''Mortadelo & Filemon : The Big Adventure '' () is a 2003 Spanish-language comedy film based on the popular Spanish comic book series ''

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

'' by

Francisco Ibáñez Talavera Francisco Ibáñez Talavera (15 March 1936 – 15 July 2023) was a Spanish comic book artist and writer. Ibáñez was one of the most prolific and well-known authors in Spain, with popular comics such as '' Mort & Phil'', '' Rompetechos'', '' ...

. 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'' and Mortadelo y Filemón contra Jimmy el Cachondo, and an Academy Award nomin ...

and stars Benito Pocino 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; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

). 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 rainfall or snowfall, usually for the purpose of increasing the local water su ...

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. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

dictatorship A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no Limited government, limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, ...

. 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 (, , , ) 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 miraculous healing powers, sometimes providing eternal youth or sustenanc ...

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

just deserts Desert () (or Dessert (/dɪˈzɜːt/) in the UK) in philosophy is the condition of being deserving of something, whether good or bad. It is sometimes called moral desert/moral dessert to clarify the intended usage and distinguish it from the dry ...

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

Cast

* Benito Pocino 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-Lo ...

as Fredy * Paco Sagarzazu 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 as Rompetechos * as President's servant * as The spy who started it all off * Paco Hidalgo 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 as someone who keeps getting run over * Andrés Gasch 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 Municipalities of Spain, municipality by population in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coa ...

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

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

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. It is the second novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. The plot follows Harry's second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry ...

''. It grossed 22.8 million

euros The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

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

Sequels

A second film titled '' Mort & Phil. Mission: Save Earth'' was announced and released in 2008, it featured most of the same cast reprising their roles with the exception of Benito Pocino as Mortadelo, it was panned by critics and fans for its' humor and writing while the performances were praised.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mortadelo and Filemon: 2003 films Films based on Spanish comics Mort & Phil Films set in fictional countries 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