From my experiences with the Germans and the sexy enemy, the humor is the bigger factor there. Not that English isn't closer to German, but the German sense of humour is so close to the English that I've honestly never had to explain a joke to a German.
Also German accents are adorable.
Which clearly makes the book (which I am currently reading) 323 times better. But I have fond memories of seeing the film when I was twelvish, I really need to relocate it.
In all seriousness I'm finding myself hating what's been done to Bigwig, and I'm not overly impressed with Holly. Fiver though is not bad, and the main problem is that it's just not as good as the old film or the book. If those didn't exist it would be okay, but they do exist.