Als je begrijpt wat ik bedoel

Sadly, the only full-length animation feature ever to emerge out of the Netherlands has a predictable story development and substandard animation that doesn't live up to contemporary standards, let alone today's standards. To put it mildly: the film is a grossly infantile simplification of Marten Toonder's immortal comic strip novel, which is full of subtle humor, to be appreciated at an up-grown level, with characters like caricatures of class society: the ruling classes (the marquis, sir Bommel himself, the mayor), their henchman (police commissioner Bulle Bas, the middle classes (the shopkeeper, the civil servant)and the everyday folk (mainly commoner Wammes Waggel, the childish goose). Now in the film, all this is spoiled by playing down the critical messages , aggravated by stupid animation: everything moves at the wrong time, expressions changing rapidly, lips not keeping up with speech etc. The redeeming factor is the voice acting, which is superb in almost every single case. The shopkeeper Grootgrut outdoes them all, except the marquis, who is played by Ger Smit, best remembered for a series of classic voices for animated TV-series De Fabeltjeskrant. Grootgrut is played by Paul Haenen, who is best known as Bert of Ernie of Sesame Street. The few songs are highly superfluous. Continuity: the eyes of miss Doddel change for white to yellow in almost every cut. Now for some faulty story telling: at the point at which Bommel and his dragon are arrested, the film jumps to a news report from which we learn they are at large. How's that? And why is the dragon prone to stealing? Is also not explained. All in all, the beast is utterly unconvincing. As is the film as a whole. Alas.

The movie , based on comic , starts a little dark and moody and directly brings up the huge "vibe" around this movie.Everything is just perfect! The animation is superb , the voice-acting is one of the best I've ever heard , when you hear Bommel say "Als je begrijpt wat ik bedoel" for only one time , you'll never forget his voice.It's a very touching story with tears but also laughter , and lot's of it. Definatly my top movie from my childhood years ( Hey , I still watch it , sue me !).

If you could only pick one animated feature to be in your childhood memory.. pick this one.

This is a must for every dutch child. It's a dutch memory you don't want to miss... like a chocolate letter at SantaClaus. I love this movie, it's based on real literature, Olivier B. Bommel by by famous Martepn Toonder, that even kids like. It's a must to see.

Excellent animation film. Plain and simple. Perhaps somewhat dated now, but I watched it many times when I was a kid. My little brothers used to watch it, rewind it, and watch it again. Time after time. We know most phrases by heart. :) I don't know about the English/American version, but the Dutch voices are superb. Haven't seen anything of this quality since, in this category.

Rating from the Dutch judge: 8 (out of 10).

Als je begrijpt wat ik bedoel is a hand drawn masterpiece. It's strange there's never made a sequel. There are not many Dutch animated movies wich is a shame if you see how well this is animated. The style of the movie is exactly the style of the books. The story is simple and not complicated at all wich is a good element because the old comics and books also didn't try to be something big or complicated. We see a lot of characters we love and know with voices that fit them perfectly but we also get to know new characters that are as likeable. There also is a simple moral that has enough reason to be in the movie but could be removed. We got to know some new location and there is a bit of a dark tone om the beginning that has a great atmosphere. There are some songs in the movie that you'll probably remember. All these things together create a nostalgic masterpiece that people that loved the comics will love but will also give your kids a great time!