Once upon the time in the Kingdom of Bavaria lived beautiful princess Lissi who enjoyed luxurious, outrageous lifestyle with her handsome husband Franz and his eccentric parents: crazed, wheelchair bound father and dominant mother. They threw wild parties, practiced target shooting, using priceless objects of art as targets, and everyone was happy until one dark night the princess was taken away by a horrible beast. The beast turned out to be The Abominable Snowman and he had his reasons to kidnap beautiful Lissi. "Lissi und der wilde Kaiser" is Michael Herbig's third comedy in a row poking fun at Hollywood blockbusters. The 2001 "Der Shuh des Manitu" spoofed Westerns, was a huge box office hit and was followed in 2004 by "Traumschiff Surprise", which mocked at superheroes stories. "Lissi" is a spoof of period dramas and saccharine soap operas about the rich/bold/beautiful. As it is always the case with Herbig's movies it moves very fast with a new joke being delivered to you every five seconds. The plot develops very quickly and Herbig again manages to tell us the action packed story in just 90 minutes. Alas, there seem to be some problems. Firstly, the story. It is not as amusing and coherent as it used to be in Herbig's previous movies. It also somehow appears to be vague. "Der Shuh des Manitu" was about the buried treasure, in politically incorrect but hilariously funny "Traumschiff Surprise" three gays found themselves on a mission to save the world. But what about "Lissi"? What is it about? The plot seems to have been lost, or rather, buried under the avalanche of jokes and gags, which is not very bad after all but not very good either. Secondly, the characters. Not only did naïve Lissi and dumb Franz fail to get my attention but at some point they started to irritate me. Franz' parents, on the contrary, might have been the real protagonists of the story especially dominatrix style mother who can think only about sex but they have few moments to shine. Unfortunately "Lissi" can not go on a par with Michaels Herbig's two previous movies, but nevertheless it will entertain his fans and will in no way shatter his position as one of the highest paid, most influential, popular and beloved film maker in the history of German cinema. If you like what Herbig makes, watch "Lissi". You will not roll on the floor laughing but a big smile is guaranteed. After having watched "Traumschiff Surprise" I wrote the review titled "Michael Herbig superstar". Well, he still is. But I am sure that his talent can give us more and he can do better movies than "Lissi" is.
