Stylish but barely mediocre overall

A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

"Momo" is a German/Italian co-production and this children's film has its 30th anniversary this year. The director and also one of the writers who adapted Michael Ende's book is Johannes Schaaf. Ende himself was still very much alive when this film was made. It runs for exactly 100 minutes and stars Radost Bokel as the title character. Early on, I thought it was really just about her physically fitting the role, but in the second half of the film she also shows that she is a decent actress, even at 10 years of age. Quite disappointing to see all she is in today is that jungle reality television series with so-called "stars". Also quite a letdown compared to the magic in this film here. Reality can be harsh. Anyway, the supporting cast includes a couple known name, such as Mario Adorf, Armin Mueller-Stahl (as the main antagonist) and a very young Sylvester Groth. And a very old John Huston in one of his final performances. There are also a handful Italian actors in here, but I cannot say I am familiar with any of them, maybe Italians are.In terms of the story, I cannot talk about how will it was adapted from the novel, but honestly, I was not very much convinced. It feels like a collection of scenes that are atmospheric, but have little interesting connection to one another, especially the flying sequence near the end. Other than that, the film has good moments and bad moments. I personally think that this film is much more creepy to adults than to children probably. I'd have instantly run if I had run into one of these gray men or if I saw these talking Barbie dolls. Those were the scariest thing ever seriously. The film is very fantastic and fantasy is really the only genre where I would categorize it. Luckily for the filmmakers, they get away with some obscure references and absurd scenes because of that. Overall, it is certainly a positive feature that the movie looks definitely a lot more recent than it really is. I recommend watching it. But not with any enthusiasm.

when we watched "momo", there were apart from us only children and a few mothers to move the children about in the cinema. obviously, the "mothers" were paying not very much attention to the film, for it is a "film for children". that is not true, it's a film for any age."momo" takes place in a small village in italy. there lives a small girl (momo), who is the most liked and trusted person in the village. one day strange haunty gray men arrive. they visit one villager after the other and steal time from them. the villagers get busy and hectic and have no more time for each other. momo and her friends try to do something about it, but it gets very difficult and dangerous.the film is well-acted, has a intense atmosphere and good music. beside of that, we can learn a lot from it - expecialy the adults. so watch this film and pay attention.

Beautiful images of an Italian village, a heart-warming story and great acting by Adorf, Mueller-Stahl, charming little Radost Bokel and the less known actors make this the ideal family movie. The Men in Grey, Master Hora and turtle Cassiopeia add depth to the plot, so you are free to read it as a warning of the neo-liberal episode we're in, with multinational trusts sucking the living soul out of everyone who falls for their false promises. You might even get an advice on how to overcome it -- if you want to.Had Fassbinder lived long enough and had he not been as kaputt, he might have made this movie. Had Wenders understood a thing, he might have done it. Thanks to little-known director Johannes Schaaf at least one of Michael Ende's novels, Momo, has been adequately transformed into a great movie.

I've seen "Momo" when I was a child and it really fascinated me. The movie inspired me to read Michael Ende's novel. This story about time or better about people who steal other people's lifetime was so fascinating for me as a child. I haven't seen the movie for about 10 years, but I still can remember a lot of images, e.g. Cassiopoeia, the turtle who's leading Momo to Master Hora.