Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Absolutely brilliant

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This movie entertained me a lot as a kid, after reading the book you notice they stayed close to the book, Aldo some things are less talked trough or not used as much as in the book. Deu to the unexpirienced actors(the teenagers) are good, especially for a first performance,they're not stunning, but believable. The parents, grandmother, old friendly lady, the 'seem to be' bad guy and weird sister, are quite stereotypes, but further the main character(the boys, Blinker, Mats & Jonas, and the girls, Nelle and Vicky) are good, and believable, also they're not stereotypical and all they have a real character, different storyline's all surounding around Blinker, who is the hero in the story. the friendships are also believable, and the love relation between Blinker and Nelle is cute, and to my opinion there is chemistry between the actors, which is shown and used more in the sequel of the film.the story is also good, entertaining and sometimes surprising(if you haven't read the book), i loved this movie as a kid, and i still can enjoy it watching now, in my late teens, now i can relate to them and notice that they were like teens really are(back then i always thought it was 'how-we-want-teens-to-be) but now i know, it is true to how teens are and you just can relate to them.

"Blinker en de bakfietsbioscoop" was my favorite book when i was younger, and i think this movie is a good adaptation. The characters are good, the actor's well chosen and the sets seem to come right out of the book.But for me there are two weak things. First, adapting meant cutting story lines, which they didn't do enough. They kept most story lines, but due to the tempo they have to maintain in order to keep this movie short for children, a lot of story lines are left dangling, others are taken up and finished in a mere ten seconds, other story lines never take of, and others are introduced at the end. It would have been better to cut some more, and make the movie less close to the book. They tried to keep up with the book too much. Most scenes never take longer than a minute or two, which doesn't help to make the movie a smooth flowing story.The second weak point is the acting. The most heard comeback you'll get when you criticize the acting of children and youngsters is "they're only kids, cut them some slack." In a way i agree that they don't have to be judged by the same standards that apply for adults. But on the other hand it is my opinion that you can judge child actors by their own standards. The main actors are obviously chosen for their looks, because they are very true to the descriptions of the characters in the book. No one of the main characters had any formal training or experience before, which unluckily shows in this movie. A lot of dialogue sounds fake, and sometimes they even look bored reciting a line out of the script, which doesn't do any good to the movie. An exception is the main character, Blinker, who does have some very touching scenes, and who carries the movie adequately. Most adult characters in this movie are stereotypes, (like the clumsy dad, the old scary lady, the baroness, the bossy teacher, the 'young' grandmother,...) and the bit of overacting is permitted.But the strange thing is, i really like this movie, mainly for the general atmosphere, the setting, the funny dialogue and the main character.This movie would have been a lot better if it were longer (to improve the story lines), and if some of the actors had received some more coaching. The rather weak acting is probably due to the short time in which this movie was shot, 31 days, so if the same actors had gotten more time, the result would have been much better.I rated it 8/10