The fictional marsupilami (a feisty yellow-and-black arboreal creature with a very long tail) was a creation of the late André Franquin. Now this movie here is strange : it shows a remarkable fidelity when representing the marsupilami, while showing an equally remarkable disregard for the rest of Franquin's oeuvre, both with regard to characters and to general spirit. Everything about the yellow-and-black little scamp is immediately recognizable - its locomotion, its habitat, its nest, its young - but the rest... Which rather raises a fundamental question, to wit if you don't understand and appreciate the source material, why use it to begin with ? Why not choose something else entirely ?
Now I need to add that the marsupilami looks quite good, thanks to some first-class digital animation. The real-life rain forests look splendid, as do the various cities and towns. There are also fine, imaginative costumes to admire, plus some pretty funny dance numbers. However, the whole is torpedoed by a lazy, inept screenplay which feels like a muddled patchwork of influences and ideas. At times it feels as though the screenplay were obtained by organizing an improv theatre evening and listening to the various suggestions. ("I'd like a dictator addicted to pop music !" "Céline Dion ! A dictator addicted to Céline Dion !" "Drag !" "A drag performance !" "Some general with hairy legs wearing a slinky little dress !" "And singing Céline Dion's greatest hits !")
"Sur la piste" makes a few well-meant statements about the importance of the rain forest and its magnificent flora and fauna, but these statements disappear in a sea of grimacing gibberish. So that's one ecological message down the drain. Moreover, the tale being told is too childish for adults and too complicated for children. Show the movie to a handful of eleven-year-olds and it's likely that by the end they'll be completely lost. Just who wanted to obtain the flowers, the marsupilami, the money or the images, and why ?
So no, I don't recommend the movie. Buy your offspring a few classic comic books by the great Franquin himself, that'll provide them with hours of pleasure.
Three stars, with the third star added for a mind-blowing dance shown during the end credits (I believe that the artist is called Salah Benlemqawanssa). If only the preceding work had been as exceptional...
Now I need to add that the marsupilami looks quite good, thanks to some first-class digital animation. The real-life rain forests look splendid, as do the various cities and towns. There are also fine, imaginative costumes to admire, plus some pretty funny dance numbers. However, the whole is torpedoed by a lazy, inept screenplay which feels like a muddled patchwork of influences and ideas. At times it feels as though the screenplay were obtained by organizing an improv theatre evening and listening to the various suggestions. ("I'd like a dictator addicted to pop music !" "Céline Dion ! A dictator addicted to Céline Dion !" "Drag !" "A drag performance !" "Some general with hairy legs wearing a slinky little dress !" "And singing Céline Dion's greatest hits !")
"Sur la piste" makes a few well-meant statements about the importance of the rain forest and its magnificent flora and fauna, but these statements disappear in a sea of grimacing gibberish. So that's one ecological message down the drain. Moreover, the tale being told is too childish for adults and too complicated for children. Show the movie to a handful of eleven-year-olds and it's likely that by the end they'll be completely lost. Just who wanted to obtain the flowers, the marsupilami, the money or the images, and why ?
So no, I don't recommend the movie. Buy your offspring a few classic comic books by the great Franquin himself, that'll provide them with hours of pleasure.
Three stars, with the third star added for a mind-blowing dance shown during the end credits (I believe that the artist is called Salah Benlemqawanssa). If only the preceding work had been as exceptional...