NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

t_atzmueller Being a fan of "Asterix", "Lucky Luke" and not least "Iznogoud" (here in Germany spelled "Isnogud"), its quiet surprising that I came around so late to watch this film. Or perhaps not such a big surprise at all, considering that I've been more or less disappointed by most real-life-adaptations of said comics. Hence, I didn't watch with too high an expectation and left not quite as disappointed as I had expected – but disappointed nevertheless.I'd agree with most points of criticism that the other reviewers here have pointed out, but would defend Jacques Villeret, who looks like he was born to play the part of the peaceful, tranquil yet rather simple Caliph (and that may sound a little off-place, considering that this was his final role). Michael Youn as titular character, well, not as bad as made out to be, but then again not exactly living up to the comic-Iznogoud either. Too young, in my opinion, and far removed from the figure, that's slimy, scheming, choleric, treacherous and of course likable as an anti-hero can get. I don't blame it too much on the cast though and rather on the lazy script-writing (it would appear that Patrick Braoude has only glanced over the source-material and/or didn't understand it) and Braoude being the wrong man for the job of directing this in the first place.Not being all too familiar with his prior work, it would appear that Braoude is more at home at children's movies and RomComs, which shines through in "Iznogoud" but really has no place in an adaptation. Call me naïve, but when adapting from a different media, especially one that is so popular and beloved as the "Iznogoud"-comics, I would presume that you primarily want to reach the fans of the source-material. Here we get the impression that the producers reasoned, "oh well, the fans will go and watch it one way or the other, just on account of the title. Let's make it hip and flashy, and see how the kiddies will buy it". Whether the kiddies bought it or not, I cannot tell but I sure know that the fans came, saw and were generally not too amused.Evidence for this chumming up (no better way to describe it) are the often raunchy one-liners, which may have come from a certain orifice of Braoude, but certainly not the comic. They replaced the often witty, double-meaning dialogues of the source, and are nowhere to be found here. Another piece of evidence (just to point out one), is the "Pretty Woman" dance-sequence, which reeks of pandering to youngsters and is plainly embarrassing for all involved. A rule of thumb: keep song-and-dance-routines out of material where they don't belong and instead keep them, where they belong: in musicals. NOT "Iznogoud"-adaptations! Speaking about pandering: though the film didn't even make it into German cinema (strange but telling, considering how popular the comics are), they did release it on DVD, and of course synchronized it with local voice-overs. From all the competent speakers and comedians, they opted for people like Rick Kavanian and Rüdiger Hoffmann. I doubt that many people from the generation of "Iznogoud"-fans will have gained as much as a smirk from their form of comedy usually referred to as "grimacing" and "vulgar slapstick". Sure, kids enjoy that for reasons of their own, but hearing their voices over the character, probably drove home the final nail of the coffin.I'd give it 4/10 for good costumes, nice design, the settings and the attempt of the actors to make the best of what they were given to work with; but I certainly won't give it a second view.

Maciek Kur Iznogoud is a hard comic book to be made into a movie. The stories are about 8 pages and they more or less fallow the same formula - Iznogoud the great vizier gets idea how to kill the good Caliph (usually involving some magical objects or gimmick) and after few faild atemps the plot turns against him and he end-up turn into a frog or nail, or something.The movie starts pretty interesting with a pseudo-bollywood musical number that explains Iznogoud goals and creates the Arabian night setting. Sadly the next 40 minutes or so, are a mess of different Iznogoud plots, sadly all handle poorly. The plot to turn Caliph into a frogs turns out to be a dream, the plot with two Genies was pointless, and the plot to turn Caliph invisible was so forced. The only good part was when Izngoud thinks that Caliph actually dies. The second half when the main plot finally kicks in is a little bit better and there are some funny jokes now and then, but overall predictable. There are some jokes I don't get. For example - at one point the magic frog escape from Izngoud. During the movie they keep showing the shots of the frog when they cut to the palace, and while I was thinking it is building up to something at the end... nope, it was pretty pointless. As a whole this movie is not bad - Visuals are fantastic, few jokes made ma laugh out-loud, musical numbers are OK and you can tell that the cast had fun with it, but at the same time the plot is either predicable or makes little sense, there are plenty of pointless moments and overall they could done a much better job.

LeRoyMarko The first 20 minutes or so of the movie are terrible. But the rest of the movie is acceptable, even though the songs are not that great. The movie is actually better for kids than adults, even if there's some sexual innuendos and a bit of nudity. Jacques Villeret is great even if his character is not well developed. Michaël Youn is terribly annoying in the first half of the film and it only gets a bit better in the second half. But the two genies are great! The movie reminded me of Astérix, that came out a few years ago, if only that it's not as good.Seen in Toronto, at the Royal Cinema, during Cinéfranco, on April 9th, 2006.72/100 (**)

dbdumonteil ....and how much did I love them!Goscinny and Tabary used to work wonders for there was only one plot:the Grand Vizir Iznogoud wants to get rid of the caliph and be caliph himself;but every time they came up with funny new situations,hilarious puns and a lot of black humor.Patrick Braoudé completely butchered Iznogoud.He's got a lot of nerve to dedicate his piece of junk to Goscinny and Tabary!The lines are vulgar, full of saucy innuendos(whereas the comic books never deal with sex even to the lesser extent).The songs are abysmal and essentially filler:the reworking of "Pretty woman" is an insult to the great Roy Orbison.It's really too bad for the late Jacques Villeret :the part of the caliphwas tailor-made for him and had he worked with a clever director,he could have succeeded in his portrayal.As I cannot say something nice about the rest of the cast....Now do yourself a favor and read again one of those wonderful comics.