I have to agree on the horrendous casting and the script as well, directing could've been better. The biggest mistake in casting was the Klinkhamer Gerben Zonderland mismatch! Gerben Zonderland should have been cast as Father Klinkhamer and vice versa. Maarten Spanjer as Gerben Zonderland looks much and much too old, while Klinkhamer looks too young. Ester looks too old, certainly with that huge bust! This is supposed to be an 11-12 year old girl!?! And they don't look like their characters either, as were drawn in the books. Neither were the twins, but that's forgivable, it must hard to find twins who can act, are the right age and resemble the book drawings. But I have to say that story and directing were worse. And such drama of the Esther character being orphaned 3 times! This is uncool for a children's movie. Why did he have to die? Other less dramatic, melodramatic solutions were possible. It looked like a Dutch classical movie, very bad. And just when we thought Dutch film had come of age and was professional .... Very big miss and they've really ruined one of my favourite childhood books.