Sadly Over-hyped

It is a performances centric movie

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Now, I understand that this film was quiet a hit in its native Spain and realize that (like the comic) it is considered a bit of a national treasure among comic-book-aficionados, like "Asterix" in France and "Tintin" is in Belgium. But that movie or that comic – namely "Mortadelo y Filemon" is not what I'm going to talk about.I'm going to talk about "Clever & Smart", which is the German title and boy, did they ever butcher that one! The comic was previously rather popular in Germany; mainly during the 1980's until the appeal eventually wore off as the material became more repetitive. It didn't (and didn't strive) to have the intellectual qualities of the series said above. If you're not familiar with the basic story: it's basically a satire of the secret-agent-genre, with two incompetent but sheer indestructible protagonists, said Mortadelo and Filemon. Mortadelo is the more anarchist one of this duo, being able to disguise himself as virtually everything at will, but at the same time the more simple-minded part, despite Filemon not being an intellectual giant either. Filemon is his more rational partner, usually grumpy and seeing himself as the leading man, despite usually bearing the brunt whenever his partner messes up (which is usually the case). Now imagine an episode of "Tom & Jerry". Not the squeaky-clean version of modern times, but the originals, where cat and mouse still fought each other tooth and nail, inflicting more damage and pain to each other than would physically be possible and still continuing the chase – alive and well – two seconds later. And now multiply that by a hundred. There's barely a panel in the comic where somebody involved doesn't get maimed, flattened by steam-rollers, blown up or otherwise mutilated. Rule of thumb being of course, that in the next panel they're up and about as if nothing happened.Granted, to turn this massive orgy of (comical) menace and destruction into a real-life-action movie prior to the new century and CGI would have been virtually impossible – and if attempted, it would have been way more expensive and labor-intensive than most companies could afford. Granted also, that the computer-animation of 2003 wasn't exactly on par with modern standards nowadays, but it sufficed to turn the comic carnage into a real film. The problem is this: since the source-material was already relatively light when it came to complex story lines, relying almost entirely on slapstick and one-liners, it must have been difficult to stretch this thin material into an hour and a half of film. But, as said, one can watch it for the effects if one is willing to forgive the lack of a deeper story. But I have to give it to the producer: optically both our "heroes" couldn't have been better cast and I dare say, from all the comic-adaptations I've seen – which have been plenty – none have fitted a shoe as perfect as Mortadelo and Filemon.Now we get to the reason why this film went completely flat in Germany: somebody in marketing saw it as a wise decision to cast the "comedic" (if you want to call it that) duo Erkan & Stefan as the voice-overs for the two agents. If you've never heard of them and/or are not German, nevermind, you haven't missed a thing. The duo makes a living imitating street- and ghetto-kids (one reason why one has adopted a Turkish name), who imitate the demeanor and attire of teen, wannabe hip-hoppers and their comedic repertoire consists mainly of grimacing and pretending that they only have a semi-illiterate grasp of the language. In short: they play morons who imitate the same crowd whom they cater to. Need I mention that many potential viewers either left the cinema as soon as they heard Mortadelo and Filemon "speak" – and that many more simply refused to enter the cinema in the first place? Perhaps the movie would have a chance if they would simply re-synchronize it with competent speakers (which are aplenty; Germany is known to have developed synchronizing movies into an art of its own), but until that happens, the fate of this movie is to lie on the 1-Euro shelves of dying video-stores and grab-shops – and they'll probably lie there for a long time to come. In that form I'd give it 4/10 and would consider it generous.

This movie has surprisingly good visual effects for a low budget Spanish movie, compared to Hollywood productions, but it is a very boring movie. It is a good adaptation from the comic book as most of the elements of the "tebeo" actually are well depicted in the movie, but the characters are lifeless and somehow you do not get attached to them. I just sat back and watched how those readings that I used to like in school came to life visually but I hardly laughed at the jokes and gags, they were too childish and repetitive. Another misconception was that characters, specially Mortadelo, should talk rapidly and with an unvaried tone (actually, acting was kind of poor). During the film, I didn't even understand what they were saying and I guess I should wait to see it in tv to get most of their lines. I prefer P.Tinto, Fesser's first movie, it has the same good visual effects, but, at least, there is some heart in the characters and you get a little more interested in the plot.

It is amazing to see all the things you have read all your life in the big screen. It is not only the characters, but also all the background is related to the comic (and all the little details you can find).I had seen no movie where you could find so few differences between the comic and the film (much much better than Asterix and Obelix, where the things look quite strange).And the best of all: The actor playing Mortadelo is really Mortadelo (same face, same voice, everything!! is like the comic).

If you like the Comic, you will like the film. Javier Fesser and Comapny have made the perfect film of Mortadelo and Filemon (Clever and Smart, etc). Benito Pocino is the perfect actor for Mortadelo because he is Mortadelo, and we can't forget Filemon, a great Pepe Viyuela who makes a great performance too. But even the Super and the Profesor Bacterio are as I have imagined them. They have done a great job recreating the inventations and all the items that are in the comics. You can see the Eskimo, and a lot of nonsense in the set, like signs, draws, etc...The Plot is very funny, the seed of the film is the comic El Sulfato Atomico, one of the masterpieces of Ibañez, in where you can see the Tirania Dictator, and a lot of inventions.A Must see for all the Real Fans.