Wickie the Mighty Viking (2009)

Perfectly adorable

A Brilliant Conflict

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

I remember very well when there was a casting show for the child actor to play Wickie which ran several weeks and was put into effect by Michael Herbig, one of Germany's most famous comedians ("Bullyparade") and also the writer and director of this movie. He also plays a small role as a Spanish narrator, which really should have been left out. It's neither funny, nor does it add a lot to the film. This can be said about most of the movie. There are many much better children's book adaptations out there and the only scene I kinda liked was the battle between Wickie and his dad with the stone carrying sequence early on.The dad reminded me a bit of Majestix from the Asterix movies, especially when looking at how he communicates with his wife. Wickie, however, is not a rough brutal viking as they want him to be. He works much more with his mind than with his non-existing biceps. The plot is that all the viking children are abducted by another viking tribe (it is not shown how that happens, probably as it's a kids film and they may have gotten scared) and so Wickie, who managed to flee, and his clan need to get them back. There are actually some interesting names cast as villains. if you are slightly familiar with German cinema, you may recognize the late Günther Kaufmann (worked a lot with Fassbinder), Christoph Maria Herbst, Herbert Feuerstein or Jürgen Vogel. Herbig has worked a lot with Herbst in the past, but his "Bullyparade" colleagues Tramitz and Kavanian are not around this time.All in all this movie is a fairly weak comic book adaptation. The sequel which came out not much later is slightly better thanks to the introduction of an interesting new character, but not by much. With all these great children's books' adaptations out there currently, I cannot recommend to watch this one. There's many better choices and I am somehow surprised to see this was the most successful German movie at the box office from 2009, back in the year of "Avatar". The humor was just really weak here. One example was the underwater sequence, which did almost nothing for me comedy-wise. Apart from that, I assume the dramatic highlight should be the father/son-relationship, but on an emotional level it did not strike me either, even if the song about that issue was nice, but also much more comedy-like than dramatic. What was truly bad, was the version of the Hey Wickie theme song they included here. All in all, not recommended.

Amusing movie based on the successful German-Austrian cartoon series , here are correctly adapted on real images . Long ago, in a small Viking Village called Flake , a little boy named Wickie (Jonas Hammerle) lives a happy life with his parents . His daddy, Halvar (Waldemar Kobus), is the chief of the Vikings, and would have liked a son a little more valiant and less fearful . So, he and his bunch take Wickie along on their voyages to give him the experience he'll need to be an actual Viking. He usually accompanies his dad, and his warriors on their adventures and often is the young who uses his wit and instincts to help the friends in their times of need .Yet, somehow tribe's children end up trapped or hopelessly stuck somewhere and kidnapped by the nasty Sven (Gunther Kauffmann) and it's up to Wickie alone to help them out with his flashes of wit . Our friends Halvar , Snorre (Christian Koch) , Tjore , Urobe go out to rescue them on their ships , the Viking Drakkar, and Vickie aboard as stowaway.This agreeable film contains amusing adventures , humor , emotion and is pretty entertaining . Not only did the story convey us to great and funny adventures, it also showed how to solve problems without the use of force. A likable Vickie , he is an ordinary viking boy, he is also not very strong but with his flashes of intelligence saves the day , helping the crew to resolve the numerous problems they suffer . The motion picture is well and originally directed by Michael Bully Herbig . He is an expert on parody based on known characters such as Karl May's ¨Winnitou¨ in the film titled ¨manitou's shoes (2001¨), the second feature movie he directed , became the most successful movie in Germany and Austria ever and ¨Sissi¨ in ¨Lissi and the Wild Emperor¨ and of course ¨Vickie¨ in this enjoyable film ¨ Vickie the Viking ¨ . Rating : 6,5 . Acceptable adventures film appointed for children and adolescents and ,of course, for vintage series fonds . Well worth seeing .

Thursday 17:10 .. if your mom made a dentist appointment at that time, you had all the reason to hate her, it was Wickie time !!!I believe that for those who grew up like Bully in the early 70ies in Germany will be extremely pleased with this movie as I was. I have not watched the animated Wickie since I was a kid and I had no idea that there was a new version in the making until I saw it on the menu of an LH flight back from Tokyo .. talk about the odds as this was (according to wiki) the first cooperation of ZDF - ORF and some Japanese channel ... (and I am still talking about the animated show from 1972 -74)As to the movie, it just triggered all the .. errr... triggers .. in me .. the production value was fantastic (as Bully had showcased before, good and careful use of FX is not Hollywood alone territory) ... the story is nothing to write home about ... but it works extremely well .. it kept me focused for the whole time and made me wish for more ... The characters were very well cast. The partial musical cues from the old TV show nearly brought me to tears. Now, there might be a problem ... I have NO idea how today's kids might like this, or even young parents who grew up in the 80ies and for them Wickie was just one of many many offerings on the recently established cable channels ... As much as I wish for a sequel, unless they shot one secretly back to back .. the kids playing Wickie and his GF will be too old to reprise the roles.Overall ... A movie very well done, but I think it depends on what your former relation is with this little Vicking .. and how much you love it.

First of all I have to say that I never was a big fan of the original TV-series, but the main reason for this is the fact that I was born in the mid 80's and thus my cartoon heroes were those who came after Wickie. Thus I went into the movie without any expectations and ended up being pleasantly surprised.The story is neither overly inventive nor epic, but there's always enough happening to keep the viewer interested.The movie had plenty of fun moments, I couldn't help noticing that it's mostly targeted at the younger generation but there are also a few mature references. Altogether anyone who has a good relationship with their inner child should have a few good laughs throughout the playtime.The cast is mostly unknown (at least to me since I don't watch that many German productions) but excellent. Almost every character has a striking resemblance to his or her cartoon counterpart and the acting is decent.Yet again I have to bow in front of Bully Herbig when it comes to production value. The movie looks and sounds fantastic, if it had been a high-budget Hollywood production there probably wouldn't have been too much of a difference to the product at hand (Apart from the addition of some overdone special FX). The music composer Ralf Wengenmayr did an excellent job of working the original melodies into the score as well as adding some new ones which really matched the movie's mood.Most people, Wickie fan or not, should enjoy it.