Valhalla (1986)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Directors:

Peter Madsen
Jeffrey James Varab (co-director)

Writers:

Søren Håkansson (comic book)
Henning Kure (comic book)

Release Date:

10 October 1986 (Denmark)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Fantasy | Family

Tagline:

Et eventyr med de nordiske guder baseret på tegneserien "Valhalla".

Plot:

Two children in the Viking age find their way into the magical world of Norse mythology.

Plot Keywords:

Thor | Mythology | Norse Mythology | Ragnarok | Troll

Cast

Dick Kaysø	...	Thor (voice: Danish version)
Preben Kristensen	...	Loke (voice: Danish version)
Laura Bro	...	Røskva (voice: Danish version)
Marie Ingerslev	...	Tjalfe (voice: Danish version)
Nis Bank-Mikkelsen	...	Odin / Udgårdsloke (voice: Danish version)
Benny Hansen	...	Hymer (voice: Danish version)
Olaf Nielsen	...	Rolf (voice: Danish version)
Thomas Eje	...	Quark (voice)
Claus Ryskjær	...	Ravnen Hugin (voice: Danish version)
Kirsten Rolffes	...	Ravnen Munin / Røskvas og Tjalfes mor (voice: Danish version)
Jesper Klein	...	Mimer / Røskvas og Tjalfes far (voice: Danish version)
Susse Wold	...	Sif / Elle (voice: Danish version)
Percy Edwards	...	Other voices (voice: Danish version)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Allan Corduner	...	Loke (voice: English version) (as Alan Corduner)
Michael Elphick	...	Udgaardsloki (voice: English version)
John Hollis	...	Hymer (voice: English version)
Alexander Jones	...	Chalfe (voice: English version)
Mark Lewis Jones	...	Odin (voice: English version)
Suzanne Jones	...	Roskva (voice: English version)
Geoffrey Matthews	...	(voice: English version)
Stephen Thorne	...	Thor (voice: English version)

Runtime:

76 min | USA:89 min

Country:

Denmark

Language:

Danish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Finland:K-6 | Denmark:7 | Sweden:7 | Iceland:L

Company:

Swan Film Production A/S

Trivia:

The story of the movie was originally designed by the writers of the comic series. Later, when Jeff Varab joined as director, only Peter Madsen and Henning Kure remained as script writers. Allegedly, the storyline was originally supposed to be more humorous and less high-flown than it turned out.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Bagom Valhalla (2003) (V)

Typical animation with boring characters and story

I can't understand how one could be praising such a typical animation as this one.

Music and effects are basic stuff for most parts and they don't deserve any kind of special remark. There is absolutely no positively unconventional or surprising element in the score. It might as well have been ripped from Disney or some forgotten television animation series. At the end of the movie the music shifts into a horrible pop rock song musical which made my stomach turn.

Characters are conventional animation characters portrayed without any authentic personality. There is absolutely no respect in "Thor" who is supposed to be a though guy, so it doesn't matter so much that he is also a loser who can't do anything right. His sidekick "Loki" has to act as Thor's brains even though he isn't too bright himself. So it is a good break that this couple gets bunch of kids to help them out in their difficult quest of beating up a group of giants in a game of intelligence. In the meanwhile these kids go look "Odin" playing chess and also a big part of the movie is dedicated for these kids playing in a tree house.

Real family values are taught by only briefly exposing Thor's wife while she takes care of Thor's children and cooks stew (god's wife thus gives a good example to mortal children about the role of women in the house). I'm also worried about sexual values in this movie: there are no beautiful ladies or knights in this fairytale, only kids, muscle men and badly animated troll giants. So if one likes to see the great gods of Valhalla perverted into a bunch of wimps playing around with mortal (and immortal) children this is the movie to see.

I gave this 2/10 because at the end of the movie there is a two second shot of a chicken waving it's rear sphincter (I'm not kidding) at the camera. I considered this to be a relatively original idea of making the audience feel like they have been screwed.