A baby boy is rescued from a shipwreck by a band of roaming pirates, who intend to sell him to Mrs. Grindtooth the dragon. Because of a mix-up, however, the boy ends up being sent not to the aptly-named Sorrowland, where Mrs. Grindtooth lives — but to a tiny island kingdom named Morrowland, where he is Happily Adopted by the four inhabitants (King Alphonse the Quarter-to-Twelfth, Mrs. Whaat, Mr. Sleeve, and Luke the Engine Driver) and given the name Jim Button.
Because Morrowland is so very tiny, as Jim grows older the King begins worrying that there won't be enough space for him when he's an adult. And so, to save Morrowland from overpopulation, Jim and his best friend, Luke the Engine-Driver, journey out in the world to find a new place to settle down.
Instead, as events unfold, they end up on a quest to save Princess Li Si of Mandala from Mrs. Grindtooth the dragon... the very same dragon that Jim was supposed to be sent to as a baby.
The sequel, based on the second book, Jim Button and the Wild 13 ("Jim Knopf und die Wilde 13"), premiered in 2020.
The movie provides examples of:
- Adaptational Attractiveness: In the book, Luke is described as a round little man, always covered in soot and grease from the engine. In the movie he's much cleaner and played by easy-on-the-eyes actor Henning Baum.
- Adaptational Intelligence: Jim is notably cleverer here than in his book. Not only is he able to read, which his book counterpart couldn't, but he also essentially been made The Smart Guy of the movie, instead of the Pinball Protagonist he tended to become in the book. He has several flashes of brilliance and is usually the one to figure out the solution to a problem.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Luke, full stop. When faced with the Evil Chancellor of Mandala, he beats armed and armored guards with nothing but his fists. He is only "defeated" when said Evil Chancellor holds a blade to Jim's throat.
- Chekhov's Skill: Jim's aiming abilities with a slingshot, which he demonstrates in the early parts of the movie pranking Mr. Sleeve, come in handy during the battle with Mrs. Grindtooth at the climax.
- Creator Provincialism: The movie adds a Bavarian child to Mrs. Grindtooth's "school" in the climax, despite Bavaria being nowhere near an ocean where the Wild 13 could have kidnapped said child.
- Early-Bird Cameo: The Wild 13, who were alluded to from the start in the book but didn't actually appear until the second book, show up in the very first scene of the movie.
- Elective Mute: The Emperor of Mandala, for most of the movie. In his grief over losing his daughter, he's taken a vow of silence and never utters a word until she is safely back home.
- Entitled to Have You: The dragon who hits on Emma in disguise really comes across as having a classic case of this.
- Evil Laugh: The Wild 13 have quite an excuberant one.
- Gender Flip: A minor case for a minor character, but the Native American boy from the book is a girl in the movie.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Mrs. Whaat has blonde hair and is unfailingly sweet-natured.
- Happily Adopted: Jim finds out that he isn't Mrs Whaat's biological son a lot earlier than he did in the book. It does lead to a few introspective moments where he ponders what the difference is, and where he really came from, but he never stops thinking of her as his mother.
- Mythology Gag: On Jim's third birthday, Mr. Sleeve is shown taking pictures with an old-fashioned camera — a clear nod to the Augsburger Puppenkiste version where he worked as a photographer.
- The Prankster: Jim has traces of this, usually only seen in the Morrowland scenes — though his pranks do include a Chekhov's Skill or two.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Nepomuk is adorable with his baby hippo-like features and tiny size, which makes it even more ridiculous when he tries to look scary.
- Sliding Scale of Adaptation Modification: Somewhere in between a Near-Identical Adaptation and a Pragmatic Adaptation. The movie is on the whole very faithful to the original story (they even allowed Luke to keep smoking a pipe), though some things have been changed either for better story flow or for some of the outdated ideas.
- Spoonerism: King Alphonse the Quarter-to-Twelfth has a tendency to muddle his words when he gets nervous or excited.
- Standard Hero Reward: One of the things that's changed from the book is the avertion of this — in the book, the Emperor had promised his daughter's hand in marriage to whoever could rescue her. In the movie no such promise is ever mentioned and it is in fact Li Si who asks to marry Jim towards the end of the movie. This surprises her father, though his only objection is that she and Jim are a little too young to get married yet. Unlike in the book, they're not officially engaged at the end of the movie, though plenty of Puppy Love moments between the two hint that they're heading that way in the future.
