Gaston Lagaffe

This is a fun film and they did a quite decent job where it comes to incorporating the main elements of the comic strip. In essence Gaston is a bone idle idiot (talking about the comic strip here) with the occasional stroke of genius who lives in a world of his own. If they did anything wrong here, it's that they gave the film too much of a plot, made DeMesmaeker evil and tried to give the contracts a reason. Oh, and they could have made Gaston a bit lazier: after all in one of the strips he is awakened at his desk, early in the morning, having slept there all through the night and his enthousiastic reaction is: "Make sure you put it down as overtime".

In Belgium, André Franquin is an icon among cartoon authors, the creator of, inter alia, Spirou et Fantasio (Robbedoes en Kwabbernoot, in the Dutch translated version) and... Gaston Lagaffe (Guust Flater). "Une gaffe", "een flater", is a screw-up, a blunder, a goof (cf. Goofy). The cartoons are old (created in 1957) and they constitute a weekly running gag (of a half or one page) about an office boy. He "works" at the offices of the cartoon journal in which he appears (Spirou), and if he is not sleeping, he spends his time inventing totally useless contraptions. He likes to economise, and he is environment-friendly when no-one ever thought about it. Hence, he drives an ancient Fiat (at least, I believe it is a Fiat) so as not to spend money on a modern car, and he has converted the engine to coal (!) - a World War II necessity when petrol was scarce - so as not to pollute by burning gasoline and to save money. Obviously, the car (when it runs, as it always breaks down) pollutes unbelievably and coal is much more expensive than petrol if used for this purpose. This illustrates perhaps the difficulties a director is up against when he tries to transfer the gags (there is no real story) to the screen. I doubt whether many young viewers know about coal gas, and where would he buy the coal? So, Martin-Laval has tried to modernise the environment and the gags. He has - predictably - succeeded only partially. Nevertheless, the actor who plays Gaston (Théo Fernandez) remarkably resembles the character, with his typical slouch and attitude. Gaston's impossible pets (a cat, OK, but also a grouchy seagull and a goldfish) are (not too good) CGI. Try to imagine keeping a seagull as a permanent pet in an office. This was Monty Python before it was invented. The purists baulk, of course. But if one keeps in mind that this is a children's movie, the makers have not done a bad job. It is good for some laughs, even for adults, if one suspends disbelief. I do not know what the reaction would be of someone who is not familiar with the cartoons, but it may be problematic. I believe this is also the reason for the failure of Tintin as a movie. The connoisseurs hate it and the rest of the audience lacks the full background of the stories.

The movie gets a low rating here, but if you grew up reading the Gaston comic books you'll find that they did a decent job bringing the familiar characters to life. Without that background knowledge you probably miss all the little hints and jokes.

Based on the classic comic strip, Gaston Lagaffe is the first film adaptation to be made since the 1981 unofficial attempt Fais Gaffe a La Gaffe! Which was unsuccessful.

This new take on Gaston was equally critically panned. And yet, there is something refreshing about this film, especially after the disastrous Spirou and Fantasio's Big Adventures, another comic book adaptation also released in 2018. For a start, there is a palpable effort being made here: the filmmakers appear to be familiar with the general idea of what Gaston is all about and certainly try to put it across as best they can.

The cast, the costumes, character dynamics and many of the gags all feel appropriate, close enough to the comic strips, at least. The Spirou movie failed to even scratch the surface of what it should have been but this makes a valiant attempt and ends up having a good amount of charm. Unfortunately, the jokes often don't land. Translating the mostly slapstick humor of the strips, and Franquin's iconic art style, was always going to be a challenge and, while this movie gives it its best shot, it doesn't quite hit the mark in terms of the humor.

The script needed to be a lot sharper. There are some good lines and genuinely amusing moments, however, that should definitely be enough to keep younger viewers, and the young at heart, entertained.

The special effects are also hit or miss and changing the setting from a magazine to a company that turns pointless items into useful ones will prove a bit jarring to those familiar with the comics. Critics were unjustly harsh on this film. It really isn't bad. In fact, it's an endearingly silly and laid back cartoon, much like Gaston himself. And, like Gaston, it's clever and clumsy in equal amounts so you might resist its charms for a little while, it'll annoy you a bunch, but it'll win you over.

Cute.

As a lot of people i grow up with Gaston the comics and it was some kind of genius on our kid's eyes. French do great thinks but to make a funny movie with a belgian icon as gaston you need... the Belgian touch you don(t heve here so... it's a fail