A nice, simple kids’ story, The Elkins – Baking a Difference concerns breaking the little hatted munchkins golden rule.
You see Elkins – who are about the size of tiny garden gnomes – live underground and fear people.
That is, all but little Elfie – who is a regular muck-up – and is curious not scared.
It is the sacred Elkins right-of-passage to master a hand craft and yet Elfie has thus far been unable to.
That is when she decides to look for a human who can teach her one.
So, she plots to escape from Elfkinland, which she does with the help of best friend Buck, who is a master candle maker.
Trying to prevent them from making an irreversible mistake is another young Elfkin named Kipp.
The moment they land in the human world they find themselves the prey of a black pug named Charles.
In their effort to escape, they land in the forlorn premises of a pastry chef, Theo, who has fallen on hard times and has been unable to pay his bills.
Labelling him sour puss, Elfie implores him to help her learn the finer points of becoming a pastry chef.
At first, he has no interest, but Elfie and co soon come to understand that that is because of a debilitating feud Theo has with his younger brother, Bruno.
The pair used to be tight – Theo being the baker extraordinaire and Bruno the super salesman.
But that was quite some time ago and Bruno has since determined he will mass produce cakes from a production line, rather than hand crafting them with love, sensitivity and patience.
He is but a week away from opening a super-duper new factory.
He’s paid off Theo’s debts and given him a week to pay back the money he has laid out or else he plans to scupper the old shop.
This predicament will require Elkins’ ingenuity to help save the day.
The Elfkins – Baking a Difference is a little bit of fun that I can imagine parents sitting down and watching with their littlies.
I appreciated Elfie’s feistiness and her “never give up” attitude.
The perseverance in the face of adversity life lesson is well handled.
The filmmakers – writer Jan Strathman and director Ute von Munchow-Pohl – know their mark and have perfectly positioned the offering with colour and humour.
A sugar hit was always going to be a winner with all but, perhaps, the dieticians.
It would be hard not to appreciate the mouth-watering creations, animated though they may be.
The specialty of the house remains creme spires.
Just as neat was the rudimentary, Meccano-like production line created by the Elkins from toys.
There are even a couple of well worded musical numbers to add to the Elfkins’ adventure.
In summary, The Elfkins – Baking a Difference hits the mark.
Rated G, it scores a 7 out of 10.