Movie Review: Luke and Lucy the Texas Rangers (Suske en Wiske: De Texas rakkers)

Luke and Lucy the Texas Rangers (Suske en Wiske: De Texas rakkers) 

Skyline Entertainment, CoBo Fonds, Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep (AVRO), Studio Vandersteen, Standaard Uitgeverij, Cotoon Studio, Luxanimation, Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, 2009. 

Based on the comic characters Suske & Wiske created by Willy Wandersteen (known in English as Luke and Lucy, Spike and Suzy or Willy and Wanda). 

In the Wild West cyborg thug Jim Parasite terrorizes small town and shrinks the Texas Rangers but one of them escapes in a bottle. Soon after that Luke, Lucy and Aunt Sybil are having a busy cleaning day. Persistent as bulldog door-to-door salesman Theofil Boomerang sells Aunt Sybil yet another vacuum cleaner and Ambrose a box of Whiskey before strongman Wilbur throws him out. One of the bottles contains Ranger Tom! Ambrose, Luke and Lucy go looking for the origin of the bottles. 

Jim Parasite

Luke and Lucy help Aunt Sybil

Theofil Boomerang

The heroes travel to Texas and become Rangers to reveal Jim Parasite's plot. Sheriff Cooper (voiced by Billy Ray Cyrus) is powerless to stop him. Saloon singer Miss Missy sweeps Ambrose and Wilbur off their feet. Meanwhile Professor Barabas and smart dog Toby try to unshrink the unhappy lawman. 

Ambrose and Professor Barabas

Helping  Ranger Tom

Wlbur and Miss Missy

The movie has a limited budget compared to American counterparts. Generally the computer animation and the bakgrounds look okay although the characters look quite plastic in close ups. Some obligatory popular culture references are present but on the other hand so they were in the original comics that often referenced western shows, James Bond and contemporary scifi. In the original comic the amusing characters were the salt of the series. Sometimes the characters would break the fourth wall and comment the contemporary world situation. What I liked was that the movie got the characters of Ambrose, Wilbur and Aunt Sybil right. However Luke and Lucy themselves feel generic, Lucy lacks the capricious temperament of the comic character and also Luke feels a bit subdued (although he is the straight man in the comics). Something of the witty dialogue of the original "Suske en Wiske" comics is lost although there were some good jokes. The story was quite regular kids' adventure fare but I found the mishaps of Ambrose and Wilbur the most entertaining. The superhuman strength of Wilbur is demonstrated by him stopping a train with his bare hands (in comics he has done so often so it is a nice touch for the fans of Wilbur/Jerom). It is a fun family adventure although it doesn't quite hit all the marks to completely satisfy the fans of the comics but has more good than bad.

Okay...

Texas Rangers

Wilbur stops a train: film vs comic

That Wilbur or Jerom, the Flemish Superman. Including "Suske en Wiske" adventures he has had his own comic series "Jerom", "De wonderbare reizen van Jerom" and a modern superhero comic "J.Rom The Force of Gold." Also Suske & Wiske have a modernized version for more mature audiences in the form of "Amoras" comic series set in dystopian future. It would be interesting to read those comics also.

Old and new: Jerom vs J.Rom

Rating: Good

Voice actors (English): Guilherme Apolonio, Chloe Dolandis, Gregg Weiner, Sally Bondi, Ken Clement, Todd Durkin, Billy Ray Cyrus, Aubrey Shavonn, James Keller, Dave Dreisin, Carlos Alayeto, Paul Homza, Scott Genn and Barry Tarallo
Directors: Wim Bien, Mark Mertens