Man, I loved the books of De Roos when I was young. So when they were going to translate them to the big screen, I wanted to see it. But it turned out to be so disappointing... First off, the books are about 4 friends, with the Klinkhamer twins as most important ones, but still... The two other friends are not mentioned at all (Louw) or only very shortly introduced (Kees)... maybe they come around in the second movie (which is scheduled this year). Secondly, there is no mention of hardly any girls in the book. It's quite a boyish experience, I admit... So how could there be a girl almost in the centre of the movie? I don't care if De Jong makes some changes, but this has got *nothing* to do with the books. Another point: how come the role of 'Gerben' being played by Spanjer? Sure, he's funny, but in the books Gerben is like 25 years old, Spanjer is 41... Going on, why does the neighbour has to die so violently? That never happened in the books... it's for children, for God's sake... Then the acting. Ironically, De Jong himself as the father is probably the best as boyish father. The twins... well... can't act. They're young I know, but it almost hurt my eyes how they played. The overacting from characters like the mayor or the officer didn't work as well... Finally, let's talk about the movie :). It's just a silly story about the boys getting their boat, chasing the 'nozems' (now try get a translation for that... ehm... wiseguys?). But that's ok, the movie was just about capturing the memories from when I was about 8-12 years old... but clearly it didn't. Stick more with the story, De Jong! 3/10.
Review of De schippers van de Kameleon
