Just ordinary movie for kids. Love your parents, don't be bad. Interesting idea of kids' self-government but nothing more.

If you're a frustrated hybridologist who's always wondered what a cross between Lord Of The Flies and Bugsy Malone would look like eat your heart out because somebody just beat you to it. I checked this one out blindly on the strength of Carole Bouquet and Gerard Depardieu on the marquee but wouldn't you know it's that old razzle dazzle cause this is strictly a kid's movie any any adult, including the two heavy hitters. The premise is simple if unrealistic; in what seems to be a remote European village and is definitely one for the picture postcards, the behaviour of the children is so problematical that EVERY adult in the joint takes it on the Jesse Owens leaving the kids to fend for themselves - and when I say every adult that includes non-parents and even people with absolutely no involvement with children. This leaves free rein for the aforementioned hybrid as the kids form naturally into two groups, would-be leaders/tyrants and theoretical victims. It all works out in the end but will anyone care.

LES ENFANTS DE TIMPELBACH is a fantasy that offers an interesting premise; what would happen if children were so badly behaved that their parents decided to abandon them to their own devices? The film explores how the children adapt - or do not adapt - to their changed surroundings. It's a difficult task; they now have to undertake all those chores such as cooking, cleaning and tidying up, that hitherto they have always taken for granted. The film has its darker elements; there is an internecine conflict between the children strongly reminiscent of Golding's LORD OF THE FLIES. But the film ends good-heartedly with everyone restored and differences overcome. Gérard Depardieu and Carole Bouquet enjoy themselves with a couple of lip-smackingly memorably performances, but the real stars of the film are the children themselves, a marvelous ensemble who seem totally at ease in front of the camera, giving the lie to the old adage that no one should dare to act with animals and children.