Created by Rob-Vel and Jijé in the thirties ,Spirou hit his stride with Franquin who gave the best albums of the serie :"Le Repaire De La Murène" " QLN Sur Bretzelburg" "Le dictateur Et Le Champignon" .....
............And "Z Comme Zorglub" which inspired -more or less - this movie .
Like so many comics heroes such as Astérix,Michel Vaillant ,Iznogood , Boule
and Bill, this is a hopeless disaster ;the movie bombed in France and it is sure easy to see why : the screenplay is a mess and can be told in one sentence :The Count of Champignac has been kidnapped by Zorglub,Spirou and Fantasio come to his rescue .I really doubt the comics buff will get something out of it.
Spirou is very cute and his helicopter gives him a James Bond touch ,but he displays a tendency to react to events instead of initiating them ; apart from the car crash and the ridiculous final,he is totally passive .Fantasio (Alex Lutz,the French teacher in "Jamais Contente ",on the other hand ,hogs the stage ; neither him nor his friend resemble their models,let alone Geraldine Nakache as "Seccotine " (=strong glue, TM) , a reporter (thus Fantasio's rival) ,and (strictly in the screenwriters' mind ) Champignac' s daughter (?);besides Fantasio is in love with his colleague ,which was unthinkable in Franquin's works .
You will hardly know Christian Clavier as the count ; and should you choose to follow Spirou ,squirrel Spip and co through their painful journey ,you would not recognize their world either....
Perhaps I'm not objective enough :I have always preferred Tintin.What can you expect- you can't change how you are made!
NB :Some lines are in some kind of backslang ;but do not panic ,there are subtitles.
