This is based on the Special Edition DVD. I've been a fan of Anders since my initial exposure to him. This particular outing is a little different, in that it's one of the few times that he redoes something he's already done in another of the several mediums he's mastered. He did a television version of his radio Christmas calendar, and this is a movie version of an audio story that he put out on CD(which is superior to this). Most of the writing, overall, remains the same, with a bit of the timing lost for some reason, a couple of scenes are moved or excised, and new material, as well. The animation is smooth, high quality and they get a high level of detail. This has stuff for those who have already heard the story, as well as things that are just as much for new viewers. It's fairly well-directed, and though the range of expression is a tad limited, the cool plot gets told nicely enough, whether or not you know it beforehand. There are surprises, and very worthwhile, fresh sequences. For those that don't know, this deals with Terkel, a pre-teen boy who has a fairly regular school- and home-life. Bullying and an angry, out of control, and(in Denmark, anyway) well-known, uncle lead to complications, and that's all I'll say. The tendency is towards the reveals and such being more effective in the original form, but the visualization is always interesting. All of the new music for this is great. The humor is what we're used to from The Duck, with there being aggressive and/or offensive stuff, morbid dark comedy, clever and sometimes goofy jokes and gags. If you're into it, this is hilarious. I don't know if a lot of non-Scandinavians are going to enjoy this as much as we do, and I can't comment on any other voice version than the Danish one(the multi-talent being the sole performer), which is marvelous. The pacing is perhaps somewhat uneven. On the disc is found, after you navigate the unnecessarily annoying menus, various silly extras that go on for longer than the fun of them lasts, including the Stewart Stardust in-character feature commentary track. There is a lot of bloody, gory violence, disturbing content and strong language in this. I recommend this to any and all fans of Matthesen, though definitely listen to the first release of this tale before watching this. 7/10
Review of The Trouble with Terkel
