Valhalla

"Valhalla" has become a bit of a Danish classic, for years rating as a key product of Danish children's fiction. Since it was based on a popular Danish comic album series and helped establish a growing cartoon industry in Denmark, it has also achieved some popularity with young film aficionados, resulting for instance in the recent petition campaign for the DVD release of the film.

Having re-watched the film on the video release recently, I have almost exclusively positive remarks for the film. In all parts of the production this is solid work. There is, perhaps, more cuteness than true drama, and the film is left too short to be epic, but these are descriptions rather than criticisms.

Three things struck me as particularly note-worthy about the production: First, the story does well to transport the imagination of the beholder into the world of the old mythology. To that end, I took special note of the opening prologue scene in which a narrator introduces us to the land of the gods and the story that is to begin; it is almost perfectly styled. Second, as a very positive quality to the story in general, the gods of the story are portrayed funnily and full of flaws, bad tempers, etc. Third, the music of the entire film is excellent, balancing the dramatic and light styles elegantly to fit the moods of the film.

From looking at the other reviews, it seems like a lot of people saw this as children and fell in love with it, and are still looking at it through that lens. Well, I read the comics as a kid and loved them, and still love them as an adult, but having just seen the movie I was really disappointed. This movie has barely any plot to it (whetever plot there is could have been told in about 15 minutes) and it spends a lot of time on ultimately meaningless fooling around. Now, you can expect a few dancing and singing scenes and playing around in an animation, but if that's what the bulk of the movie consists of and nothing really happens, then it's ultimately very uninteresting, I have to say. Very little of the wit and the nicely-packed adventures of the original comics are to be found here--if they'd just decided to pick one of the earlier albums and dramatise that, this would've been much interesting. It really doesn't help that they decided to include the Quark, who is mostly an incredibly annoying little git who makes everyone's life miserable, yet we are somehow supposed to feel sympathy for him. And unfortunately, the Quark's story is the only really character-oriented bit in the movie. Parts of the movie illustrate the old Norse myths wonderfully and the backgrounds are beautifully painted, but overall there's just not that much meat to it. In a movie about Norse myths, I would've enjoyed seeing more mythical adventures instead of 20-minute sequences of kids building tree houses and clapping their hands, or endless excruciatingly frustrating sequences of the Quark breaking stuff and being annoying. I would've wanted to see more of Thor, Loki and Odin because the nature of the gods was pretty close to what it was in the myths and the comics, but instead I just got a baby troll whose neck I wanted to wring. I'm really surprised that such witty and entertaining comics (with fun and exciting versions of the old myths) could result in such a frustrating and boring movie. It's a great shame, because there was certainly a lot of potential.

Beautiful and powerful. The animations are amazing. The depiction of the gods are epic as hell. The plot of the film can be read straight out of Norse Mythology and yet it works so well on screen. What I like most, is the depiction of the main characters; Røskva and Tjalfe. Their relationship as brother and sister; growing up, made me cry many times because it shows a beauty in life. I am grateful for this film.

I don't know how many times I've sat through this. I've probably read all the original written efforts, as well. I'm hardly the loudest or most likely candidate when it comes to bragging about Denmark, but this is an aspect in which I feel pride. I will not be commenting on the English dub, nor do I intend to hear it, and I don't care for the fact that this(*our* cultural heritage) was first done to fit that, then synchronized to our tongue. This is based partially on the comic book series, the artist/writer of it helming it(and I think he did a darn good job), and is magnificent both as an introduction to reading them, if one so desires(I'd say they may very well enjoy them thoroughly), and as a retelling of the subject matter. This takes portions of a couple of these novels, and they fit together well. It takes us through Asgaard and Udgaard, shows us several of the creatures and people residing in them, and includes an adventure or two. The plot is well-done and develops nicely... it's never actually boring. The pacing is pretty much spot-on, with mood and atmosphere in a concise movie. The art and animation are great. The detail in the entire production is impressive. The tone is an interesting case... this could be viewed by children, and definitely does cater to them some, but it isn't insulting to other age-groups, and at times, it's fairly dark(and it could be argued that there are hints of adult stuff). The voices, as provided by us Danes, are marvelous, as is quite a bit of the acting. Kaysø and Bank-Mikkelsen with their deep, booming speech are among the perfect casting. Kristensen, though you might not immediately choose him for what who he performs, is, as well. Eje adds a lot of personality through mere grunts and such. Ryskjær and Rolffes deserve mention as well, as Hugin and Munin, the ravens. The characters are reasonably fleshed out, and their traits are instantly recognizable from the source material. The score is excellent, with themes for the various groups, and more often than not, famous pieces, used well. The audience had better at the very least tolerate Quark, because he's there a lot. For my money, the "whisle scene" is rather high up on the list of the most entertaining of that type of thing. The humor varies, and there is silly, cartoon-y, but also clever, laughs herein. There are morals in this, as well, and they aren't heavy-handed. The DVD of this features three trailers, a work-reel and commentary tracks with each director, and they are informative and well worth listening through. I, myself, would jump at the opportunity to watch well-done films about the Norse myths. That doesn't mean this is anything less than masterful. I recommend this to anyone into the stories. 8/10

The plot is decent, but it has good animation and the soundtrack is excellent; I recommend it if you like Danish animated films.