If you have been on YouTube today, you may well have seen the many videos springing up of the preview of The Emperor’s New Clothes in Efteling.  Here it is if you would like to watch it.  Credit to John van Hulsen for the video:

Our Thoughts:

We’ve been waiting for this new fairytale for quite a while now, and it doesn’t disappoint!  We absolutely love the ‘bobbing’ action of the characters, the shadow segments, and the way the fountain rises up in front of the Emperor to hide his unmentionables!  This is definitely Efteling humour at its finest.

To compare it to another fairytale that is ‘performed’ on an outdoor façade, The Flying Fakir, it is very different in style, which is particularly noticeable with the characters; however it still somehow manages to slot in perfectly to the fairytale forest.  Modern technology gives this tale movement that differs a great deal from the simple mouth-moving of Rumpelstiltskin, or the arm moving of Little Red Riding Hood.  In a good move, Efteling have decided to use static figures, and rely solely on this ‘bobbing’, walking motion instead of making different body-parts on the figures move to tell the story.  Had they used figures that  ‘bobbed’ and moved individual limbs, we can’t imagine that it would have looked quite so ‘Efteling’.  Remember, less is more!

We can’t wait to visit this one in person; you can find it between The Little Match Girl and Sprookjesboom.  Watch the video, even if it is just for that wonderful ‘bobbing’ action!