Mortadelo & Filemon: The Big Adventure (2003)

Written by abaddonhades on August 17, 2017

I understand the fact that this movie is a crazy-comedy,and it's easy to see that the slapstick-comedy and sight-gags are very much inspired by Tom&Jerry-style cartoons.

But is it really necessary to push for a gag once a minute throughout the movie? The movie's pacing leaves the viewer breathless, and grasping in vain for any semblance of a coherent storyline. Aside from the fact that two incompetent agents are searching for a destructive weapon, it is impossible to understand what is really going on in this movie.

I don't know the source material. In the event that it is exactly as the movie turned out,they should have fleshed it out with something that would have made it work as actual storytelling.

As for the characters, none of them are remotely relatable, and the gags aren't really funny. The actors are seemingly just waiting to get squashed, beaten or otherwise manhandled, so they don't have to do any real acting work.

The movie hit new lows with cruel torture scenes (especially the one where the mother is tortured), generally misogynist behavior,and racist renditions of several different ethnic groups.

From other reviews on this site, I understand that the movie is based on a very popular Spanish comic,but there must be a better way to adapt the source material than this. As it stands now I can only speculate that the director (Fesser) was experiencing a drug induced delirium during the making of this movie.Mistaking rapid-fire slapstick,and complete nonsense for a flash of genius.

Mostly I am sorry for Dominique Pinon,a quality actor who cannot have known what lay in store for him,participating in this movie.

I find it hard to recommend this movie even to my worst enemy.