Moomins on the Riviera

Dir:  Xavier Picard

2014

* (English version)

I have to admit I was never much of a Moomin fan as a child. I see they’ve made something of a comeback recently in terms of nostalgic tidbits as I’ve seen Moomin merchandise ranging from dinner sets to stationary in certain novelty shops in the last few years. I’m not sure if Xavier Picard’s film is responsible or if Moonmin fans have always been there and I just hadn’t noticed them before, but I digress, I haven’t been a fan in the past but I sat down to watch Moomins on the Riviera with an open mind. I think the reason I never really got into them as a child became obvious for the first time in my life within the first few minutes of the film. I could tell something funny was happening, I could see there was something to the character and stories that I hadn’t noticed before. The problem is that the Moomins have never been translated properly. I watched the English dubbed version, and it was probably a big mistake. I understand French humour, I think the majority of English people do by now, but it is clear that the humour – and indeed the dialogue itself – is completely different in the English cut than it is in the original. I think I’d quite like the original, it looked like something that would appeal but the English dub/cut is one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. It’s like listening to someone tell you a joke that they heard a long time ago and don’t quite remember. I’ve read up on the Moomins and have learned that Picard’s Moomins on the Riviera is in fact a mixture of some of Tove and Lars Jansson’s classic stories but I have no idea if they are a good adaptation or not. Further reading suggests that the Moomin community are split on the subject. It was clear that there were some great jokes and a good story within the film but these were ruined in the version I watched. I quite liked the style of animation and even though the translations were wrong, I appreciated the subtle facial expressions and could second guess much of the original humour from them. As far as I can tell the stories work rather well together, although purists might disagree. Translation aside, I could – again for the first time – see a loveable quality to the characters that wasn’t really there in the 80s TV series version I watched as a child. It’s frustrating really, as I feel I’ve not seen the film, even though I sat and watched it from beginning to end. It’s barely watchable as it is and even the most gormless of children will find it dull and uninteresting. I find many kids shows these days impossible to follow but the English version of this Moomins atrocity is so bewilderingly confusing, so incomprehensible and utterly banal, that I think it might just get kids reading again.