The Crocodile Thief

Imagine being 8 years old and everybody thinks you are a wimp, a sissy, a wuss. Your class mates, your parents, even yourself. Well that’s the situation for our hero Odd. Odd is the class weirdo who makes up crazy stories in a desperate attempt to be accepted by the cool boys. But no matter how funny his stories are nothing works, he is unable to crack the social code. The only person who appreciates him is a girl in class called Mette. But then one day things change. Odd goes on a trip with his class to the local aquarium where he meets a baby crocodile, called Taggen. And to everyone’s surprise Odd is the only kid in class who dare to touch it. The crocodile is the cutest thing Odd has ever seen and he experiences an instant connection. Odd feels that “we belong together”. The next day he invites Mette back to the aquarium, promising her a unique experience. What he doesn’t tell her is that his plan is to steal Taggen. And that’s exactly what he does, making Mette an accomplice. Of course she is furious, but by this point Odd could not care less. He has a living crocodile! Finally Odd is going to get the respect and friendship of the cool boys. And it works. He takes the crocodile to school in his backpack and the boys think he is completely insane – in a positive sense. So Odd becomes part of the gang, they all hang out in his room with Taggen and nobody calls Odd a wuss. Having Taggen is almost like having a superpower. But it turns out keeping a crocodile is tricky, not to mention risky. All those sharp teeth. That unpredictable personality... and yet Odd is convinced that even though Taggen may be dangerous to everybody else, he is completely harmless to him. But one day when Odd is playing with Taggen, showing off, the crocodile bites him. Odd is not badly wounded physically, but deeply shocked. And now the seriousness of it all starts to dawn on him. His friends or “friends” realize Odd has no special skills at all and desert him. He is just the same little weirdo he has always been. And by now the crocodile theft is also on the news. The police is searching for it. Odd is a wanted criminal. So things are pretty bad. But they will get even worse when Taggen swallows his brother’s mobile phone. Odd knows this very dangerous – phones contain all kinds of chemicals - and fears for Taggens life. Not only is he a crocodile thief, soon he is a crocodile killer as well. So in desperation he turns to Mette – and again he begs her forgiveness and help. And Mette, being the true friend that she is agrees to help him. It’s time for Odd to face the music. They put Taggen into a golf bag and get on the bus to the aquarium. But Taggen manages to get out from the golf bag and escape. And this launches us into the coolest crocodile chase sequence in film history which ends when Odd rescues Taggen from the top of giant crane at a construction site. By now Odd has created so much commotion that the site is crawling with news crews, in fact Odd’s family is watching the whole thing live on television. So Odd manages to save Taggen and hands him back to the aquarium where he is taken care of. As the story comes to an end Odd has learned some valuable lessons about life and friendship. Like: You can take the crocodile out of the jungle, but you cant take the jungle out of the crocodile. It is what it is and you have respect that. And in some sense that can be true for people too. Odd tried to change into somebody he could never be to win the friendship of the cool boys instead of caring for Mette, who likes him for what he is. The story is inspired by true events.