Wiplala (2014)

The Blom family, a single-parent family (the mother has died), lives in central Amsterdam and consists of teacher Blom, his daughter Nella Della, his younger son Johannes, and their cat, Vlieg. Johannes discovers Wiplala, who looks like a young man but is much smaller. Wiplala can do magic, which he calls “tinkling,” but he is never sure how it will turn out. Since Vlieg poses a danger to him, Wiplala turns the cat to stone. The same thing happens to Arthur Hollidee, an unsuccessful poet and a friend of Blom’s; in his case, Wiplala has enlarged the poet several times. Wiplala is rather nonchalant about it, but the family presses him to “untinkle” them. In principle this is possible, but it requires a technique Wiplala does not seem to have mastered. The family goes to eat at a restaurant. Wiplala comes along and turns the children’s oysters into food they like better, but this causes problems because guests are not allowed to eat food they have brought with them. Wiplala then shrinks Mr. Blom, Nella Della, and Johannes to his own size, but this brings even more danger and discomfort. Another concern is that Arthur Hollidee, an unauthorized statue, is going to be destroyed by the authorities and must therefore be rescued. They travel back in a radio-controlled toy car (they tie its remote control to the roof and use ribbons to operate the car’s steering wheel) and by pigeon. Thanks to their increased confidence, they now succeed in untinkling, and everything works out.