Everyone in Norway love the original 8,0 IMDb-rated "Pinchcliffe Grand Prix" movie from 1975, which was seen 130% of the native Norwegian population at cinema showings. Possibly a world record, also in times this film was put up on cinema. This is, as the Ivo Caprino 1975-movie, taken from the writer and drawer Kjell Aukrust universe of the little mountain town of Flåklypa (Pinchcliffe).
This is great stop-motion animation, which means dolls being painstakingly moved a tiny bit from picture to picture, an the 76 minutes is made out of 124 000 single frame photos, done in 8 months of intensive labor in a two year film process at the cost of NOK 26 million (approx. USD 4,300,000.).
Well, it's not an original Aukrust story, but it's based upon the universe with strange and funny characters from the books which was the gathering of a year of the newspaper editions of Flåklapa Tidende (Pinchcliffe Times).
There's also been another Technicolor movie from this universe, "Solan og Ludvig - Gurin med reverompa" from 1995, which artistically was quite a failure, and more of a children's movie. The audience wasn't pleased at all with that. This time the audience is more happy, but it's no doubt taking a risk making another Flåklypa movie. The movie makers has therefore tried to make something new, and not too close to the original figures and feel.
It's impossible not to have the first installment in your thoughts when you see this, as the first was a well known film far outside of Norway, being very loved by all generations and the greatest film success in Norway ever also abroad. The first film had very adult humor, and both the second installment and this has more trouble with that.
This is more of a children's movie than the original. An as that, I think the film succeeds quite well. The first half hour was great even for us grown ups, but the longer the film run on the screen, the more difficult it had to keep the pace. And, though we're from the producers of this was asked not compare it with the Grand Prix, this is where the biggest difference is. It lacks the action from the first. Where the first had the last half hours as an action race, this slows more and more down, and really starts to bore in the end. That's a pity, since the figures and milieu is properly made.
The environment was great, very impressive and the figures are also well made. The script functioned for the first half of the movie, which make the second half a let down in itself. We miss some of the great figures in the universe with Sindre Piltingsrud, Hallstein Bronskimlet and the rest. We'd love to see the old peoples home (Krokryggen gamlehjem) and f.e. the posh widow Stengenføhn-Gnad, as we here have seen both the editor Frimann Pløsen and the lazy sports journalist Melvin Snerken.
There's going to be produced another, with premiere in 2015, which we're told will be much more action filled, and that's a good thing to hear. But still this has been a great success in Norwegian cinemas approaching a million viewers in theaters (which accumulates to almost 20% of the population). And I think it will be appreciated also abroad especially by the ones loving stop-motion animation.
Go see it if you love stop-motion animated movies, and for children this is great! I certainly hope the next, and planned film will give out more of the great universe of Flåklypa. in the mean time I'll find the old books and laugh my ass off from all the good ideas of the late Kjell Aukrust. i never get tired of reading these over and over.
