Terry Jones brings his Pythonesque humour to the tale of Erik but it woefully falls short of the mark and is therefore a disappointment. Having directed arguably the Python's greatest comedy achievement, the controversial Life of Brian (1979), as well as their other movies The Holy Grail (1974) and The Meaning of Life (1983), Jones should have had his pulse on the irreverent anarchic humour by now but sadly with Erik the Viking he doesn't.
Fellow Python John Cleese pops up in support as Halfdan the Black who plans to scupper Erik played by Tim Robbins who leads his not so merry men across the seas to find the Norse Gods to put an end to Ragnarok. Jones has assembled a nice cast with turns by Mickey Rooney, Eartha Kitt, John Gordon Sinclair, Antony Sher, Tim McInnerny and Jim Broadbent to name a few but the gags just don't land and the script is rather hit and miss. While it feels more in the spirit of Terry Gilliam's more accomplished Time Bandits what should be funny just isn't under Jones's clunky direction.
Having made a successful leap into serious drama with Personal Services (1987) two years before, albeit laced with dark comedy, he takes a backward step rather than building on that success and goes back into Python territory but fails miserably. The bad special effects on show here certainly doesn't help but if it was funny and engaging then that would be forgiven.
One of the problems lay with casting American actor Tim Robbins who doesn't look that comfortable delivering this kind of British humour as the peace keeping viking who is opposed to rape, pillaging and all things you associate with Vikings in a kind of nice but dim role. This juxtaposition of sensibilities is more or less what the film is about and where Jones seeks to find the humour but it feels fragmented and never really sets sail on the comedy front.
From a story written for his son Terry Jones' book of Erik the Viking bears no relation to the film and he was unhappy with the final cut. It certainly feels like there were problems in the production as there are pacing issues in the editing and maybe budgetary constraints where he couldn't fully realise his vision. For Monty Python fans however there are a few pleasures to be had but on the whole it's a dismal exercise that doesn't inspire a repeat viewing.
Fellow Python John Cleese pops up in support as Halfdan the Black who plans to scupper Erik played by Tim Robbins who leads his not so merry men across the seas to find the Norse Gods to put an end to Ragnarok. Jones has assembled a nice cast with turns by Mickey Rooney, Eartha Kitt, John Gordon Sinclair, Antony Sher, Tim McInnerny and Jim Broadbent to name a few but the gags just don't land and the script is rather hit and miss. While it feels more in the spirit of Terry Gilliam's more accomplished Time Bandits what should be funny just isn't under Jones's clunky direction.
Having made a successful leap into serious drama with Personal Services (1987) two years before, albeit laced with dark comedy, he takes a backward step rather than building on that success and goes back into Python territory but fails miserably. The bad special effects on show here certainly doesn't help but if it was funny and engaging then that would be forgiven.
One of the problems lay with casting American actor Tim Robbins who doesn't look that comfortable delivering this kind of British humour as the peace keeping viking who is opposed to rape, pillaging and all things you associate with Vikings in a kind of nice but dim role. This juxtaposition of sensibilities is more or less what the film is about and where Jones seeks to find the humour but it feels fragmented and never really sets sail on the comedy front.
From a story written for his son Terry Jones' book of Erik the Viking bears no relation to the film and he was unhappy with the final cut. It certainly feels like there were problems in the production as there are pacing issues in the editing and maybe budgetary constraints where he couldn't fully realise his vision. For Monty Python fans however there are a few pleasures to be had but on the whole it's a dismal exercise that doesn't inspire a repeat viewing.