Michel Vaillant
- 2003
- 1h 43m
IMDb RATING
5.3/10
4.6K
YOUR RATING
Fearless racer Michel Vaillant attempts to win "24 Hours of Le Mans", the famous highly challenging and prestigious annual endurance race that lasts one whole day.Fearless racer Michel Vaillant attempts to win "24 Hours of Le Mans", the famous highly challenging and prestigious annual endurance race that lasts one whole day.Fearless racer Michel Vaillant attempts to win "24 Hours of Le Mans", the famous highly challenging and prestigious annual endurance race that lasts one whole day.
Featured reviews
Considering all the disasters when comic books are turned into movies,this one is not a complete failure .The beginning (Mrs Vaillant's nightmare) was taken from "Le 13 Est Au Départ"and all those who read the comics (Jean Graton created his character in "Tintin" in 1957)will like the Vaillant 's desirable mansion,their Moulinsart (Marlinspike) ,La Jonquière .Julie Wood appears but she is not Steve Warson's fiancée ;so does Gabrielle who is Yves 's wife (Yves who appeared very early in the series -"Route De Nuit" - is absent) in the comics .
When they made a TV miniseries (13 episodes) in the sixties,they hired a professional racing driver (Henri Grandsire ,who sadly did not resemble Michel);here we have Sagamore Stevenin (Jean -François 's son)and Diane Kruger ,whose Julie is not a motocross star but a racer too;it takes a lot of imagination to believe they belong to the racing circuits;as for poor Steve Warson ,the actor does not look like the part ,being too short,too gentle ;this character was an orphan ,which explains he was a loudmouth when he met the hero who enjoyed a big family (Michel's parents,his brother Jean Pierre and sister-in-law Agnès who have got a daughter unknown to the readers!,all of whom appear);on the other hand ,Michel is not a married man -his wife Françoise is not in the movie- and he seems in love with Julie);as an user pointed out,what a mix-up! The screenplay is just 0K,the villains are essentially girls (the Leaders' daughter) and there are two nice songs (both of them in English) over the final cast and credits;two languages are used(French and American English),which shows respect for the audience ;incidentally,most of the swearwords are in English!
When they made a TV miniseries (13 episodes) in the sixties,they hired a professional racing driver (Henri Grandsire ,who sadly did not resemble Michel);here we have Sagamore Stevenin (Jean -François 's son)and Diane Kruger ,whose Julie is not a motocross star but a racer too;it takes a lot of imagination to believe they belong to the racing circuits;as for poor Steve Warson ,the actor does not look like the part ,being too short,too gentle ;this character was an orphan ,which explains he was a loudmouth when he met the hero who enjoyed a big family (Michel's parents,his brother Jean Pierre and sister-in-law Agnès who have got a daughter unknown to the readers!,all of whom appear);on the other hand ,Michel is not a married man -his wife Françoise is not in the movie- and he seems in love with Julie);as an user pointed out,what a mix-up! The screenplay is just 0K,the villains are essentially girls (the Leaders' daughter) and there are two nice songs (both of them in English) over the final cast and credits;two languages are used(French and American English),which shows respect for the audience ;incidentally,most of the swearwords are in English!
The movie starts with a lot of noise and a spectacular scene. But that's about it. The story is predictable and the characters not convincing enough. In this movie are the bad guys bad, and the good ones good. No depth in any character. The scenes with the cars are spectacular and that's the only good thing about this movie.
Well, ok, it's no masterpiece, but I seem to be the only person here that took some enjoyment from it. The comics in which the movie was inspired are not there, I agree, but when you accept it like another movie and not an adaptation, you'll probably like it. See it for the sheer pleasure of seeing a racing competition and a great display of technical achievements, and you won't come out disappointed. This is one of those movies that don't bear a close scrutiny, but that's not the reason why they made it. Good to know that at least it's entertaining, and has some feeling. Sometimes only that makes it worth while.
Well, the movie is very well made, personally I like the car racing world, and you can see in the movie that Luc Besson is fan of cars. The script is very simple, is based on a comic, and it's not really very original, but the effects, and the way that frames were took made the movie interesting. Don't expect a kind of stuff like "the fast and the Furious" or "taxi" because the movie doesn't try to be spectacular , it trys more to find quality images. The rate I gave to the movie is a 7, and i find that the actual rate 4.5 is not enough.
(If you have played to Pro Race Driver or went to karting you will enjoy more ;)).
(If you have played to Pro Race Driver or went to karting you will enjoy more ;)).
During my teenage years I was a fan of the Michel Vaillant-comics. This was the only reason I went to see the movie. I feared the worst and my expectations were fulfilled. The only thing this movie has to offer are a few decently filmed race scenes (the ones in the mountains). Forget the lousy screenplay and other major flaws. The dubbing is what finally kills the movie. There may be a French and an international version, but the latter is a complete mess-up. French actors speaking English (with a French accent); other French actors' voices are dubbed into British English or American English (at random : they have Steve Warson's sister (Irish ?) speaking with an American accent); only Steve Warson's character has a decent British accent, simply because the actor himself is British.
How could this mess come about ? Simple, they wanted to sell the film to an international (read English-speaking) audience. Shame on you, Luc Besson, for getting involved in this disastrous film project!
How could this mess come about ? Simple, they wanted to sell the film to an international (read English-speaking) audience. Shame on you, Luc Besson, for getting involved in this disastrous film project!
Did you know
- TriviaAt the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the car build seen as the Vaillant race car is a Lola B98/10, the one seen as the Leader race car a Panoz LMP-1 Roadster S, repainted in the respective team colors. The Vaillant car build seen during the Rallye was a Peugeot 206 in disguise.
- GoofsWhen David crashes, the side window on the driver's side is smashed. Just before the car explodes, the window can be seen intact.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Troldspejlet: Episode #32.2 (2005)
- How long is Michel Vaillant?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Heroes on Hot Wheels
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- €22,900,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $7,463,092
- Runtime1 hour 43 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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