''Mortadelo & Filemon : The Big Adventure '' ( es, La gran aventura de Mortadelo y Filemón) is a 2003 Spanish-language film based on the popular Spanish comic book series ''

Mortadelo y Filemón ''Mort & Phil'' ( es, Mortadelo y Filemón) is a Spanish comic series, published in more than a dozen languages. It appeared for the first time in 1958 in the children's comic-book magazine drawn by Francisco Ibáñez. The series features Mor ...

'' by

Francisco Ibáñez Talavera Francisco Ibáñez Talavera, signing as just Ibáñez, (born 15 March 1936) is a Spanish comic book artist and writer. Biography Born in Barcelona, Ibáñez is the creator of several comic book series, the most famous of which is Mortadelo y F ...

. It also included characters from ''

13, Rue del Percebe ''13, Rue del Percebe'' (13, Barnacle Street) is a Spanish comic book created by Francisco Ibáñez that debuted in the pages of ''Tío Vivo'' magazine on March 6, 1961, and quickly became highly popular. The last strip was published in 1984. ...

'', another comic by the same creator. The film was directed by

Javier Fesser Javier Fesser Pérez de Petinto (Madrid, born 15 February 1964) is a Spanish film director and publicist. He is a multiple Goya Award winner for his films ''Camino (2008 film), Camino'' and Mortadelo y Filemón contra Jimmy el Cachondo, and an Ac ...

and stars

Benito Pocino Benito Pocino (born 21 March 1958), is a Spanish actor. Benito Pocino was born in Barcelona on 21 March 1958. He used to read ''Mortadelo y Filemón'' comics, and his classmates gave him the nickname Mortadelo due to his appearance. He works as ...

and

Pepe Viyuela José Viyuela Castillo (born 2 June 1963), known as Pepe Viyuela, is a Spanish actor, clown, poet, and comedian. He is best known in English-speaking countries for his one-man stage show ''Encerrona (Lock-In)'', which was brought to the London s ...

. It became the second highest-grossing Spanish film of all time.

Plot

The adventure begins when a spy breaks into Professor Bacterio's lab and steals some of his inventions from the T.I.A. headquarters (''Técnicos de Investigación Aeroterráquea'', "Tía" being the Spanish word for "Aunt", thus a spoof of the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

). Mortadelo and Filemón who work for the T.I.A. are put on the case, but Fredy, another agent, decides to beat them to it. One of the inventions is a

weather control Weather modification is the act of intentionally manipulating or altering the weather. The most common form of weather modification is cloud seeding, which increases rain or snow, usually for the purpose of increasing the local water supply. We ...

machine which the spy decides to sell to the President of Tirania, a small

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship are ...

. There are numerous clashes between the spy, Fredy, and Mortadelo and Filemón (who Fredy seems to want to kill). Our heroes end up in prison after accidentally beating up the local cop once too often. They escape, Filemon's mother gets kidnapped by Fredy and taken to Tirania. The spy is killed in Fredy's place as Fredy ingratiates himself with the President, while having Filemón's mother tortured. The heroes arrive and there is a big battle where Filemón is apparently killed. Then Mortadelo receives a mortal wound, but Filemón gives him a cup of water, which turns out to be the

Holy Grail The Holy Grail (french: Saint Graal, br, Graal Santel, cy, Greal Sanctaidd, kw, Gral) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miracul ...

, Mortadelo drinks it and heals quickly, while Fredy gets his

just deserts Desert () in philosophy is the condition of being deserving of something, whether good or bad. It is sometimes called moral desert to clarify the intended usage and distinguish it from the dry desert biome. It is a concept often associated wi ...

. Mortadelo and Filemón return home, their mission successfully accomplished.

Cast

as Mortadelo *

as Filemón *

Dominique Pinon Dominique Pinon (born 4 March 1955) is a French actor. He is known for appearing in films directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, often playing eccentric or grotesque characters. Early life and education Dominique Pinon was born in Saumur, Maine-et-Loi ...

as Fredy *

Paco Sagarzazu Francisco Sagarzazu Badiola (born 31 January 1940), better known as Paco Sagarzazu, is a Spanish actor. He appeared in more than sixty films since 1981. Selected filmography References External links * 1940 births Living people S ...

as The President *

Mariano Venancio Mariano Venancio (born 1947) is a Spanish stage, television and film actor. Biography Mariano Venancio was born in Salamanca in 1947. He studied childhood education () in Salamanca but moved to Madrid to train his acting chops and pursue a care ...

as Superintendent Vincente (their boss at T.I.A.) * as Professor Bacterio * as Ofelia (Vincente's secretary) * Gustamante as a mosquito (CGI insect) *

María Isbert María Vicenta Ysbert Soriano (21 April 1917 – 25 April 2011) better known as María Isbert was a Spanish actress whose credits included more than 250 Spanish films during her career. Isbert worked with most major Spanish film actors and direc ...

as Filemón's mother *

Emilio Gavira Emilio Gavira (born 14 December 1964 in Fuengirola, Málaga Province) is a Spanish actor. The youngest of 6, he lived his life in Málaga and Alcázar de San Juan (Ciudad Real, Spain). He is the son of Ignacio Gavira and Carmén Tomás and t ...

as Rompetechos * as President's servant * as The spy who started it all off *

Paco Hidalgo Paco is a Spanish nickname for Francisco. According to folk etymology, the nickname has its origins in Saint Francis of Assisi, who was the father of the Franciscan order; his name was written in Latin by the order as ''Pater Communitatis'' (fat ...

as President's torturer * Javier Aller as Mickey El Gigante * as Security guard at T.I.A. * Joan Gadea as a crooked shopkeeper. *

Juan Peiró ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

as someone who keeps getting run over *

Andrés Gasch Andres or Andrés may refer to: *Andres, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Will County, Illinois, US *Andres, Pas-de-Calais, a commune in Pas-de-Calais, France *Andres (name) *Hurricane Andres *Andres (song), "Andres" (song), a 1994 song b ...

as Matraca, a very large man who has it in for Filemon * Manuel Pizarro as a thief * Coyito Fernández as a cop * Emiliana Olmedo as Queen Elizabeth II * The people of

Gijón Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and municipality by population in the autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coast of the Cantabrian Sea in the Bay of Biscay, in the cent ...

(crowd scene at palace, which was the Universidad Laboral) * The people of

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

where much of it was filmed including the final parade and also Madrid.

Reception

Box office

The film set an opening weekend record for a Spanish film with a gross of €5.1 million, second only to ''

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the second novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. The plot follows Harry Potter (character), Harry's second year at Hogwarts School of W ...

''. It grossed 22.8 million

euros The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . T ...

in Spain, becoming the second highest-grossing Spanish film of all-time behind '' Los otros'' (2001).

Sequels

There is a second film about the comic duo named '' Mort & Phil. Mission: Save Earth'' (2008).

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mortadelo and Filemon: 2003 films Films based on Spanish comics Mort & Phil Films set in a fictional country Films shot in Madrid Spanish spy comedy films 2000s spy comedy films Live-action films based on comics 2003 comedy films 2000s Spanish films 2000s Spanish-language films