Las Fantásticas Aventuras de Spirou Y Fantásio

Created by Rob-Vel and Jijé in the thirties ,Spirou hit his stride with Franquin who gave the best albums of the serie :"Le Repaire De La Murène" " QLN Sur Bretzelburg" "Le dictateur Et Le Champignon" .....

............And "Z Comme Zorglub" which inspired -more or less - this movie . Like so many comics heroes such as Astérix,Michel Vaillant ,Iznogood , Boule and Bill, this is a hopeless disaster ;the movie bombed in France and it is sure easy to see why : the screenplay is a mess and can be told in one sentence :The Count of Champignac has been kidnapped by Zorglub,Spirou and Fantasio come to his rescue .I really doubt the comics buff will get something out of it. Spirou is very cute and his helicopter gives him a James Bond touch ,but he displays a tendency to react to events instead of initiating them ; apart from the car crash and the ridiculous final,he is totally passive .Fantasio (Alex Lutz,the French teacher in "Jamais Contente ",on the other hand ,hogs the stage ; neither him nor his friend resemble their models,let alone Geraldine Nakache as "Seccotine " (=strong glue, TM) , a reporter (thus Fantasio's rival) ,and (strictly in the screenwriters' mind ) Champignac' s daughter (?);besides Fantasio is in love with his colleague ,which was unthinkable in Franquin's works .

You will hardly know Christian Clavier as the count ; and should you choose to follow Spirou ,squirrel Spip and co through their painful journey ,you would not recognize their world either....

Perhaps I'm not objective enough :I have always preferred Tintin.What can you expect- you can't change how you are made!

NB :Some lines are in some kind of backslang ;but do not panic ,there are subtitles.

I really don't know if I can recommed this to people who liked the comics; it's different in tone and characters. Spirou was always a fun adventure comic targeted at children or young teenagers; this movie will pobably not appeal to them - many of the gags are simply not for kids (they're not "adult", it's just things they won't laugh about). Making Spirou a thief was a strange choice, as was the inclusion of Zorglup as villain - some of the best storylines in the comics had no real villain at all, and the ones including Z were not among the best. Fantasio was a bit lame (but that was often his role in the comics, so ok) and Clavier as Champignac nearly forgettable. (I would have preferred Pierre Richard in that role ...)

The optics are ok, comic-y and simple, and the pace is quick - while I was pretty disappointed with the script (given the nice hoard of stories they could have plundered), the movie never became outright boring. It's just not as good as it should have been.

What's gone wrong with this one?

You can't take one of the top cartoon gems and make mistakes like

*) writing a stereotype, 007-like story + villain instead of wisely choosing one the the dozens of good ones available. The story also lacks real twists and stays far from the timing and advance of the original comics.

*) change essential details of the Spirou universe, like the first encounters of each other

*) the "plan" of Zorglub and his "rays" don't really come through

*) Spirou himself ... while not as bad, as Gaston (Lagaffe) in the other movie, is far from the potential of the role/character. Changing him to some pickpocket? Why the hell?!?!?

*) add the squirrel, but leave out its purpose as a character

*) last, not least: Since when is Seccotine a non-blonde and a love interest of Fantasio?!?!?

On the plus side: I liked the choice and depiction of Fantasio (apart from the Seccotine-thingy) and the way he fails at times.

Clavier might well work as the Count, but the role was sabotaged by the script.

Details like the helicopter (though: in the comic, it was invented by Fantasio!), the supercar (which has been developed in the course of events, not being just there) and the look of the mushrooms.

I loved it since the begining. It's funny and enjoyable. Love the squirrel. Characters are great, and the mushrooms received it's attention they need.

I don't think this movie deserves the negative feedback, it's received. It's not perfect by any means, but as someone who loved the comics growing up, it's a joy to see these characters on big screen. The cast is spot on, especially Thomas Solivéres as Spirou. It's definitely a fun, if flawed comic book adaptation.