Espen & die Legende vom Bergkönig

I went to see this film with two 10 year old girls and since I'm 50 year old male/father I had no expectation to like this film as an adult. However, to my great surprise, I found this film to be very good, full of hidden meanings (analogies to important things to do in life and things not to do), good story, great film production, great sceneries, great music, etc., etc. I will not tell more details to not make any spoilers, but can only say that this film is as good for adults as it is for children. I never expected a Norwegian children film to be this good! It can easily compete with the best Hollywood films!! This is the first time I write to IMDb, but this great story inspired me to write for the first time! I will for sure see this film again and again.. :-) ! VERY recommended!!

I started watching this film assuming I'd move on to something else but was drawn in by the beautiful and unusual scenery (I'm not familiar with the landscape of Norway). The storyline wasn't especially original but contained enough elements of the "modern fantasy film" and a traditional fairy tale to be interesting. Modern elements included anachronistic dialogue and injections of somewhat juvenile humor. The traditional fairy tale elements included episodic encounters with supernatural beings and a series of seemingly useless items picked up by the main character that later come in handy. (There was one item I'd totally forgotten about until came into play at the end of the film in an important way.) I also liked how the brothers ended up working together to accomplish their mission and learned to see their seeming incompetent brother in a different light. The film isn't perfect of course. Some of the dialogue seemed a bit clunky (but I was watching a dubbed version....I have a feeling the dialogue worked better in Norwegian.) The special effects are not bad (though not as slick as some American films) and don't distract. Overall, enjoyable.

Don't know why there are some really awful reviews or attacks on people who liked it. It's definitely not Lord of the Rings but you know that going in. It's a good little story that's well worth watching. I could see us watching it again sometime. It's clean fantasy for the family.

I suprisingly enjoyed this movie. Dubbed but good. Cheesy a bit funny and not too serious. Brilliant landscape and pretty Scandinavian woman and good directing.

They did a great job at building up the suspense in this movie! I'm glad they recorded it with English voice overs. Even if some of the lines seem like they were meant for the younger crowd I think it's a must-see. I don't mind the voice overs when the story is this good. It gives me hope that I can find other quality foreign movies that are re-recorded in English.