It is a widespread (prejudice) that people in France are less uptight than in stuffy Germany (or even in the uptight USA). The biggest hit of the French cinema year so far is brazenly adding fuel to the fire of clichés: more than six million people have already bought a ticket for the live-action comedy “Marsupilami” about the Franco-Belgian comic character of the same name. And many of those responsible for family films here would never dream of what happens in this family mega-hit. A baby marsupilami is accidentally given two Viagra tablets, causing its tail to become rock hard, which is just right for the female protagonist. Because she just wants to fend off an attacker – so she beats him with the Marsupilami tail as if it were a baseball bat.
A cute Chihuahua is also involved in this chaos and is thrown into an air duct. Ultimately he ends up in the crotch of a woman who is getting a Brazilian waxing in the spa area of the cruise ship. Shortly afterwards, the Chihuahua dachshunds through the scene with a new, sticky curly hair toupee. Here, not only the intimate hair is likely to separate itself from the body, but also the “Marsupilami” target audience from the rest of the world. Because if you turn tomato red at the thought of seeing something like this in a family comedy, you’ve come to the wrong place with this insane French blockbuster. However, anyone who is now impatiently shuffling their hooves should restrain themselves a little. Because the comedy by and with “Alibi.com” maker Philippe Lacheau is always slowed down in its madness, turbo slapstick and ridiculous hustle and bustle.
In the quieter scenes, the Marsupilami is represented by a haptic model with super cute giant eyes – a good decision against too much CGI!
Zoo worker David (Philippe Lacheau) is going through a low: he is constantly arguing with his ex-wife Tess (Élodie Fontan) about how their son Léo (Corentin Guillot) should be treated. And when David causes chaos at work while drunk, his shady boss (Jean Reno) forces him to do an illegal task: he is supposed to receive a mysterious package in Palumbia, South America, and smuggle it on a cruise to France.
The whole family is allowed to camouflage, but this only causes more commotion. Especially since David has lured the zoo caretaker Stéphane (Julien Arruti) as a potential scapegoat, who quickly becomes friends with ex-pop star Ricky Salsa (tongue-in-cheek: Tarek Boudali). This “vacation” finally turns into a hectic adventure when it turns out that the hot commodity is a Marsupilami! This is also what the customs officer Raymond (Alban Ivanow) and the animal-loving tour guide Pablito (Jamel Debbouze) are after…
A sequel or not?
The egg-laying bundle of energy with yellow fur, black spots and an extremely long tail celebrated its debut in 1952 in “Spirou” magazine. This was followed by his own comic books, animated series and the adventure comedy “In the Footsteps of Marsupilami”, with which André Franquin’s constantly hungry creation celebrated its live-action film debut in 2012. However, you don’t have to know the film, which was released directly in home cinemas in this country, to understand the new “Marsupilami” madness. Nevertheless, it represents a loose quasi-continuation, as Pablito, portrayed by “Asterix at the Olympic Games” supporting actor Jamel Debbouze, was already a central character in the 2012 film.
This time, Debbouze acts as a scatterbrained peripheral character with a shaky character outline: If it serves a cheap gag, Pablito’s backbone and vocabulary can disappear completely – Debbouze is left with little more than constantly making faces, which he is good at, but quickly wears out. Meanwhile, “Alibi.com” actor Julien Arruti makes a more entertaining idiot. With a disarmingly stupid smile, he provides absurd situational comedy and coarse laughs as the obtuse, ignorant Stéphane – because although he welcomes everything and everyone with open arms, he is also incredibly condescending. He thinks Pablito is a refugee, which is why he treats him like a puppy rescued from the animal shelter.
The parody of the iconic bicycle scene from “ET: The Extra-Terrestrial” is just one of dozens of pop culture references that “Marsupilami” has in store for its audience.
Raymond is even more disrespectful – and “Life is a Celebration” actor Alban Ivanow clearly wallows in playing this character as despicable as possible. It plays into his hands that director/writer Philippe Lacheau gives him some of the most imaginative, malicious gags. The highlight: A screamingly funny, satirical and biting trailer for a documentary about customs officials who are proud of turning away people in need at the border and giving cell phone cases (“You can use them as a hat!”) and sneakers (“Maybe you even sewed them yourself!”) to starving children from impoverished countries.
Unfortunately, such biting passages alternate with all sorts of cheesy sequences that often focus on David and Tess. Every now and then, their War of the Roses subplot scores points with an unpredictable flashback and surprisingly casual, crude puns. However, their scenes are often incredibly boring: Lacheau and Fontan bleat rudely at each other without timing, unless they are throwing things at each other while looking tired. The slapstick is generally a matter of luck in “Marsupilami”: Lacheau often embarrassingly prolongs boring stumbling and thrashing, which is devoid of verve, surprise and escalation. The fact that he understands slapstick very well is proven by quick-fire punchlines in which unsuspecting characters are suddenly inflicted with a lot of pain after a rapidly threaded chain of mishaps (keyword: missing bicycle saddle).
Whoever distributes must…
The Marsupilami can give out as well as take. Sometimes it’s an animatronic doll, a bit crudely designed, but with such tactile, huge googly eyes that you just have to fall in love with it. In the dynamic action scenes, however, there is also decently tricked CGI. At the same time, the hyperactive comic icon with an (un)stable hit rate drags other pop culture institutions from “Titanic” (shockingly good) to “ET – The Extraterrestrial” (lame) to “DragonBall Z” (senseless, but with pizzazz) through the cocoa. He doesn’t have any respect, but at least in this respect the screen Marsupilami does full justice to its comic role model.
Conclusion: This French family film blockbuster throws everything against the wall with a manic grin and looks with googly eyes to see what sticks. And that’s sometimes pubic hair on a lap dog’s head and sometimes tired divorce war gags. Or in short: The Marsupilami is and remains a bright yellow surprise bag.