Gaston Lagaffe

The score for this movie actually made me write my first review ever in all my years on this site. I only recently discovered that this movie exists by accidentally finding a trailer on YouTube. My reaction was mixed between cringe and excitement, excitement because I adore the work of Franquin and cringe because usually "live action" adaptations are very difficult to pull off.

It is by no means a perfect film, but I think people underestimate how difficult it is to craft an overarching narrative for a movie based on one or half page comic strip gags. It brings with it a lot of difficulties. In a comic strip readers don't wonder why the lazy mail man doesn't get fired because the world is very small. In a movie however you need to construct character motivation. Additionally, I believe the comic was set in around the sixties, so the writers needed to modernize the setting and the characters a bit, and I think they did well.

Sometimes the choices they make are a little bit hamfisted, for example they turned the policeman antagonist into a meter maid, policeman in training, but in the comic this was his primary role, to give Gaston a hard time for parking without paying, so they had to fit it in somehow. Most of the time, however, I think the choices work.

What surprises me is no one seems to notice how much LOVE and respect went into this movie. It doesn't come off as a mindless cash grab at all. The boy who plays Gaston is a perfect choice, he has the posture, the looks and is very very endearing, but also annoying and a bit awful in his own ways. The readers of the comic surely remember that Gaston could sometimes be a bit of a jerk, but overall likeable. And I feel they captured this spirit. Also they did right by the characters, Prunelle does well, as does mademoiselle Jeanne and they definitely nailed the spirit of Lebrac. What gave me so much joy was seeing Jules de chez Smith en face and Bertrand. With those two they took the essence of the characters of Gastons slacker friends and they modernized them in a respectful way. Applause!

The story is all in all quite thin and serves mostly as a vehicle to get a lot of visual gags out there, but I think it works. They pay homage to visuals from the comics from the get go and you'll find a lot of recognizable tidbits all throughout the movie if you know the comics well. I like how they made De Mesmaeker the antagonist and how we learn what the contracts are for. The antics and inventions ramp up in the function of the plot, in my book it works.

I really feel like the people who created this movie really came from a place of respect and love for the comic and they did their utmost best to construct a movie around the world of Gaston. Their efforts are commendable and I strongly lament the negativity of the reception of this movie. What did people expect?? How would they have wanted to see it different? It's never gonna be exactly the same, but I honestly think they stayed as close to the source material as they could or should. This movie gave me a lot of joy and is a great expansion of the Gaston universe.

I really really hope the movie was successful enough, made back a good amount of money and that the people who worked on it and the actors are proud of what they made. Honestly the low score breaks my heart! It's not deserved. Thank you for this very adequate slice of nostalgia! I love it.