite a boyish experience, I admit... So how could there be a girl almost in the centre of the movie? I don't care if De Jong makes some changes, but this has got *nothing* to do with the books. Another point: how come the role of 'Gerben' being played by Spanjer? Sure, he's funny, but in the books Gerben is like 25 years old, Spanjer is 41... Going on, why does the neighbour has to die so violently? That never happened in the books... it's for children, for God's sake... Then the acting. Ironically, De Jong himself as the father is probably the best as boyish father. The twins... well... can't act. They're young I know, but it almost hurt my eyes how they played. The overacting from characters like the mayor or the officer didn't work as well... Finally, let's talk about the movie :). It's just a silly story about the boys getting their boat, chasing the 'nozems' (now try get a translation for that... ehm... wiseguys?). But that's ok, the movie was just about capturing the memories from when I was about 8-12 years old... but clearly it didn't. Stick more with the story, De Jong! 3/10.

Sorry to be blunt but that is the way it is. I have been reading these books ever since I was little and I love then to death. They have everything a good book has: humor, excitement, interesting characters and so on.The idea of turning those books into a movie is a great idea. But unlike Peter Jackson who casted people who looked as they stepped right out of the books, Steven de Jong did not take similar care in this book.Gerben Zonderland is a man I remember as a clever and intelligent person. Sure, he was scared in the dark and Sietse and Hielke as well as the other characters in the book often fooled him with practical jokes. But German was a prankster himself and a great story teller.Maarten Spanjer exhibits none of those characteristics. No offense but he looks like a gullable fool and I see no resemblance with Gerben whatsoever. And to cast a man from Amsterdam as Gerben, well that is as if you an American boy play Harry Potter.Joep Sertons is also miscasted as the doctor but he is only a minor character so that is not a real big problem.And then comes the director's stint of arrogance. He casts himself as father Klinkhamer. But that man is a blacksmit and those are huge men with big muscular arms and all that. (One would have to be in that job.) Again the director does not live up to that. He more has the build of an ice skater.And finally the director also changed the books and that is something I cannot forgive. Ester was never a part of the books. She should have been a boy named Cor who always visited his aunt and uncle during vacations.He was featured in most of the early books but suddenly dissapeared and we never heard from him again. But such inconsistencies happened a few more times. A new boy came into town and befriended the cast. But the next book he was gone again.Girls were not much in the books until one of the last books written by Hotze de Roos but one must remember that it was a different age back then. Being a history buff I love that and so the idea of "modernizing" the story by adding a girl is just plain wrong.Another character from the books also did not make it in the movie. At first the cast in the books consisted of only Sietse, Hielke and Cor who went on boatrides in the "Kameleon" and then encountered other people such as Gerben and Zwart.After a few books 2 more charcters were introduced to enable more storylines or possebilities: Louw Vrolijk and Kees Dijkstra. Louw was a pretty normal kid but Kees was really a "piece of work". Often up to no good and always in the mood for food.So I can understand that he was a charater you would want in the movie. Technically he is not even supposed to be in it but of course from a commercial view he has to be.But what about Louw? Is he supposed to banned from this movie? To be left out? He may not have been a chacter who was really definable such as Kees or Gerben but he was nevertheless a character in the book.To see that Kees (whom I like a lot) has made the book but that Louw has been left out is another bad idea from the director.So I am going to close with the statement that it could have been one of the greatest Dutch movies ever. The books were excellent so you got a good start. But sadly this movie is ruined by the people who made it.Why else would a group of students make their own version of the books? I think that illustrates my point quite nicely.

This picture is an excellent copy of the original book. Although the book was written more than 50 years ago the story is still exiting for young boys (and girls) and for the parents that read the book.The twin brothers Hielke and Sietse Klinkhamer dream of having a boat. When they finally got one it becomes clear that their boat, although being rather ugly, is the fastest of the lake. In the movie the twin get to know Esther, a handsome girl that struggles with the death of her parents. This is a nice touch of the movie, since the book does not involve girls that much.An excellent Dutch movie with some thrilling parts and a lot of laughs.