Karlovy Vary 2010: Jan Sverak’s Kooky

Well-established Czech helmer Jan Sverák made a huge splash when he won Oscar for Best Foreign Language film in 1996 for Kolya, his latest film, is not only similar title-wise, but it features a title character in the same age demo. His new film entitled Kooky, shares the name of a dusty teddy bear in a state of disrepair. The bear’s owner is a six year-old asthmatic named Ondra. When Ondra’s mother throws it away and it finds its way at the city dump, Ondra prays that his beloved teddy bear will somehow his way back home, but when the toddler awakes, he begins the journey of venturing into a creature-filled world, set on a quest to bring him back.

“Kooky” works as a live action version of Pixar’s “Toy Story”, and is dipped in motifs from “Alice in Wonderland” the classic novel, not the recent film. Although the portrait doesn’t always make a straight-forward link when moving from one scene to the next, the highly imaginative roller-coaster ride, is smartly devised and is surprisingly engaging, thus ensuring that Sverák’s candidacy as Czech Republic’s Oscar contender for 2011 is decided early on.