For half a century the Nicolas stories, written by René Goscinny, creator of Asterix, and illustrated by Jean-Jacques Sempé, have been a staple of almost every French childhood. A few months ago, I wrote about the book which I discovered by accident. When I read the stories of Nicolas, I fell in love with the book and the writing style of Goscinny. I was beside myself when it become known that a film based on the book, Le Petit Nicolas, would be released in the near future. Thanks an excellent website and creative trailers, my impatience to see the film grew greater day by day. I was aware that most likely I would have to see the film in French,with no subtitles and dubbing, but having read the book I knew most of what happens by heart. As I expected, the fact that my French is limited to only a few simple phrases did not impose any limitations to my viewing pleasure.
The cinematography was quite similar to that of Toto the Hero, which makes me think that it is currently quite a modern technique which which to do films in France .
httpv://youtu.be/mZHNjPvLpNw
A p
leasant touch in the film was the appearance of the well known French actor, Gérard Jugnot ( you may remember him as a teacher and choirmaster in another classic French film Les choristes). As soon as I saw him, I could not resist smiling, especially considering the scene in which he was acting. The film is packed with hilarious scenes and this is probably the first time I would consider a movie equally as good as the book it is based on. Oh well. Admittedly the book byRené Goscinny is just a bit funnier though in its 90 minutes of screen time, it really entertains the viewer. But, in my opinion, the film would succeed better as a believeable and realistic story if it didn’t end so soon. Those 90 minutes pass quite rapidly, which makes we wonder if another hour of filming would have been beneficial to the film. There would have been more time to include more of the original stories, as many were left out.
Overall its a good comedy and I think everyone will like it !
I listened to a debate about the book series and why it is not popular in the U.S.A. The fact that they cannot make the books profitable here will be a hindrance in getting an English release, but I think there's a chance it will make enough money in France (i.e. Les Choristes) to get a major film company to take notice. It's a wildly successful series there.
If you haven`t read the stories I suppose that you will enjoy the film more and then will want to read them. If you have read them and then see the film – you will find that many things were left out. If they made the film 3-4 hours long I believe they could manage. In fact I rarely prefer series over full future films , but think that the serie format would be more suitable . I saw it in French relaying on my limited knowledge of the language and the memories I have from the book. I am not sure that they will be an official release with English subtitles trough – it all depends on the demand , but I expect more that a fan of the film will make a custom subtitles first….and then may be the distributor would recognize the demand for that.
This does seem like a funny movie and i cant wait to watch it. Does anyone know when or if a more international release of the DVD is planned? The one i have been able to find in different stores does not come with any english subtitles. :(