La gran aventura de Mortadelo y Filemón

This movie has surprisingly good visual effects for a low budget Spanish movie, compared to Hollywood productions, but it is a very boring movie. It is a good adaptation from the comic book as most of the elements of the "tebeo" actually are well depicted in the movie, but the characters are lifeless and somehow you do not get attached to them. I just sat back and watched how those readings that I used to like in school came to life visually but I hardly laughed at the jokes and gags, they were too childish and repetitive. Another misconception was that characters, specially Mortadelo, should talk rapidly and with an unvaried tone (actually, acting was kind of poor). During the film, I didn't even understand what they were saying and I guess I should wait to see it in tv to get most of their lines. I prefer P.Tinto, Fesser's first movie, it has the same good visual effects, but, at least, there is some heart in the characters and you get a little more interested in the plot.

The Adventures of Mortadello and Filemon is one of those guilty pleasures you never admit seeing (even twice) or enjoying; but surely most of your friends did the same.

Based on a successful Spanish comic, and transformed to the big screen for a J. Fesser, a guy whose previous credit,several years ago, was another mad comedy (with different stile) called `The P Tinto Miracle' . It was a light comedy about two completely innocent people and how the world barely affected them.

This time, Fesser created the funniest movie in years; and I am not talking smiles but gross, uncomfortably, belly laughs. If you are in for sophisticated comedy, look elsewhere. This movie has only one goal, to make you have an excellent time and mostly succeed.

The most amazing thing here, is that this movie relays heavily on special and digital effects which are perfectly used and of excellent quality. Hollywood and George Lucas please take note, this is a Spanish production with a budget about one tenth of any Hollywood project.

The hundreds of special effects are use to create visual gangs, some of the absolutely brilliant. There are so many in the first fifteen minutes, that when the movie tones down you are already addicted.

The story (not really important) is something like this:

A small time crook robs an Army Depressive Gun (applied to soldiers, they get so depressed that they do not want to fight any more) and tries to sell it to a dictator on a country call TYRANNIA. The ultra secret organization TIA (this means aunt in English) assigns a French (or American) secret agent (played by Dominique Pinon from Amelie) to recover it. Jealous, Filemon and Mortadello try to do the same, creating a lot of absurd situations. This is A COMIC, logic is out of the equation. Every situation is a gang (darker, lighter, childish or plain stupid) and most of them really deliver.

As an additional note, the movie, just premiered in his homeland, Spain, classified like PG or General Audiences. The humor is dark sometimes and a few times sexual oriented, but I do not think any kid could understand most of those jokes; so cleverly the creators made, a movie that could be see by kids and adults all of them having a fun time in a different level.

However, probably because European kids seems to be more prepared than American, I wont be surprised if this movie (if ever distributed) gets an `R' rating or several cuts.

I note this, because most good or at least "commercial" foreign movies usually get the worse ratings ("R") or released "UN-RATED" which limit their commercial success. This is done by the MPAA in order to protect Hollywood industry and market, but also limiting culture and knowledge coming from another countries. As an example, a movie like "8 FEMMES "(an important success almost any country) was classified as `R' even when there is no sex, or violence not even dirty talk. However a movie like CHICAGO (a really good movie ) were sex, betrayal and no moral message got a PG-13 (I guess because is musical).

Final advise, release yourself of the crisis and pay a visit to `Mortadello and Filemon' you wont regret it

"La Gran aventura de Mortadelo y Filemón" or "Clever & Smart", which the comic and movie are called in Austria and Germany had a major flaw for me. The German dubbed version sucked. Unfortunately, Erkan & Stefan, two horrible German "comedians" were allowed to do the voices for Mortadelo and Filemón and they didn't get the humour right at all. Since the DVD didn't include an accurate translation in the subtitles, either, I could not experience this movie the way it was supposed to be.

Of course, this is hardly the fault of the original filmmakers. Visually this movie is stunning and hilarious. The most amazing thing is that the characters really resemble the ones in the comic books, which I wouldn't have thought was possible. The special effects are top notch and help to create that same anarchic atmosphere from Ibanez' work (I loved how they even let weird things happen in the background, just like in the comic books). As a longtime fan I do have a few complaints (The whole thing is a bit too violent at times and the language is unnecessarily rude - if that wasn't just another mistake in translation. The landscapes and locations didn't really look the way they did in the comic books. Also, isn't Filemón supposed to be mostly bald? Isn't he kind of the boss in Filemón and Mortadelo's partnership and isn't he a bit grumpier than in the movie?).

However, most of all I'm really pleasantly surprised about how well the makers translated Ibanez' world into a movie. It's all the more surprising since Mortadelo y Filemón comic books were never really about gripping story lines, so the premise wasn't the most promising one. In fact, the movie does drag on quite a bit, but I blame the German dubbing for that. I'm sure it's a lot funnier in the original version. It's really a pity the people responsible for the dubbing couldn't get the translation right. This way the movie is never going to make it big in German speaking countries and I'm never going to find out how good it really is.

Mortadelo & Filemon's first film (and may be not the last because it's going to be a success) is just great. Transforming the comic into a movie was a really hard job, but Javier Fesser has accomplished it very well; the comic's gags, humour and constant violence is here, helped by convincing and hilarious special effects (there are many!); it's a mix between Fesser's humour (shown in El Milagro de P. Tinto) and Francisco Ibáñez one.

The comics are quite known, specially around Europe, and of course, in Spain. However, whether you know them or not, it doesn't matter because its fun for everyone, all ages! The movie isn't based in any of the comics, but takes several elements from their first long comic, El Sulfato Atomico (1968), but there are many other references. Benito Pocino and Pepe Viyuela are excellent in their parts; Pocino doesn't perform. He IS Mortadelo. And he does his job fairly well. Viyuela isn't as similar as the comic's Filemon but has the exact psycology, and I think he does the best performance in the film. The other supporting actors, like Janfri Topera (as Prof. Bacterio) and Mariano Venacio (as the Superintendent), are almost identic, and you do really believe that it's the comic translated to the screen. Dominique Pinon plays Fredy Mazas, an invented character, hilariously.

There are other funny characters like Rompetechos and the people in 13 Rue del Percebe, that have great cameos in this film. It is, as Francisco Ibáñez (the creator of the comic) said, the comic as a movie. It's really imaginative, with many original ideas and things (like Prof. Bacterio's cool inventions)

Finally, must say that the special effects are simply amazing, and really believale (they don't look cheesy or fake), the best in spanish movies, and there are so many details that it's impossible to see them all if you see it only once; there are lots of gags and funny details that you won't notice at first sight, so look sharp!

Very entertaining movie, you laugh your pants off ***1/2 of ****

It is amazing to see all the things you have read all your life in the big screen. It is not only the characters, but also all the background is related to the comic (and all the little details you can find).

I had seen no movie where you could find so few differences between the comic and the film (much much better than Asterix and Obelix, where the things look quite strange).

And the best of all: The actor playing Mortadelo is really Mortadelo (same face, same voice, everything!! is like the comic).