Those looking for a quick fix between bigscreen “Harry Potter” episodes could do worse than “Help I’m a Boy!,” an ingratiating German fantasy that finds two schoolkids body-switched by wizardry a la “Freaky Friday.” While staged at just a teensy fraction of the production or f/x scale of the “Potters,” this family diversion is fast-paced and funny enough to hold attention spans of various ages. Dubbed foreign-lingo versions should lead to friendly family shelf space at the vidstore, and select broadcast sales.
Accidental find of a wizard’s magic spell-book leads to the overnight body-swap between teacher’s pet Emma (Sarah Hannemann) and underperformer Mickey (Nick Seidensticker). They hadn’t liked each other previously, but now realize they’ll have to cooperate at finding a way back into their regular bodies. While trying to sort it out, duo must play along with their new identities — Mickey bridling at Emma’s frantic schedule as an ace student/Olympic-tracked swimmer, Emma bewildered by Mickey’s chaotic home life with two artist-parents. But each learns to enjoy and appreciate the other’s style before it’s switch-back time. Leaning more on comedy than suspense or fantasy, modest pic is forgettable but fun.
