Today for the first time on TV: the German fantasy answer to ‘Harry Potter’ was a big hit in the cinemas

‘The School of Magical Animals’ is based on a successful book series, has young protagonists at the center of the plot, is largely set in a school and contains plenty of fantasy elements such as talking animals.

Does that sound like the “Harry Potter” adventures and/or their spin-offs from the “Fantastic Beasts” series to you? Correct. And not really. Because the local production is not a bland copy, but rather develops its own charm and has many individual ideas to offer – narrative and visual.

“The School for Magical Animals” will be broadcast today, December 25, 2023 at 8:15 PM on RTL. If you want to watch the film with your children, but don’t want them to stay up late despite the holidays, you can take advantage of the replay tomorrow (December 26) at 1:35 PM. Alternatively, the FSK-0 title is available as Blu-ray, DVD or paid video-on-demand so you can enjoy it anytime:

In addition to the refreshingly enthusiastic newcomers Emilia Maier, Leonard Conrads and Loris Sichrovsky, there are several well-known adult actors. Among others, Nadja Uhl (“Men’s Hearts”), Justus von Dohnányi (“The First Name”), Milan Peschel (“Hands off Mississippi”), Marleen Lohse (“Nord by Northwest”) and Heiko Pinkowski of “Tigermilch” presided over the camera. The animal sounds are narrated by “Fack ju Göhte 1-3” star Max von der Groeben, Sophie Rois (“We can do it differently…”) and Katharina Thalbach (“The Tin Drum”).

The film, based on the book series of the same name by Margit Auer, was shot in Lower Austria and at the Bavaria Studios in Grünwald near Munich. Director Gregor Schnitzler of “Die Wolke” and “Soloalbum” was responsible for the production.

“The School for Magical Animals” on RTL: that is the story

Ida (Maier), who just moved here with her mother (Lohse), is not only new to town. Of course she also goes to the Winterstein School, but unfortunately she has not really connected there yet. Then their somewhat quirky teacher, Miss Cornfield (Uhl), announces that each of the children in the class will have a magical animal as a companion. And indeed: a little later the girl gets the clever fox Rabbat (voice: von der Groeben) at her side.

Benni (Conrads), who like Ida is a bit of an outsider, is now joined by the wise, 200-year-old turtle Henrietta (Thalbach). Mr. Morrison’s animals (Peschel) can speak miraculously and develop their own characters. They also have magical powers, as Ida and Benni soon discover.

Thanks to the charismatic Rabbat, Ida quickly becomes the star of her class and everyone wants to be friends with her. Nothing will change in this direction for Benni for the time being, but in Henrietta he now has a friend who can skateboard and play pirate together. Suddenly there is great excitement at school: a thief seems to be up to mischief and causes more and more valuables to disappear. Ida, Benni and their magical companions search for those responsible…

From young adult books to blockbuster franchises

When ‘The School of Magical Animals’ was released in mid-October 2021 in theaters badly damaged by the pandemic, the film became a super hit. The audience, young and old, had apparently just been waiting for such a turbulent screen adventure. At the beginning of November, the distributor announced that one million cinema tickets had already been sold. At the end of the year, the work was the most successful German production of the year with more than 1.5 million visitors. At the German Film Prize 2022, it was the first children’s film ever to receive Lola as the most popular title.

With such a huge success, it’s no wonder that plans for sequels were quickly made. “The School of Magical Animals 2” was released in theaters in the fall of 2022 and was also a box office hit. Parts 3 and 4 will follow in 2024 and 2025 respectively and have been worked on feverishly for a long time. It remains to be seen whether the children will look properly grown up, whether Rabbat and Henrietta will have more playmates and whether there will be a title song that is as insanely catchy as that of pop star Sasha. Until then, today you can watch the film that started it all on TV for the first time.

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