Wickie und die starken Männer (2009)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Michael Herbig

Writers:

Michael Herbig (writer)
Runer Jonsson (children's book) ...

Release Date:

9 September 2009 (Austria)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Family | Comedy

Plot:

The story of a young Viking boy who accompanies his father, the chief of their village, and his men on their adventures -- and often is the person who uses his wit and instincts to help the men in their times of need.

Plot Keywords:

Viking | Village Chief | Parody | Character Name In Title

Cast

Jonas Hämmerle	...	Wickie
Waldemar Kobus	...	Halvar - Wickie's father
Nic Romm	...	Tjure
Christian Koch	...	Snorre
Olaf Krätke	...	Urobe
Mike Maas	...	Gorm
Patrick Reichel	...	Ulme
Jörg Moukaddam	...	Faxe
Ankie Beilke	...	Lee Fu
Sanne Schnapp	...	Ylva - Wickie's mother
Mercedes Jadea Diaz	...	Ylvi
Günther Kaufmann	...	Der schreckliche Sven
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Niklas Bronner	...	Gilby
Herbert Feuerstein	...	Tulpe
Michael Herbig	...	Ramon Martinez Congaz (as Michael Bully Herbig)
Christoph Maria Herbst	...	Pokka
Hannah Herzsprung	...	1. Waschweib (jung)
Gordon Krause	...	Viking child
Maik Lohse	...	Pirate
Roberto Martinez Martinez	...	Pirate
Franka Much	...	Snorre's wife
Wolfgang Raach	...	Pirate
Sammy Scheuritzel	...	Würgen
Bruno Schubert	...	Jürgen
Leon Tropp	...	Viking child
Nora Tschirner	...	2. Waschweib (jung)
Peter Uhlig	...	Faxe (voice)
Jürgen Vogel	...	Pi-Pi-Pi-Pirat
Helmfried von Lüttichau	...	Pirate
Billie Zöckler	...	Nelke

Also Known As:

Vicky the Viking (International: English title)
Wickie und die starken Männer - Der Pfeil (Germany) (working title)
Vicky el Vikingo (Spain) [es]

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Germany:o.Al.

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Filmstudios, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Rat Pack Filmproduktion GmbH

Trivia:

The roles of Faxe, Tjure, Snorre, Ulme, Urobe and Gorm were cast in the six-part TV show "Bully sucht die starken Männer!" (2008) on German network ProSieben.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Bully Spezial: Wickie und die starken Männer (2009) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Hey, Hey Wickie

Decent entertainment

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.