Suske en Wiske: De duistere diamant

A famous comic, some famous Flemish names and a lot of promotion. A guaranteed good movie or not…? People said it's a great movie, others say it sucked and IMDb gives it a 5.7. We'll see about that.

Every Flemish citizen and even furthermore everybody knows Suske and Wiske from the comic books. So a movie couldn't last, right? But the first thought that filled my head says: 'What did they do to Stany Crets?' This cute guy, who plays Jerom, opens the film by shouting he's not coming. Stany Crets isn't the only guy they messed up; everybody meet Frank Focketyn, Dirk Roofthooft and Peter van den Begin. But I know, that's supposed to be in this film and after a while you get used to it. It's actually kind off cool to see those big people like that. All dressed up like Willy Vandersteen, who was responsible for the comic books, meant it. The most realistic one is the magician, played by Daan Hugeart. His make-up and clothes are perfect and well, it's the best costume to end with.

The movie starts straight away with mystery and I think that's good. It keeps people awake and alert for what's coming up. This a typical child movie, though. The actors – most of them are supposed to be pretty good – seemed to lost their talents and de special effects aren't always that good, but in the end: children won't mind. I'm sure the like this movie, but the real film fans should watch out: if you wane see a really good Flemish movie, please leave this one for a while, and try something as 'De Zaak Alzheimer'…

Anyway, I enjoyed the film after all. The length of the film is just 1,5h, but that's just long enough not to get bored. The kids should watch it!

I know "Suske en Wiske" as "Bob et Bobette". My father used to love that comic series, that's how I knew it ("Bob et Bobette" are quite unknown in France). It is not an usual comic book : it is fun, it is full of ideas, it comes with its own rules, it is a whole universes in itself (Like Tezuka Osamu's mangas for instance). Therefore, filming that in live action can seem a foolish project, it requires a lot of things : a very special casting, much money for the special effects, a great cinematography and a good director. Well... The casting is quite okay. Sidonie is played by a man, why not (the voice could have been more feminine). Lambique, well, I'm not sure of the actor. Jerome is okay. Bob and Bobette are okay too, but Bobette seems older than Bob and she has too much breast. The image is poor, we don't understand all the actions, it is not very good. The directing and the editing are a little bit outdated, it is not far from the Benny Hill Show... Therefore, I'll get back to the books, this movie maybe shouldn't have been done. Maybe the very little kids can find some fun here.

As somebody already told it here, the DVD's bonus is terrible : slow and uninteresting, it mostly shows that a German/belgian production of that kind can not be really professional as other comics-based movies of the past decade, from the US (Spiderman, Xmen, Hulk, yes, but also older movies like Popeye or Annie) and even from France (Asterix).

Good day !

I just just finished minutes ago my second or third screening of this picture.

As a french reader, I know the series as Bob et Bobette. I have not read any episodes in many years but still, I could recognize each character easily.

The story is not that fantastic but like someone said,it was probably chosen because easy to put on the screen. As for the characters, I am more than pleased on what I saw on the screen.

Obviously, great care have been put into the casting as the actors are quite similar to the heroes they represent. Impossible to confuse who is who ! Simply amazing ! Their mannerisms, facial expressions, strange habits...etc have not been forgotten. For example, Lambique(Lambik) lighting a candle, to later realize in great pain that it was his own thumb ! Hilarious !

Of course, you need to be a great fan of the series to truly appreciate it for what it was. Random viewers won't get many jokes and essence of several characters.

Thumbs-up to everyone involved in the film !

I think they did a nice try at filming an episode of the (in the Dutch language area) famous comic series "Suske en Wiske", but perhaps tried to stay too close to the scenes in the comic itself, which might be hard to film.

On the positive side there is the scenery: they picked real nice locations for the films, giving it a nice atmosphere. Suske and Wiske are played quite decent. Wiske appears a bit older than you would expect from the comic books. As said, they tried to stay very close to the comic itself, which makes a nice story.

A definitive downside is the actor(!) playing Tante Sidionia. Why they casted a man to play this female role may remain a mystery, but a man speaking in falsetto utterly fails in putting anything other than a weak parody on the screen.

Another downside is the quality of the action scenes, which appear clumsy.

It's a nice movie to rent and watch on a rainy Sunday afternoon with the kids.

I think it's impossible to make a truly good movie, enjoyable for both children and adults, of the suske and wiske-comic books. The stories of this happy duo are just not cut out to be played by real actors of flesh and blood. Characters such as Lambik, Aunt Sidonia or Professor Barabas are funny in the comics, but if real actors play them they are dumb, irritating and slightly childish. This being said, I must add that the movie also has its good points. It does have that same nice atmosphere that marks the comic books and for the fans it's nice to see the universe of S&W come to live. And it has fair special-effects for a Belgian/Dutch product. Okay, it doesn't have the quality of the Harry Potter-movies, but that level simply is unreachable.

I'd recommend this movie to the real hardcore S&W-fans, the rest of the movie lovers shouldn't even try it.