Barely known on this side of the ocean Spanish comic book characters Mortadelo and Filemon are simply huge in their native Spain, a pair of bumbling spies that exist in a world equal parts Inspector Clouseau and Road Runner. It's crazy slapstick stuff that made the move to the feature film world a few years back in a live action adaptation that didn't travel particularly well but did good enough business at home to merit a well budgeted sequel. Why pay attention to this one after finding the first underwhelming? Two reasons. First, they've re-cast one of the leads after the original actor demanded too much money, so the chemistry should be a little different. Much, much more important however, is the man in the director's chair. This installment is being helmed by Miguel Bardem, the director of cult faves Incautos and The Ugliest Woman In The World, among others. It'll still be family oriented, that's the nature of the franchise, but with Bardem in control this should be far more interesting stuff than the first ...
The teaser is now online but is little more than an announcement that the film is coming.
Oh and it looks like they have cast someone else in the Mortadelo role.
Also the comics have an inherent sadism that surpasses anything Tom & Jerry did by far. It's hardcore slapstick shown in very distinctive drawings. So translating this to the big screen as anything but animation seems a bit hopeless to me.
And trying to fit a story in there won't be easy either, the series is at its best in ten page installments.
One 50 page album would have Mortadelo and Filemon trying out 5 new inventions for example, and all 5 stories would end with Mortadelo and Filemon torturing the inventor because his malfunctioning devices would have inflicted damage on them. And I mean torture with a capital T: crushing under a bulldozer, tied to a drill, setting him on fire, throwing him in a pool filled with piranhas, you get the drift.