German children’s films don’t usually make it into British cinemas, but Mara und der Feuerbringer might be the exception. It’s an entertaining, witty fantasy film about a  modern-day 15 year old schoolgirl, Mara Lorbeer ‘auf der Au’ (Lilian Prent) who has visions from Nordic-Germanic mythology and finds herself having to aid the Norse God Loki, happily chained up, against a fire-emitting threat.

Tommy Krappweis has joined the likes of Norman Mailer, Marguerite Duras and Paul Auster as a novelist who has not only adapted the script from his source novel but directed it as well. He makes a good fist of it, given one should never work with children and CGI animals.

We first meet Mara wearing a ‘Who’ T-shirt standing at a cavern entrance overlooking a steep drop - thunderous skies and the sense that just off screen there is an imminent threat. She tells us in voiceover that she is just a normal schoolgirl tasked with saving the world.

Well, not that normal. Her New-Age, tree-hugging mother (Esther Schweins) insists on dressing her in an inappropriate hat that attracts the wrong sort of attention from school bullies. Mara’s frequent visions interrupt her school work.

During a tree-bonding session, Mara finds herself holding a twig that starts talking to her. Apparently, she is Spakona, some sort of white witch deliverer from bad stuff. Mara doesn’t see herself as Spakona – she doesn’t even use that supermarket. She goes in search of someone who can explain Nordic-Germanic philosophy to her, falling into a fountain at a university in the process. Her professor, Weissinger (Jan Josef Liefers) is a sceptic, mortally offended by misrepresentations of Nordic-Germanic culture - ‘Vikings don’t wear horned helmets,’ that sort of thing; as for Vicky the Viking... But Mara’s drawing of a tattoo from one of her visions convinces him that she is telling the truth. With a little help from Loki  (Christoph Maria Herbst), whose wife is snatched by the Firebringer for her magical water bowl, Mara is transported back in time to face the flaming monster (that’s not me swearing; the monster really goes breathe fire).

Unlike most fantasy films about young people, Mara und der Feuerbringer flips between present day and olden times constantly. Mara faces down a school bully (Leonie Tepe), dissuades her mother from dating a creepy New Age seminarian and aids a small boy who is also picked on. The twist is that Mara’s visions aren’t what we expect.

There are a couple of comedy police on Mara’s tail – tubby guy, blonde efficient woman – and by comedy police, I don’t mean the sort who tell you that you’ve written an inappropriate gag, taking your joke book into protective custody. There is a running gag that Mara’s visions are a sign of puberty. Even more obvious, Mara is astounded by the physique of Thor, whose third brother has been killed.

Part of the object of the film is to reclaim Nordic-Germanic mythology from the Nazis (think Valkyries) as well as from Marvel. The actors playing Thor and Loki don’t measure up to Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston (from Thor and its sequel) but we hardly see them. The production values are modest for a fantasy film but do the job. Lilian Prent exudes the charm of a young Lindsay Lohan. There are also references to Star Wars which is no bad thing. Mara and der Feuerbringer could be the start of a franchise; I wouldn’t be averse to that. Billy Boyd from Lord of the Rings has a small part as a tourist looking for Oktoberfest (‘it’s not a place...’)

Reviewed at Kino Arcades 3, Cannes, Montag Achtzehn Mai, halb-neun im Morgen