Primer Festival de Mortadelo y Filemón, agencia de información

This is a compilation of 8 animated shorts of the series that in the 60s adapted to the screen the most popular comic-book characters in Spain: Mortadelo and Filemón. The original comic-strips had a very physical and slapstick humour that it's not easy to translate to the screen and also at that time the stories in the comics were less complex and that also affects the adaptation. But the shorts were very popular in Spain when they were released and still work quite well today individually, but not so much as a film, that gets tedious after a while. Better to watch them separately.

Low budget collection of animated shorts featuring popular Spanish comic book characters Mortadelo and Filemon, who are comically incompetent private investigators.

Even though the animation is simple, I felt it captured well the style and humor of the comic, and children will enjoy the physical humor. The humor is childish and physical, but for me it was pleasant to watch and I had some chuckles and a smile on my face.

Being made in 1969, it's the early stage of the comics, so the two "heroes" are working on their own and do not belong to the TIA yet. Because of that, we do not get the wonderful supporting cast (Superintendente Vicente, Ofelia the secretary, Professor Bacterio...), which is a pity.

Anyway, I enjoyed this movie much more than the higher budget live action adaptations starting with La gran aventura de Mortadelo y Filemón (2003), which were less faithful to the spirit of the source material.

Rating: 7/10