The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix (1975)

This excellent movie is now available in crisp colors and with restored sound. Being made i 1975, the stop motion animation is surprisingly good, and the story still hold to the ones we have been served in more recent animation flicks. It also contains a behind the scenes documentary.

The car in the movie (Il Tempo Gigante) was made in full scale (actually a guy from the Ferrari factory in Italy helped out on the bodywork), and can be seen on display and driving at "Hunderfossen" park in Norway.

I remember seeing it when it was first released, but seeing it again as an adult revealed lots of details:

1: Look at the eyes of the moose when the main caracters are watching tv.

2: The car registration HB 4596 as anounsed on the loudspeaker before the race refers to bootlegging booze: HB - Home Brewed, 45 (as in 45% proof, available in norwegian stores) - and 96 (as in 96 proof, what all bootleggers aim for)

3: And the game of chess played in the tent of "Ben- Redik - Fy Fasan" (actually a euphemism for "fy faen" - norwegian swearing meaning "the Devil") is a spanish play which you'll find in many books on chess.

and the list goes on

Fmovies: This film is the best norwegian film ever made!! It is impossible to get tired of watching this film... I've seen it many times and it's only getting better every time.. But you have to be a Norwegian or understand the Norwegian language to fully enjoy this masterpiece..

This film took five years to make and was finished in 1975.. and it's been translated into 13 languages..

I first watched this movie when I was about five years old (already at that time it was old) and I've seen it many times since. It's just about the best animated movie ever, forget Finding Nemo (which is a great movie) or the Toy Story-films, this is simply sublime.

To all who haven't seen this movie: Go watch it, it's perfect. The story, the characters, the villains, the cars, the animation and just how to get the ideas behind this 'still stuns me. The only problem is that i've never seen the original version (only the danish version). However, should I ever get the chance to see the original I'll certainly not hesitate.

10 out of 10.

The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix fmovies. This is an animation classic in Denmark! Unfortunately, it has been a while since it was shown in national television, but everybody my age (22) know it and love it. Just whistle the first few notes of the tune and people above twenty whistle along.

This is a must see in Scandinavia. In Denmark a radioshow ran a campaign a couple of years ago so this movie could be shown in national tv.

I always knew this film as Pinchcliff Grand Prix in the United States. I loved this movie as a five-year-old child in 1977 but now it is impossible to find anywhere. I have been looking for years and have had no success. Can anyone out there help me get a copy? This movie was very ahead of its time and in my opinion could compete with some of the latest high tech computer animation movies out today. NOTHING has even come close to what Pinchcliff Grand Prix did for me. It even inspired me as a young child to become addicted to fast cars as an adult!

Flåklypa Grand Prix is the biggest selling and most watched film of all time in its homeland of Norway. In fact, its ticket sales in Norway is greater than the population of Norway: which should tell you a lot. It is a cultural phenomenon in Norway that is just as popular 30 years after its arrival, which was proved by the video game based on the film that became the biggest selling video game of all time in Norway: 25 years after the films debut. OK, enough "Hype and Wonderment", lets talk about the movie.

Set in rural Norway in the mid 20th century, it tells the tale of a bicycle mechanic and his friends who wind up entering a car race with a homemade automobile. It is a story of wonder, adventure, charm, "getting by against the odds" and most of all friendship. It is a family film, enjoyed equally by teens, young-lings and adults alike. The humor is accessible to all ages and types of people, and the emotions that emanate from the screen are always moving the story forward and deepening your involvement about the characters and their environment. It is quite simply, an outstanding film, that should not be missed.

To balance my obvious admiration for this piece of work, I will now look on the flip side of this shining coin. Firstly, the film does stereotype slightly, and does so from a 1970 point of view. This makes some characters and jokes seem outdated and "inappropriate" nowadays. However, this is a minor flaw from which most all films of age suffer. The second and final "critisism" is this question: why was a (proper) sequel never made???

This film has had influence on Hollywood without the major public knowing about it. From Back to the Future to Star Wars Episode I, which pod racing scene is almost an exact copy from Flåklypa Grand Prix. If you are an avid film enthusiast and want to have light bulbs appear over your head in regards to finding our where things came from in some major Hollywood productions, then you should watch this film.

What more can I say but go and see it :)