This movie was based on the popular kid show "Samson & Gert", about an unemployed man and his dog living together and having nothing to do all day except ending up in situational comedy. I really loved that show. The premise might have been somewhat thin, but the funny stories and the somewhat surreal acting made it a true classic. I was always under the impression that a movie about this show could only be awesome, but sadly I was proved wrong by this failure. The way I see it, they made two mistakes: the first one is that they spent too much money. Perhaps that doesn't make any sense, but this movie really looks way too expensive. I'm used to the sets trembling and shaking whenever someone opens a door, I'm used to Samson having the motor skills of Stephen Hawking. Now all of a sudden there's action happening all over the place (what's with all the useless camera trickery?) and Samson walking around like he's rabid or something. They also provided Alberto with a fatsuit this time around, sadly it's the most disgusting fatsuit ever captured on celluloid. Jesus, just use pillows. The second reason this movie isn't very good is because they waited too long to make it. If you can't get the original voice actor to play Samson, don't make the movie. Instead they just opted for a distractingly horrible replacement that just makes you want to yell "you're not Samson!" at the screen for minutes straight. That could get you awkward stares in the theatre though. Another bothering aspect about this movie are the completely unfunny villains. The writers of "Samson & Gert" have a talent for writing amusing side characters, I guess they just decided not to use it for the occasion. For shame. It's not all bad though, I like how they handled some elements of the show, like the use of Marlene and the clever takes on the catchphrases. The recurring characters from the show are also still extremely likable. But that just doesn't really manage to save the movie, sadly.
