With the “Kangaroo Chronicles”, the author, songwriter, cabaret artist and now also actor Marc-Uwe Kling was able to show off all his talents. First podcasts with individual kangaroo short stories, then four books and, above all, incredibly well-sold audio books. Everyone, it seems, loves the kangaroo. That kangaroo, so the story wants it, that suddenly moves in unasked for the daredevil, clumsy, guitarist composing typical Berlin Marc-Uwe (Dimitrij Schaad; the author named the figure after himself).
They lack the plan in life, a loving partner by their side and, above all, the perspective. Somehow alternatively, somehow he is on the left, if not depression and migraines mean that everything doesn’t matter to him anyway. So he doesn’t really say anything against it when a communist kangaroo knocks on the door, moves in and turns Marc-Uwe’s life upside down.
The compelling comparison with the books
But what is it that has made the books and audio books so successful – and can it be found in the film adaptation of director Dani Levy? Yes and no. First there is the constant exchange of blows between the kangaroo and Marc-Uwe. The two have a kind of love-hate relationship, they discuss and scold without ceasing, but never below the belt, and pull together when it matters.
This scratchy friendship comes across in the film. The anti-capitalist swipes and thumping punch lines (such as the miniature dog Weitkick competition in the park) are as strong or as weak as they were in the short stories. Nevertheless, something is different here. The already great loveliness becomes even lovelier in the film.
Predicate “family adventure”
Kling is a kind-hearted narrator who loves his protagonists and forgives them for their shortcomings. This contrasts nicely in the stories with the cynicism of the kangaroo and Marc-Uwe’s eternal failure to live. In the film, however, the ruin of a depressed Berlin Deprolife is distorted by a warmly lit bobo backdrop, and the cynicism remains somewhat toothless in view of the striking characters.
They are also striking in the underlying stories, but with a huge wink. Exactly this wink is less successful in the film. The oversubscription of the characters does not look like a sidekick at the meta level, but is taken from a German comedy that is supposed to function as an adventure for the whole family. Everyone plays so clearly that even toddlers could read the facial expressions of who the bad, the beautiful and the loving clumsy are.
For fans
This impression is further reinforced by the overturned overall story, which is a hodgepodge of the short story collections. There is a right-wing populist-capitalist do-nothing (modeled by Kling Jörg Haider in the nineties) together with stupid Nazi thugs who are fought by the left-anarchist troop around the kangaroo. They belong to a landlady and two Turks who were baptized by their parents, Friedrich Wilhelm and Otto von, who wanted to integrate.
And of course Maria, who at the same time has to combine beauty, the group computer earth and the love interest of the main protagonist. If you were strict, you would say: A great podcast does not work as a film. And there are nice allusions to the film – for example on Bud Spencer and Tarantino films. And the kangaroo is convincingly animated. Recommendation? For the many, many “kangaroo chronicles” fans: yes, of course, despite everything; and who else wouldn’t have gone to the cinema anyway. For the next time: a little more “Mr. Lehmann”, a little less “Pippi Longstocking”.
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