Kenny Begins (2009)

Kenny Starfighter is probably the most hopeless student the Hero academy of the galaxy has ever had. But in his desperate attempt in graduating he accidentally crashes on earth and meets ... See full summary »

Directors:

Mats Lindberg, Carl Åstrand

Writers:

Lars Johansson, Mats Lindberg

Stars:

Johan Rheborg, Bill Skarsgård, Carla Abrahamsen

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Johan Rheborg	...	Kenny Starfighter
Bill Skarsgård	...	Pontus
Carla Abrahamsen	...	Miranda
Jan Mybrand	...	Rutger Oversmart
Brasse Brännström	...	General Sudoko
Cecilia Frode	...	Underhuggare 1
Per Svensson	...	Underhuggare 2
Josephine Bornebusch	...	Underhuggare 3
Kalle Moraeus	...	Fortköraren
Pernilla August	...	Rektorn
Rosie Anderberg	...	Earth
Yankai Yu	...	Wind
Heyes Jemide	...	Fire (as Hayes Jemide)
Björn Gustafsson	...	Lenny Starfighter
Sissela Kyle	...	Jenny Starfighter

Storyline

Kenny Starfighter is probably the most hopeless student the Hero academy of the galaxy has ever had. But in his desperate attempt in graduating he accidentally crashes on earth and meets Pontus, an earthling who accidentally stumbled upon an intergalactic crystal which gave him inhuman strength. Now Kenny must save Pontus from Rutger Oversmart who wants the powers from the crystal for himself and Pontus must save Kenny from the fate of failing school and ending up as a hairdresser.

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Plot Keywords:

character name in title | 

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Release Date:

25 March 2009 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Космолузер

Filming Locations:

Gällivare, Norrbottens län, Sweden

Box Office

Budget:

SEK 34,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Film i Skåne, Filmgate, Fladen Filmrights

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film deliberately uses well-known appliances and household items as sci-fi props for comical effect. For instance, Kenny's gun is a repainted hairdryer, the bad guys' belt buckles are electrical installation boxes, and some spacecraft are garbage skips, complete with chute lids.

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Goofs

While existing in real life, the village of Forserum, where Pontus lives, looks nothing likes the cityscape in the film. For instance, exterior shots at his school were shot in Uppsala - Sweden's fourth largest city.

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Connections

Spoofs Spider-Man (2002)

User Reviews

Don't bring your Memorimatic

Kenny Starfighter is a useless and airheaded would-be space hero, having trouble fixing his grades at the Space Hero Academy on the planet Mylta (Swedish for "cloudberry jam"). He is obsessed with becoming a space hero - alas, he does not want to become a barber, the proud occupation of all of his equally dim family members - but he hasn't got the faintest idea of what a black hole is, and when he sees a celebrity on TV he acknowledges this as a typical case of "deja vu". His only chance of becoming a space hero of the lowest degree is to catch enough speed criminals. He'll get fifty points for one ticket, and it takes 1000 to get a degree. He's already having problems doing the math, and when he attempts to catch his first Winnebago speed criminal (see Spaceballs) he can only appreciate it through his dashboard exclaiming "Really fast!" As luck has it though, he crashes through one of those pesky black holes and ends up on the planet Earth, where he gets his big chance catching a big space criminal, a big-headed, wheelchair-bound "brainiac" if you will, with the properly Swinglish name 'Rutger Oversmart'.

This may seem like a lot of exposition to give away in English for a movie that few people outside of Sweden will even see - but paradoxically, I think anyone not Swedish might appreciate this movie more, since I can only imagine it being wonderfully bizarre for anyone not familiar with cultural in-jokes or the Swedish language, which reveals some horrid acting for those that master it. Furthermore, Kenny Begins is a prequel to a popular mini series called Kenny Starfighter that aired in Sweden in 1997 and became hugely successful. It had a similar plot and it introduced Kenny Starfighter, played with utter brilliance by Johan Rheborg, a character that became enough of a phenomenon to launch quite the hype in Sweden for this first movie, with quite a budget to boot, with some of the most expensive special effects ever devoted to any Swedish film.

As for the movie, it really does fail where the series won me over. The writing is drastically thinner with a more contrived sound to much of the dialog, and the actors aren't really convincing anyone either. There are two kids in the movie, played by Bill Skarsgård and Carla Abrahamsen. There were four kids in the series and they were all goofy and charismatic, if not totally realistic. These two aren't really acting, more talking very statically as if they are obsessed with "acting". As the plot of the movie progress, it turns out we are meant to care for these characters more than we do for Kenny. Kenny becomes like both the star and comic relief, whereas these two kids become the "human element" of the story.

This is a sloppy miscalculation, but the rest of the movie isn't really that well thought up either. It all stands and falls on Rheborg's valiant Kenny Starfighter, and if you enjoyed the series you will enjoy the movie. Not as much, because it's actually a pretty bad movie in every sense, but this is a rare case where that doesn't really prevent a recommendation. There's a scene where the heroes can see mayhem flying about outside the window and one of the school teachers fly up against the glass. Kenny points and exclaims "Oh look, an old lady!" Final point: If you don't think that's funny, you don't have to see the movie.