"Loriots große Trickfilmrevue" or "Loriot's Great Cartoon Revue", which is not only the international title, but also the literal translation, even if "great" is also more a statement in terms of quality than just in terms of size and "große" is merely the latter, is a new German movie, a theatrical release from 2023 and you may be a bit surprised that I am giving this such a high rating, but hear me out. The one thing that speaks against it is of course the idea that you will see nothing new here, nothing that hasn't existed before, but the content at times is so good and entertaining that I still think it is very much worth seeing. It is the first film from this year that I am giving a rating of more than 3/5 or 6/10 and this means quite something, even if I am sure it will not stay this way and eventually I will find a film that will at least get the same rating, maybe even a perfect score and this is surely not gonna stay my favorite from 2023 as the months will pass by. But for now it is. It is a pretty short film at under 80 minutes, but that is totally fine too and maybe even right given the occasion. The director is Peter Geyer and I see this is his very first career effort, so as it is basically just combining stuff that already exists into a full feature, I am curious if he will keep going and "really" direct a movie in the future. I guess here the biggest challenge lay in deciding about the order of the individual cartoon snippets. But the one thing that made an impact on me in terms of the film itself almost more than anything else is that I see the name "von Bülow" at least twice here in the credits list, which means that the generations following Vicco, who is dead and gone now for over a decade, appreciated and supported the making of this movie. Of course, I guess it would have been difficult if they had not permitted Geyer to use all the material in here. And Vicco von Bülow himself is also credited as the one and only writer here on imdb.
What you see from beginning to end is basically content from the really old cartoon series "Cartoon" (yep! Sometimes simple is best) from the late 1960s and early 1970s and perhaps here and there also something newer. It would be tough though to find out the exact year for every single cartoon inclusion here. They are really quick, but still this is not by any means a matter of quality over quantity. The reason why I think that the creation of this film was a good idea is because it is not only fairly difficult to find episodes of "Cartoon" these days, but also because it is a defining collection in a way by Loriot's cartoon works and as far as I know, there is no such thing anywhere else. So now we only need to hope that this film will not be forgotten. I mean the room was full during my screening, but it was only just a pretty small room. Maybe 20 people and it was the weekend, so does not have to mean much. I should perhaps also say that Loriot is of course Vicco von Bülow, but I hope that (almost) everybody, who came here at least, knows this himself. The sketches you see in here include some of his most known works, but also others that you will maybe see for the first time or at least don't remember having seen them. Of course, not every single inclusion here is a big winner or resulted in me smiling, let alone laughing, but they are all smart in a way and it will all depend on your personal taste which ones you end up liking the most. For me the amount was surely high enough, to give this a truly high rating. Some of the most known ones included here are of course the one with the two guys in the bathtub, which may also be the longest, so they cut it in several parts for it to not interfere in style with the other shorter ones, the speaking hound, the man who just wants to sit in his chair and do nothing, the one with the interviewee having to wait for ages, the violent Christmas poem (even if it wasn't the perfect time for this as we got spring) etc.
Speaking of the one with the guy in the chair or armchair, this was maybe my favorite in terms of dialogue. Gee, Loriot was really at his most creative there in depicting misunderstandings between spouses. I so would have divorced that wife 100%. The moment with the jacket and if it is too cold outside to go without one when all he wants is stay inside and sit and relax was already when I could not have taken this anymore and this was from relatively early on. Endless patience this guy has and I do not criticize him for his outburst one but, but only wonder why it comes this late. These male-female couple situations are something that Loriot came up with on several occasions, but this specific one truly stood out. Also how she was rushing back and forth there by the door in the background. I could not live like that. Never ever. We also have a male character talking about how he will kill her one day or a female character saying something against males in general, so it comes from both sides and is also directed at both sides. Loriot was certainly not a misogynist and also not a misandrist. Just a neutral observer with great comedic talent. These interviewer/interviewee scenarios are another thing that Loriot did a lot and there I also mentioned already the guy who was there waiting for the red light and this was also hilarious. Also one of the longer sketches, so they split it in two. I must say the bathtub thingey is one that most people may know from Loriot, but it is not one of my favorites. I did like another scenario though between two men that are at the track for horse racing, which was fairly hilarious. The entire thing was, but especially the moment when the clueless guy looks through the binoculars and sees the other up-close as keeps looking right at him and he is shocked. This was kinda hilarious, but the rest of the sketch was fine too.
I guess I don't want to elaborate on every single inclusion here now, every single sketch as this would take it way too far and also would not be doable within a 10,000-character limit. But there is no need to anyway. You should not have to read what I am saying about every single cartoon snippet, but go watch it yourself either on the big screen or just go for the individual sketches on Youtube, even if it is a lot more clicking to go through them one by one, but oh well I guess there is playlists. If you are not a native speaker, then it might be difficult though. For quite a few of the sketches, it could be pretty difficult to get across the awkward humor overall, but subtitles have been so great in recent years that I have little to no doubts at all that they also found a way with those, like for example the one where one character responds that the other must not ask him this. This one was at the beginning. Loriot is probably also a great idea to pick when you want to improve your German skills and are not a native. Maybe too difficult though in the first year. But afterwards, I would recommend and I genuinely hope that this film will also get released outside of Germany or I should say the German-speaking countries, but I kinda doubt it. Would be a pity. It is ridiculous in a good (or actually bad) way how far ahead this film here and Loriot's work in general, also his non-cartoon releases with actors, most of all himself, are if we compare them to new(er) German comedy films in the 2020s that are so many times a politically-correct travesty with zero laughing potential altogether. Sad state of affairs for sure, so another reason why the release of this film is a good thing, even if it brings nothing new.
During my screening, there was also a man, probably father, with his daughter sitting in the audience. I mean he did not seem too likable to me, but it is definitely a good thing of new generations are introduced to the art of Loriot this way and therefore I am giving this film a truly enthusiastic recommendation. I am struggling quite a bit with finding something I did not like. I kinda wondered during the watch if these vampire snippets were also by Loriot as they felt a bit different, but I guess they were and people laughed at them too, so it is all good. Would not have made any sense to include somebody else's animation there. But yeah, if I had to pick something that I could have done without, then I would probably be going for the Helmut Schmidt inclusion at the very end. It just felt so out of place to suddenly include some non-cartoon there and no idea what they were thinking with it. Luckily, it only lasted for a couple seconds or so. Oh and one last thing: There was this one situation when one character struggles with reminding one or several words or names from famous people and only can think of a letter or other hints and it was fun for me to quiz along there. Sadly, I do not remember the specific details/tips and don't have a chance (yet) to check back what it was exactly, but otherwise I definitely would. So will you maybe, so even the crowd got involved a bit there. I am sure I was not the only one wondering who they were talking about. That is all now. I highly recommend checking this one out.
What you see from beginning to end is basically content from the really old cartoon series "Cartoon" (yep! Sometimes simple is best) from the late 1960s and early 1970s and perhaps here and there also something newer. It would be tough though to find out the exact year for every single cartoon inclusion here. They are really quick, but still this is not by any means a matter of quality over quantity. The reason why I think that the creation of this film was a good idea is because it is not only fairly difficult to find episodes of "Cartoon" these days, but also because it is a defining collection in a way by Loriot's cartoon works and as far as I know, there is no such thing anywhere else. So now we only need to hope that this film will not be forgotten. I mean the room was full during my screening, but it was only just a pretty small room. Maybe 20 people and it was the weekend, so does not have to mean much. I should perhaps also say that Loriot is of course Vicco von Bülow, but I hope that (almost) everybody, who came here at least, knows this himself. The sketches you see in here include some of his most known works, but also others that you will maybe see for the first time or at least don't remember having seen them. Of course, not every single inclusion here is a big winner or resulted in me smiling, let alone laughing, but they are all smart in a way and it will all depend on your personal taste which ones you end up liking the most. For me the amount was surely high enough, to give this a truly high rating. Some of the most known ones included here are of course the one with the two guys in the bathtub, which may also be the longest, so they cut it in several parts for it to not interfere in style with the other shorter ones, the speaking hound, the man who just wants to sit in his chair and do nothing, the one with the interviewee having to wait for ages, the violent Christmas poem (even if it wasn't the perfect time for this as we got spring) etc.
Speaking of the one with the guy in the chair or armchair, this was maybe my favorite in terms of dialogue. Gee, Loriot was really at his most creative there in depicting misunderstandings between spouses. I so would have divorced that wife 100%. The moment with the jacket and if it is too cold outside to go without one when all he wants is stay inside and sit and relax was already when I could not have taken this anymore and this was from relatively early on. Endless patience this guy has and I do not criticize him for his outburst one but, but only wonder why it comes this late. These male-female couple situations are something that Loriot came up with on several occasions, but this specific one truly stood out. Also how she was rushing back and forth there by the door in the background. I could not live like that. Never ever. We also have a male character talking about how he will kill her one day or a female character saying something against males in general, so it comes from both sides and is also directed at both sides. Loriot was certainly not a misogynist and also not a misandrist. Just a neutral observer with great comedic talent. These interviewer/interviewee scenarios are another thing that Loriot did a lot and there I also mentioned already the guy who was there waiting for the red light and this was also hilarious. Also one of the longer sketches, so they split it in two. I must say the bathtub thingey is one that most people may know from Loriot, but it is not one of my favorites. I did like another scenario though between two men that are at the track for horse racing, which was fairly hilarious. The entire thing was, but especially the moment when the clueless guy looks through the binoculars and sees the other up-close as keeps looking right at him and he is shocked. This was kinda hilarious, but the rest of the sketch was fine too.
I guess I don't want to elaborate on every single inclusion here now, every single sketch as this would take it way too far and also would not be doable within a 10,000-character limit. But there is no need to anyway. You should not have to read what I am saying about every single cartoon snippet, but go watch it yourself either on the big screen or just go for the individual sketches on Youtube, even if it is a lot more clicking to go through them one by one, but oh well I guess there is playlists. If you are not a native speaker, then it might be difficult though. For quite a few of the sketches, it could be pretty difficult to get across the awkward humor overall, but subtitles have been so great in recent years that I have little to no doubts at all that they also found a way with those, like for example the one where one character responds that the other must not ask him this. This one was at the beginning. Loriot is probably also a great idea to pick when you want to improve your German skills and are not a native. Maybe too difficult though in the first year. But afterwards, I would recommend and I genuinely hope that this film will also get released outside of Germany or I should say the German-speaking countries, but I kinda doubt it. Would be a pity. It is ridiculous in a good (or actually bad) way how far ahead this film here and Loriot's work in general, also his non-cartoon releases with actors, most of all himself, are if we compare them to new(er) German comedy films in the 2020s that are so many times a politically-correct travesty with zero laughing potential altogether. Sad state of affairs for sure, so another reason why the release of this film is a good thing, even if it brings nothing new.
During my screening, there was also a man, probably father, with his daughter sitting in the audience. I mean he did not seem too likable to me, but it is definitely a good thing of new generations are introduced to the art of Loriot this way and therefore I am giving this film a truly enthusiastic recommendation. I am struggling quite a bit with finding something I did not like. I kinda wondered during the watch if these vampire snippets were also by Loriot as they felt a bit different, but I guess they were and people laughed at them too, so it is all good. Would not have made any sense to include somebody else's animation there. But yeah, if I had to pick something that I could have done without, then I would probably be going for the Helmut Schmidt inclusion at the very end. It just felt so out of place to suddenly include some non-cartoon there and no idea what they were thinking with it. Luckily, it only lasted for a couple seconds or so. Oh and one last thing: There was this one situation when one character struggles with reminding one or several words or names from famous people and only can think of a letter or other hints and it was fun for me to quiz along there. Sadly, I do not remember the specific details/tips and don't have a chance (yet) to check back what it was exactly, but otherwise I definitely would. So will you maybe, so even the crowd got involved a bit there. I am sure I was not the only one wondering who they were talking about. That is all now. I highly recommend checking this one out.
