Mortadelo & Filemon: The Big Adventure (2003)

hyped garbage

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

When this movie was released I thought that being a fan of the comic books (as almost every other spaniard) I would be disappointed. Months went by and one day my husband rented it. To my surprise, the movie was hilarious and it recreated the weird Mortadelo and Filemon's world very well. When the movie ended we both agreed we had to watch it again to be able to get the million things that happened at the same time on the screen. Just like in the comic books.To me, the highlights of this movie are, and not in this exact order, the cast and the script. I thought it was impossible to find someone to play Mortadelo that really looked like Mortadelo, or that Berta Ojea could make such a great Ofelia.The movie is so weird and so surrealistic that I don't think everybody would like it. But if you like that kind of humor, go rent it.

The adaptation of Francisco Ibañez's comics is, no doubts, impeccable. Perhaps some people won't like it as much as I did, but I had great fun with this film, since there is a very funny gags mixture, where there is something outlandish and nonsensical every 30 seconds, typical of Fesser's movies. I also have to say that things that look normal in the comics, may seem nonsense in the film, that's another component that I liked. As I said before, there might be people who don't like it because it has the humor of "Torrente", but the film is exceptional, especially because of the visual effects. It is important to point out that the DVD is for sale already, where there are 2 discs with the movie and tons of extra content, so if you liked it you shouldn't miss it.

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