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A friendly blue ghost named Elli finds a new family and a place to belong in Elli and Her Monster Team!, a charming new CG-animated feature, directed by European veterans Jesper Møller (Asterix and the Vikings) and Piet de Rycker (Laura’s Star) and co-directed by Jens Møller (LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures). The feature, which is produced by Germany’s Zooper Film and Dreamin’ Dolphin Film made a splash at the European Film Market and will also be taken to the Cannes Market by Pink Parrot Media.
Jesper Møller, who has worked on movies such as All Dogs Go to Heaven, FernGully: The Last Rainforest and Eight Crazy Nights, was kind enough to answer a few of our questions about his latest feature, which is based on the best-selling book by Klaus Baumgart, the popular German author who also wrote Laura’s Star.
Bluth Studio Buddies
“My co-director, Piet, whom I met back in 1990 when we both worked as animators on Don Bluth’s studio in Dublin, contacted me and our producer Lilian Klages back in 2016 with the idea of adapting Baumgart’s children book Elli, a Monstrous Secret as an animated movie for the entire family,” he recalls. “We both immediately liked not only the idea but also the crazy ambition. Piet teamed up with me as co-writer and director and from there onwards, it has been eight years of intense creativity, financing, writing, visual development and finally — full production!”
The talented animation master says he loves pretty much everything about the movie. “This is a beautiful, hilarious, eccentric and emotionally intense movie,” Møller notes. “But what has given me the biggest joy and satisfaction is that we succeeded to visualize and follow through with our vision to create an animated movie that claims its very own visual identity with a truly unique story and a big heart to go with it.”
“Perhaps the film’s message that is dearest to all our hearts is ‘you choose your real family with your heart.’”
— Director Jesper Møller
When asked about the film’s animation style, the director says the story and its main characters determined the overall approach and visual development. “We wanted it to be old-school and familiar in terms of relatability, for example in the case of Elli’s mansion where she lives in the start of the movie,” he explains. “However, we were still after the ‘larger than life’ feel that is one of the strengths of the best animated movies. The same was true for our Big City, where we wanted to have a futuristic feel, in terms of technology, design and everyday objects like self-driving cars and such.”
He adds, “At the same time, it was important for us that the city should still feel relatable to the present, so we had to make sure that it didn’t feel like a ‘space city’ but like a city of yesterday that had grown into a city of tomorrow. Of course, with the Quantrix Tower protruding in the city center, which contains the most powerful computer in the world, the meta-theme of AI and the looming threat of it taking control, cannot be missed!”
The animation production, which was handled by talented teams in Germany, Canada and India, was done in Blender and had a ballpark budget of 12 million euros (around US$12.7 million).
“Making an animated feature film is always an ambitious endeavor, some might say brave, maybe even crazy, and as a beginner’ it can be very intimidating,” admits Møller. “No doubt that our extensive experience in both the art of animation itself but indeed in animated moviemaking has been beneficial for both of us directors and for the entire team. Here’s where the experience comes in handy; you know it is possible and that in the end you will have a movie. That said, each movie project is unique in its essence. That was also the case with Elli.”
Making the Fantastic Believable
The director says it was an enormous creative challenge to create an original, believable, and imaginative visual world full of appealing, exciting, and heartfelt characters. “At the same time, we needed to unfold a story that was compelling and strong enough to ensure a sincere and entertaining cinematic experience,” he explains. “With our experience, we knew it would be possible — but it is always an organic process, and many things evolve out of the creative process itself, as do all the unforeseen obstacles as well, of course. This was also an international co-production, so that offers its own share of challenges.”
The creative team behind the movie is ready for the world to experience the magic of Elli, when it premieres in Germany in June, and begins its worldwide rollout this summer. Møller believes the family film works on many levels. “It touches quite a few themes that we believe are not only important but also relatable for both children and grown-ups everywhere,” he concludes. “There’s the theme of the danger of carelessly handing over too much power to technology can be fatal for life as we know it. But more important, there is a very central message about respect and inclusion and the danger of dividing our world into ‘them and us.’ Finally, and perhaps the film’s message that is dearest to all our hearts is “you choose your real family with your heart.”
Elli and Her Monster Team! will be released in Germany on June 26 by WildBunch. Level Film and Maison 4:3 will also launch the movie in Canada in June
The film is co-produced by Zooper Film, Dreamin’ Dolphin, Carpediem Film & TV and Traumhaus Studios.
Pink Parrot Media handles international sales.
