Chubby Drums

Chubby Drums is a cheery boy; honest and a bit fat. Together with his parents he lives in the cosy Roundville, where everyone is just as bourgondic and outgoing as he is. It’s a party to live there every single day, and people enjoy eating pies, junk food and everything else that is lovely but not so good for you. Chubby has a lot of friends, and is the King of making ‘cannonballs’ in the pool during the Roundville summer contest. His happy life changes, as soon as the family moves to Thinhaven, where his father opens up a new restaurant. In Thinhaven no one is outgoing or fat. Everyone is extremely slender and healthy, and obsessed with their looks, health, calories and exercise. They have no need for the family Drums and their new restaurant full of calories. Not only the restaurant has a tough start, Chubby also has trouble adjusting to his new environment. For the first time in his life he is aware of his body, especially when he falls in love with Lieve, the most beautiful and skinny girl in Thinhaven. Her mother is a dietician, and weighs her daughter every single day… A plea for tolerance and diversity without moralizing—instead, featuring colorful illustrations and whimsical characters set in the fairy-tale-like world that blends “Pummelstadt” and “Dünnhausen” Dik Trom, with his potbelly, lives in Pummelstadt, a town where everyone is chubby and happy, loves to eat a lot, and, above all, laughs often. Of course, Dik is also quite plump and very happy with his figure—after all, his potbelly helps him win the Pummelstadt sports competition every year. Because no one can jump from the three-meter tower better than he can, splashing almost all the water out of the pool in the process. One day, his parents receive an offer to open a real restaurant in Dünnhafen instead of running their hot dog stand. But the Trom family doesn’t know that Dünnhafen is the exact opposite of Pummelstadt. There, people are constantly preoccupied with watching their weight, eating low-fat and calorie-conscious meals, and exercising nonstop. Fat people like the Troms are a scandal to the residents of Dünnhafen! Suddenly, Dik—who was always so popular back home—is teased by the others and, for the first time, has a problem with his figure. But then he befriends Lieve, the prettiest girl in class, and shares a secret with her... "In his homeland, the name Dik Trom is known to (almost) everyone, as he is part of the canon of highly popular local children’s literature: Cornelis Johannes Kieviet (1958–1931) created the chubby boy in 1891 and guided him through six novels, which have been adapted for film multiple times; and there is now even a popular “Dik Trom” musical. Arne Toonen’s colorful story, however, has borrowed only Dik’s name and a few of his basic traits to spin a fantasy entirely of its own, independent of the original book. And in it, things really get “wild.” “Trommelbauch” is a decidedly cheerful comedy in CinemaScope, told with an elaborate musical score, magnificently and meticulously designed—enriched with carefree slapstick reminiscent of cinema’s early days: garish, exaggerated, exuberant, and indeed quite crude at times, such as in the “Bum Bomb Overture” [...] As the exuberant story gradually evolves into a lighthearted satire on the wellness, fitness, and beauty craze set against the backdrop of a small town, the whole thing remains, first and foremost, a “children’s film” aimed primarily at children—though the film never strictly adheres to the (supposed) norms of the genre, but instead repeatedly goes way over the top.” (Horst Peter Koll, on: filmdienst.de)