The new animation family feature film, Best Birthday Ever introduces South African audiences to the wonderful world of Little Charlie, a rabbit and his rabbit family – Mummy, Daddy, little sister, Clara and Grandma. The characters are voiced by Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton), Jennifer Saunders (Absolutely Fabulous) and Adrian Edmondson (Star Wars Episode VIII – The Last Jedi).
Based on the Karlchen book series by best-selling German author Rotraut Suzanne Berner, Best Birthday Ever caters to the 4 – 7 age group and offers gentle storytelling that focuses on the importance of sharing, friendship, kindness, bravery and love.
Just like any human 5-year-old, Little Charlie lives in a house, walks upright, wears clothes and attends kindergarten. He has lots of friends in the neighbourhood including Monica, Chicken, Cookie and the twins. Together they get up to all sorts of adventures.
The everyday events of Little Charlie’s life correspond to the situations that most small children experience as they learn about the world around them.
In Best Birthday Ever, it is Little Charlie’s birthday, but his little sister falls ill and becomes the focus of attention, leaving Little Charlie feeling dejected on his special day. Grabbing his favourite toy and his little cart, he heads off through the forest to Grandma’s house. This becomes a big adventure for him and gets into all sorts of scrapes and has to be saved by his friend Monica.
Along their journey they come across a host of colourful forest animals, the naughty twins and even a big bad wolf.
Berner, currently Germany’s most celebrated children’s writer and book illustrator, has written 13 Karlchen/Little Charlie books. They have sold almost 500,000 copies in Germany alone. The books are both educational and entertaining.
Best Birthday Ever opens at cinemas nationwide on Friday 26 August 2022.
