Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Expected more

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

"Lissi und der wilde Kaiser" or "Lissi and the Wild Emperor" is a German animated movie from almost 10 years ago. It was written and directed by Michael Bully Herbig and he also lends his voice to the (female) title character. Herbig is known for the television show "Bullyparade" and some of the most successful German comedy films of the 21st century, including "Der Schuh des Manitu". I would not call myself a massive fan of his, but I usually like his style of comedy. This is also why I must say that, overall, I was a bit disappointed by this film here. The animation is solid (except Lissi, did not like her looks), but the story and characters are simply not interesting enough and it's also not exactly a success in terms of the comedy.I am writing this review as somebody who is not too fond of the old Sissi movies that this film here obviously tries to parody. Or does it really? Apart from the name difference and the characters belonging to Austrian aristocracy, there aren't really any parallels? Why a yeti? What is up with the two guys chasing? And what about the devil? Or one that looks like a pimp and marries the male main character's mom in the end? All these supporting characters were a bit funny during their introduction and maybe also in 1 or 2 scenes, but just not enough for the whole film. I personally would have done without them and stayed a lot closer on the live action films in terms of the story.This could have been a really nice parody in my opinion. Bully certainly has the talent and wit to make this a laugh-out-loud movie together with his regular pals Tramitz and Kavanian. Instead, he came up with something that has very little to do with Lissi, basically nothing in terms of the story. Fans of the 1950s "Sissi" films will certainly be offended by this one here if they decided to give it a go. I am not offended. I am not entertained, however, either. Thumbs down and I do not recommend the watch. Luckily, it only runs for 80 minutes and that already includes 5 minutes of credits. Otherwise, due to obvious lack of funny material, this would have been an even more embarrassing film.

I wasn't expecting too much when we watched this film and was pleasantly surprised by the result. There has been some negative comments in the media about this film which I find a bit unjustified. It is more a children's film than Bully's previous films and should be judged as such (although there are some lovely double entendres for the grown-ups - the one about trimming the emporer's mother's bush springs to mind). I think the media critics were expecting something different but the normal viewers were more than happy and this is reflected by the fact that the film won the Bavarian Audience Award. I found it way better than (T)raumschiff Period 1 and it had the whole family laughing; it's a bit absurd and nonsense (schmarnn!) but that's the beauty of it.

This film is a breath of fresh air for German comedy. After watching it last night, i find my self still laughing, if you liked the silly humor of 'Hot Shots' or 'Airplane', this is for you.The animation is on par with (if not better than) 'shrek'. This is a fairy tale Disney can only wish to make, a true 'one for the family'.The jokes are thick and fast, and for the most part, refrain from being crude.I gave this an eight, due to the fact that, Bully is Lissy. The facial features although excellent, are those of a man, and tend to take you out of the film. To have the main character created from scratch would have added that little bit more.That aside, give it shot, you wont be disappointed!

First of all I'm a big admirer of bully and his work and I enjoyed watching nearly all the bullyparade-shows. In my opinion he did a fine job with "erkan und stefan" and he showed his fabulous directing skills in "Schuh des Manitu"."(T)raumschiff surprise" was a kind of disappointment for me, because despite of the excellent special effects it was a step back. The gay characters with that nerving gay-voice were hard to identify with, so the poor plot became even worse."Lissy" is the worst part of the trilogy, even if the animation and the character designs are really Hollywood-like and can definitely compete with "Shrek" or most of the Pixar-flicks. the wordplays don't work out at all, the story is so lame and predictable and most of all not funny and the humor doesn't work beyond simple slapstick. the most important problem, same as "(T)raumschiff surprise", is the fact, that you can not anticipate with Lissy, always having in mind that it's Bully, trying to imitate a woman.There was only one time I laughed and it was right in the beginning when the film-piracy text is shown.I'm looking forward to Bully making live action movies without the "bullyparade" characters. He's a really good filmmaker!