万花筒2008-03-06:小北极熊的银幕处女秀

Crowds flock to see the movie premiere of Germany's favorite polar bear, Knut. CNN's Diana Magnay reports.

"Knut and his friends" tells the tale of Knut’s early days at the Berlin zoo, taking the bottle, those first few shaky bear cub 1 steps, at the same time, tying in documentary footage of Knut’s young peers growing up in the wild. Star of the red carpet was zookeeper Thomas Doerflein who reared Knut by hand after his mother rejected him. ‘Of course, it’s special for me because I’ve raised him.’ He says. ‘But this kind of thing has happened before, so I still don’t understand why there's such a big hype.’  

For the younger cinema-goers, there’s no question what all the hype’s about. ‘He's just so small and so cute.’ says this young girl. ‘And it’s just so cute how Thomas Doerflein cuddled up with him all the time.’ Those cuddling days though are long gone. At 15 months, Knut weights a good 150 kilos and stands two meters at his full height.  

There's also strong competition on the cuteness stakes from two new polar bear cubs 2 born recently in other German zoos. But director Michael Johnson thinks Knut’s star is not on the wane 3. ‘I think everybody’s happy about Knut.’ He says, ‘and now also about the other two small polar bears---Wilbaer and Flocke. For people, it’s simply something positive and one feels thrown back into childhood.’  

The ultimate feel-good movie then and depending on how well it’s received in Germany. The film's makers 4 are thinking of an international rollout.

 Diana Magnay, CNN, Berlin. 

WORDS IN THE NEWS     

1. shaky : adj

If you describe a situation as shaky, you mean that it is weak or unstable 5, and seems unlikely to last long or be successful. 

2. cub : n-count 

A cub is a young wild animal such as a lion, wolf, or bear.  

3. hype : n-uncount

Hype is the use of a lot of publicity 6 and advertising 7 to make people interested in something such as a product.  

4. -goer : comb in n-count

-goer is added to words such as `theatre', `church', and `film' to form nouns which describe people who regularly go to that type of place or event.

eg: They are regular church-goers. 

5. cuddle : verb

If you cuddle someone, you put your arms round them and hold them close as a way of showing your affection. 

6. on the wane : phrase

If something is on the wane, it is becoming weaker or less. 

7. feel-good : adj

A feel-good film is a film which presents people and life in a way which makes the people who watch it feel happy and optimistic.

8. rollout : noun

the inauguration 8 or initial public exhibition of a new product, service, or policy.