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Jan Brzechwa wrote a book about the adventures of Adam Niezgódka in 1946. He probably didn’t assume in that 1984 there would be an adaptation of his book, which would also get a remake in 2023. “Kleks’ Academy” is known by every generation. I checked if contemporary version is also likeable.
Immortal Mr. Kleks
My grandma remebers Mr. Kleks as a nightmare, not because of the plot, but because she needed to read this book to my mother. She, on the other hand, was a huge fan of the movie starred with Piotr Fronczewski and Sławomir Wronka. I was also brought up on this version, which could now be questionable, if not only in terms of special effects.
The old version, even if seems to be a little outdated, still has some charm in it. The magic of adventerues of Adam Niezgódka is enhanced by music by Janusz Rewiński and Małgorzata Ostrowska. The whole plot was made for kids, and that’s something worth remembering when talking about this story. But is it still that way in the remake?
Kawulski’s Version
It’s hard to imagine director of the movies like “Underdog” or “How I became a gangster” as a teller of the fairytale. Maciej Kawulski also directed a new “Kleks’ Academy” and the ending of this movie suggests in the nearest future a sequel “Filip Golarz’s Invention”.
Kawulski had a hard task – fantasy market is overflown and the expectations for this movie are really high. The beloved story should be enough for the movie to be successful but unfortunately it wasn’t. There’s a cameo of Piotr Fronczewski, special effects and well known songs but the story itself isn’t engaging.
Instead of Adaś there’s Ada who wasn’t able to gain my sympathy, similary to her friend Albert, who, I think, was a really stiff character. The main character is just there, but even if she doesn’t have much personality contemporary kid probably can resonate with her much more than with an old fashion Adaś. We should be watching movie from Adas’ pov. Maybe that’s the reason why the plot is so chaotic. The senses seems to be randomly connected, the action dynamics from a slow start become too fast. The second half of the movie looks like a playlist of music videos.
Something out of a different fairy tale
This movie has a lot of elements which look very familiar. “Kleks’ Academy” is a mini version of Hogwart, wilkusy (tha villans) are highly similar to Tolkien’s orcs from “The Hobbit”. Some of the characters are reminding of the ones from Disney movies: Snow White, Pocahontas, Alladyn. There are ton of allusions to other fairytales, and that makes sense considering the students are learning about these stories.
During the movie we can see some of contemporary popculture references. The use of electronic music and teen slang.
Eventually, Ada ends up in a fairy tale within a fairy tale. Inside one is much more of them, it’s like “The Inception”. The devil’s in the detail. I get the impression that the footage was shot with the series in mind, not the film. The scenes seem cut and pasted together to pack as much material as possible in the shortest possible time. At one point I wondered if it was me who was so out of touch with reality, or if I was watching scenes from TikTok clips, where each one lasts about a minute.
Is this a movie the whole family can go see?
Definitely. Colorful and “magical” atmosphere, Mr. Kleks’ lessons and nice music composed by Andrzej Korzyński make this movie perfect to watch with the whole family. It is also worth noting that the creators are trying to combine the retro aesthetic with contemporary elements, which may be appealing for every age group.
Besides, there are also things like: bad montage, or chaos in the last half of the movie which makes it much harder to watch. To summon up, I can say that this production strengths are mostly aesthetic and musical, but there are holes in the plot and shallowness in the characters.
Let me also add that there is no shortage of jokes about bird poo. I counted 5 of them, maybe someone can go one better than me?
„Kleks’ Academy” – basic information:
Premiere: 25.12.2023
Director: Maciej Kawulski
Scenario: Krzysztof Gureczny, Agnieszka Kruk
Photos: Bartek Cierlica
Cast: Tomasz Kot, Antonina Litwiniak, Piotr Fronczewski, Sebastian Stankiewicz, Agnieszka Grochowska, Danuta Stenka
Reviev: Joanna Lenik
Translation: Edyta Stadnik
Photos: Next Film
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