Mortadelo y Filemón. Misión: Salvar la Tierra

The film sadly does not get that magic to entertain and make you laugh. There are some very good points that make the movie worthwhile, specially if you, like me, have grown up reading the most popular comic book in Spain, Narciso Ibañez's Mortadelo y Filemon. The actors, the tone, and the plot make the trick to transport you to sweet childhood years. The movie is very rich in photography and color, and as i said, the actors are great, but it still does not catch the spectator, and somehow Suspension of disbelief is not easy, although there are some good gags. All in all, i would only recommend it to the comic book fans.

Again ours two botcher , offbeat secret agents become involved into several troubles when they attempt to recover a powerful invention from professor Bacterio . Funny flick packs hilarious situations , tongue-in-check and sense of style but not totally satisfactory , including conventional pitfalls . Entertaining picture , fundamental for lovers of "Comic" and "Tebeos" and it has one of the highest budgets for digital special effects film in the history of Spanish cinema . A dangerous invention has been stolen to professor "Bacterio" (Janfri Topera) , it is a device that ends in the hands of a crazy megalomaniac named Botijola (Carlos Santos) and his hoodlums , Todoquisque (Alex O'Dogherty) and Matraca (Andrea Gash) , and ready to use it . It is an artifact that creates on planet Earth the biggest drought in its history . The evil group kidnaps professor Bacterio and they are destroying water reserves and subsequently trying to sell a new liquid product called Botijola to enrich themselves . The Head of the organization of counterintelligence T. I. A. (it stands for "Técnicos de Investigación Aeroterráquea", Technicians of Aero-ground Investigation. 'TIA' is Spanish for 'aunt', a joke on the U.N.C.L.E. series) : the Súper (Mariano Venancio) wants to recover the invention but he knows that it should not call Mortadelo and Filemón ; however , he assigns them the mission . These intrepid agents are the known "Mortadelo" (Edu Soto , former Mortadelo ,Benito Pocino , was replaced in the lead role because he wanted a high salary to play him again), and "Filemón" (Pepe Viyuela) . Along the way it appears Rompetechos (Emilio Gavira) and Ofelia ( Berta Ojea) . By means of a time machine our duo goes back the Roman time , there meet Neron (Secun De La Rosa) along with his adviser Seneca and after that , they return to Middle Age , by Inquisition time , where appears Torquemada , and being detained and condemned to burning pole . Later on , the two bungler agents decide to investigate the case for their own means and go to Botijola headquarter .

This amusing film packs thrills , action , comic situations , abstract incidents , at the same time satirizing Spanish society and many other things . This second adaptation to the cinema of the popular characters of Spanish comic of F.Ibáñez got a mediocre box office ; however the first part : ¨La Gran Aventura De Mortadelo Y Filemón¨(2003) by Javier Fesser (who in 2014 shot Mortadelo y Filemón against Jimmy El Cachondo) grossing more than 4,750,000 spectators and almost 22 million Euros . Plot of the film is based on various comic stories by Francisco Ibáñez , taking parts here and there . After more than four decades entertaining through the comics, the most known couple of detectives are brought to life by means of the big screen . It was clear from the beginning the complexity to transfer a comic book to cinema ; however director Miguel Bardem gets an acceptable rendition about our unforgettable memories of childhood and youth . That is the major asset of this film, along with a beloved tribute to other characters of Ibáñez as ¨Ofelia¨ nicely played by Berta Ojea , "Rompetechos" performed by Emilio Gavira and besides , a sympathetic dog , Scooby Doo-alike . Miguel Bardem , without ostentatious means but including alright CGI , gets to mingle some easily recognizable moments about the veterans agents of the "T. I. A. " with others of pure and exclusive comedy along with absurd events . The actors faithfully represent their characters and not to leave out of place the viewer at any time . Exaggerated accidents in a nonsensical world created by the great F. Ibáñez , embarrassing situations , the beating , shaking , falls , highlight sequences as when "Mortadelo" and "Filemón" trying to flee "El Matraca" , "Botijola" scenes , Roman world ... , all of them through some breathtaking special effects . "Mortadelo and Filemon: Mission - Save the Planet" is undoubtedly a faithful as well as nicely representation of the comics of F. Ibañez in the big screen ; being better than expected , in spite of failing at Spanish Box office . Including self-homages : as near the countryside, a billboard says : ¨HollyIbañez" , the great creator of the Mortadelo and Filemón cartoon characters . The picture gets to maintain a certain quality , though he overdoes the same premise , the craziness and bewildering humor carried out by the famous couple created by the great Francisco Ibañez .

Miguel Bardem shows us that surrealist and absurd humor applied to the characters created by the great cartoonist and creator F. Ibáñez . Miguel Bardem has gotten translate the "comics" with all its details and adapt, at the same time, on his own ideas . It's a movie impossible to understand for those outside the comic and veterans readers of the former "Tebeos" in Spain . It packs an atmospheric and thrilling musical score by Juam Bardem (Proximo Oriente , Al Sur Granada , Incautos , Coraje) . Including a spotless pictorial cinematography by Unax Mendia , he photographs almost perfectly the elements of each shot , every sequence, every space . The motion picture was professionally directed by Miguel Bardem who belongs a notorious actors family , as he is son of director Juan Antonio Bardem , aunt is Pilar Bardem ,cousin of Carlos Bardem , Mónica Bardem and Javier Bardem . He has directed some entertaining films as comedy such as ¨Twelfth night¨ or ¨Noche De Reyes¨, ¨Mas Amor Que Frenesi¨ , suspense such as ¨The ugliest girl in the world¨ and ¨Incautos¨ at his best and the latter result to be his most successful pictures . Bardem , nowadays only directs good TV movies such as ¨Prim , Asesinato De Calle Turco¨, ¨Hospital Central¨, ¨Angel or Demonio¨, ¨Asesinato Carrero Blanco¨ and ¨Misterios De Laura .

After watching this new "Mortadelo y Filemon" (Clever&Smart) approach to the cinemas I just can think on how rushed and overlooked the movie feels. Continuity failures, disjointed music in relation to the image, poorly worked and badly structured screenplay, low quality sound effects (some of them seemed to have been downloaded from one of those free sounds websites), and a Mortadelo and Filemón's personification too mixed with nowadays "cultural" references.

To sum up, in spite of the special effects, the movie still has a certain amateur aftertaste, of whom without a doubt its director is the responsible as he's far from the previous movie's director (Javier Fesser) skills and talent.