Espen 2

If you like beautiful scenery and fairy tales, this sequel is definitely worth a watch. The storytelling is markedly different from mainstream Hollywood movies but it's interesting and can be viewed as insight into Norwegian culture.

If you ever find yourself longing for what fantasy used to be then do yourself a favor and watch the Ash Lad series. Unlike a lot of the fantasy today that emphasizes the dark and the horrific this series is fun, wholesome, adventurous and clean. The special effects well done and traditional in the vein of movies such as labyrinth and the never ending story. The settings are quite beautiful and in some instances breathtaking and I am sure account for a majority of whatever budget they have to make these films as they do not cut corners with the beautiful locations they film in. But the best thing about the series by far are the main characters Espen and Kristin. In one of my favorite scenes Kristen ask Espen why he is always so optimistic and he simply smiles and says because I have faith - you should try it sometimes. In this particular film they both set out to find a golden castle and a fountain containing the water of life in order to revive Kristin's parents, the king and queen, who have been poisoned and to save Espen's brothers who have been falsely accused. Along the way they are both helped and hindered by many fantastic characters and creatures of lore and fairytale. Not to mention a few useful items that Espen has a tendency of just picking up!

I tried adding a genre to this movie as this series deserves a separate genre: Folklore

Names are a way to get someones attention. The old eastern way was to through a basketball twards the unsuspecting person. The ball would fly near a humper. Now people have names like blood luke or raymond plasma. And you're supposed to say something like 'hey, blood,' or 'hey, darth amanda.' Back then a person would scream when they were conscious, but now, 'you can't just go around doing, whatever you feel like, you cant.'

This is good family movie to enjoy with everyone on a Friday night. From a visual perspective it was stunning with absolutely beautiful scenery in regards to the surroundings. That being said the English dubbing is really lacking with context. Alot of scenes just didn't connect with the voice over. This seems to be the case with most foreign movies I have been watching recently. I almost prefer subtitles. The movie could also have used more action like the three headed troll segment, and less scenes with so much drawn out dialogue.

Overall, we enjoyed the movie and, I would definitely watch any upcoming new releases.