As Good As It Gets

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Being a fan of "Asterix", "Lucky Luke" and not least "Iznogoud" (here in Germany spelled "Isnogud"), its quiet surprising that I came around so late to watch this film. Or perhaps not such a big surprise at all, considering that I've been more or less disappointed by most real-life-adaptations of said comics. Hence, I didn't watch with too high an expectation and left not quite as disappointed as I had expected – but disappointed nevertheless.I'd agree with most points of criticism that the other reviewers here have pointed out, but would defend Jacques Villeret, who looks like he was born to play the part of the peaceful, tranquil yet rather simple Caliph (and that may sound a little off-place, considering that this was his final role). Michael Youn as titular character, well, not as bad as made out to be, but then again not exactly living up to the comic-Iznogoud either. Too young, in my opinion, and far removed from the figure, that's slimy, scheming, choleric, treacherous and of course likable as an anti-hero can get. I don't blame it too much on the cast though and rather on the lazy script-writing (it would appear that Patrick Braoude has only glanced over the source-material and/or didn't understand it) and Braoude being the wrong man for the job of directing this in the first place.Not being all too familiar with his prior work, it would appear that Braoude is more at home at children's movies and RomComs, which shines through in "Iznogoud" but really has no place in an adaptation. Call me naïve, but when adapting from a different media, especially one that is so popular and beloved as the "Iznogoud"-comics, I would presume that you primarily want to reach the fans of the source-material. Here we get the impression that the producers reasoned, "oh well, the fans will go and watch it one way or the other, just on account of the title. Let's make it hip and flashy, and see how the kiddies will buy it". Whether the kiddies bought it or not, I cannot tell but I sure know that the fans came, saw and were generally not too amused.Evidence for this chumming up (no better way to describe it) are the often raunchy one-liners, which may have come from a certain orifice of Braoude, but certainly not the comic. They replaced the often witty, double-meaning dialogues of the source, and are nowhere to be found here. Another piece of evidence (just to point out one), is the "Pretty Woman" dance-sequence, which reeks of pandering to youngsters and is plainly embarrassing for all involved. A rule of thumb: keep song-and-dance-routines out of material where they don't belong and instead keep them, where they belong: in musicals. NOT "Iznogoud"-adaptations! Speaking about pandering: though the film didn't even make it into German cinema (strange but telling, considering how popular the comics are), they did release it on DVD, and of course synchronized it with local voice-overs. From all the competent speakers and comedians, they opted for people like Rick Kavanian and Rüdiger Hoffmann. I doubt that many people from the generation of "Iznogoud"-fans will have gained as much as a smirk from their form of comedy usually referred to as "grimacing" and "vulgar slapstick". Sure, kids enjoy that for reasons of their own, but hearing their voices over the character, probably drove home the final nail of the coffin.I'd give it 4/10 for good costumes, nice design, the settings and the attempt of the actors to make the best of what they were given to work with; but I certainly won't give it a second view.

Today I watched this movie on TV. I read the stories years ago and so I was curious to see what they had made of it. I remember them being quite witty and Iznogoud was a rather nasty person. Unfortunately I have to say, that what I saw, was not what I expected to see. It had some (very few) good moments. I saw some nice F/X but they alone don't make a good movie. As a resume I think it was not worth wasting 95 minutes of my time. Iznogoud was too young and too good looking and the caliph was too old. In my eyes the cast could have been way better. This is a good example of a bad result you get when trying to convert a cartoon into a live-action movie.

The first 20 minutes or so of the movie are terrible. But the rest of the movie is acceptable, even though the songs are not that great. The movie is actually better for kids than adults, even if there's some sexual innuendos and a bit of nudity. Jacques Villeret is great even if his character is not well developed. Michaël Youn is terribly annoying in the first half of the film and it only gets a bit better in the second half. But the two genies are great! The movie reminded me of Astérix, that came out a few years ago, if only that it's not as good.Seen in Toronto, at the Royal Cinema, during Cinéfranco, on April 9th, 2006.72/100 (**)

This was the last movie of Jacques Villeret who died 28 January 2005, he was funny as Le Calife Haroun El Poussah. It was very similar to the cartoon if you remember it. Michaël Youn was excellent as Le grand Vizir Iznogoud and he totally embodied the character. Youn's talent as a performer was cleverly used in the movie as he was part of the band Bratislava Boys. Oliver & Kad (Olivier Barroux & Kad Merad) were excellent in their comedy routines as always. A short appearance of Elie Semoun, Laurent Baffie, Vincent Desagnat, Pascal Sellem and Ariel Wizman were just funny as they all represent the elite of French comedy right now. This was a good movie in the cartoon comedy genre. It was much better than I expected.