User Reviews

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.

I first saw this when I was at Universitet i Oslo and I went to the film festival in about 1990.

I'd only just arrived and so my norwegian wasn't up to much at the time, however, I knew that what I was seeing was something special.

I spent about six years trying to remember what exactly it was called until finally the wonderful internet helped me to find it again.

Now, having shown it to my five year old, I know that this film is timeless as she adores it too.

I recommend this film to anyone who wants to see something the equal of anything produced by Aardman - my little girl likes the hedgehog best.

I saw this movie in Russia, Moscow in 75-76 when I was 8 years old. It was showing in a specialized cinema for children "Orlenok". The movie was on screen for about a week and I went to it every day - i.e. 7 times or so.

You DON'T have to be Norwegian to understand subtleties of this movie (maybe you just need to be a kid, even though grown up :)

This piece was superbly translated into Russian and I remember some of them till now. I can't say how much I love this movie. It was such a pity that I couldn't see it for so many years. I was in Norway once, but it was in spring and I missed your X-mas show :)

Can you picture my excitement, when I suddenly found Flåklypa Grand Prix on IMDB.com? I feel like if I found a childhood friend that I lost long ago.

This movie made quite an inpact on anyone who saw it in the 70's. A masterpiece. Pioneer work, first rate stop motion animation. The director and producer Ivo Caprino, invented a whole new 'multi camera system', and the brilliant result is this classic movie. To this date 5 million(!) tickets sold at the boxoffice in Norway alone! Thats more then there are people in Norway. The fact that this movie surely inspired the Podrace (filmed 25 years later) in Starwars Episode I, should be proof enough for anyone that this is a movie ahead of its time. More info at www.flaklypa.com

...however let's try.

I'm not gonna sketch the plot, couz' plenty other people have done it, but:

The humor is outstanding, the action is tense, and one can not help getting sucked into this world filled with nutcases, daydreamers, villains, plain goofy looking types, and hopelessly stupid inventions and the characters likewise way of thinking.

The music score is absolutely perfect, the dialog is sharp and fun, the scenes are extremely well done. It simply doesn't get any better than this.

Just my two cents

The number one cult movie in Norway still attracts full houses with its naive and wonderful tale of the bicycle-repairman Reodor Felgen and his two trusted companions; the porqupine Ludvig and the bird Solan Gundersen. Authentic characterisation of norwegians and their uniqueness in the Scandinavian picture. For full appreciation add either kids, norwegians or alcohol for maximum viewing pleasure. This is the norwegian answer to The Rocky Horror Show, with no similarities what so ever beyond the cult status and the average norwegians need to apply commentary and reciting of the script...

I just bought this and watched it again for the first time in 10 years, such great memories, it is truly a timeless piece of art by Caprino. The humor hits all levels for all generations, every detail has been considered in its making. I heard when it came out on DVD in Norway it shattered a lot of DVD records, anyone know when/if it is going to be released in US? my bootleg DVD copy I bought on ebay is nice, but would love a version that had some history on the film.

I'll never forget how my father would get my brother and I so riled up by insisting this was the time that Gore Slimy was going to win. Everyone who likes to cheer for an underdog should find a way to watch this film

Flåklypa Grand Prix is a wonderful piece of art. This movie is, to put it in simple words, perfect. I saw the first time as a kid, and I can still watch it over and over again without any loss in pleasure. It is a children's movie, in a way, but I'm over 30 and I still love it. The scenery is absolutely beautiful, with the mountains of Flåklypa and everything. The puppets are amazingly alive in spite of the relatively small number of moving parts. The technological marvels of Reodor Felgen, including but by far not limited to the monstrous car Il Tempo Gigante, evidence a very skilled craftmanship and an eye for details. The car competition towards the end really feels in your own stomach, too. The story line is quite simple and not really original, but that's the way it should be in a children's movie (even for kids above 30).

Flåklypa Grand Prix is my absolute favorite of all movies ever made in the whole world!

"Flåklypa Grand Prix" is not your usual Norwegian movie. The movie was a lot of fun and everybody seemed to love it. The movie itself is brilliantly animated and you can see this over and over, discovering new little details every time you see it. Every Christmas Eve, "Flåklypa Grand Prix" is broadcasted over here and it is great fun every time. Be aware, because you must be a Norwegian to fully enjoy this movie, and I would guess that much of the dialogue isn`t easy to translate into English and have the same style and humour as before. This isn`t just for the little kiddies, but for the entire family. Watch it and be entertained with the best Norwegian film ever made! 10/10

This film has a simple story of a humble inventor, memorable characters, wacky animation and an intense race. It has a very cute and endearing style that will appeal to young children. Although it was technically accomplished for the time, it does not show off its special effects and just focuses on the silly personas (an inventor, an energetic bird and a morose furball) who try to win a race with a homemade invention. It feels like an innocent daydream come to life!

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 :)

This is still today, almost 50 years later, the most watched Norwegian film of all time. And it's a family movie filmed in stop motion! Which makes it an even bigger achievement. It has two very differentiate parts, with most of the film being very calm, character centred and slow moving and the last part being a car race filmed with a surprising excitement and fast pace. It has a lot of charm still nowadays.

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!

To many Norwegians, this is perhaps one of the most important movie the country has ever produced. Even those who refuse to acknowledge Norwegian film industry tend to have a soft spot for this movie. I am Norwegian myself, and I have grown up with this - so obviously this review will be a bit biased. But I firmly believe it would not have gotten its place in Norwegian culture, had it not been for it being such a high quality movie - in all respects.

The story is simple, but great fun. Reodor (en: Theodore) is an inventor that lives in a small village (Flåklypa/Pinchcliffe) with his two animal companions. Solan (en: Sonny) is an overly optimistic magpie, while Ludvig (en: Lambert) is an overly pessimistic hedgehog. Reodor discovers that an man who used to work for him has stolen the design of a car component, and used it to become a racing champ. Reodor (kind of) decides to make his own car, and it all ends in a race. This over-arching storyline is not so important though, as it is only a device used to show of the characters, the settings, the moods, the dialog, and the beautiful naive spirit of the movie. As a Norwegian, it's easy to point at it and say that he captures the Norwegian spirit - but I'm sure most countries has the same curiosity, the same strange characters and the same way of looking at life.

As a fan of animation, the stop motion work in this movie is at times incredible. Especially in some of the scenes in Reodor's garage, and during the unveiling of the car. The amount of work that would have had to be put into creating all that movement must have been astounding. There's also other small touches that are very nice. When ever a character is jumping, it's so seamless that you don't think about the amount of work being put into it looking natural. Now, all of this said, there are also some sequences where the animation is clunky. The use of back projection is obvious in many scenes (especially in the HD version), and you can also tell at times that they are using smaller models than in the rest of the film. All in all, it's a great piece of craft.

The other highlight of the movie is the music. The Danish composer Fabricius Bjerre has managed to make tunes that sound so Norwegian that many assume that they were old folk tunes. You'll find yourself whistling some of the themes long after the movie is over.

One part of the movie that has not aged so well, is the Arab oil sheik. He is an obvious caricature, based on stereotypes. In today's political climate, you could not have a character like him. That said, it's never a mean spirited caricature, and throughout the film, it feels more they are poking fun at him as royalty, not as an immigrant or anything like that. It's definitely "kicking upwards".

And a last aside: I was fortunate enough to be able to see this with some non-Norwegians who were not that acquainted with the movie, and they pointed out a fun detail that I had never thought of: the narrator gives the post man as long an introduction as the main characters. My friend was surprised by this, as the postman is barely in the movie at all. For some reason, to me, it's always just made sense for the narrator to introduce the post man - because he just happens to be there the morning the narrator decides to talk about the gang.

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.

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

Two words: Pod racing. I haven't payed much attention to the end titles of Star Wars Episode I, but there really should be a "thank you Caprino" in there somewhere. Of course that's an entirely different picture, but still the racing scenes are conspicuously similar to the ones in the thirty-some years older Pinchcliffe Grand Prix.

Yeah, this film is what makes me proud to be Norwegian. Reading the other comments on this film simply fills me with joy. I see it's hard to find abroad, but I'm sure it's possible to order an English version on the internet, and possibly the latest Caprio Collection DVD set with the ingenious short films that predates this full feature masterpiece.

If only the the up and coming Norwegian filmmakers could make something like this... It doesn't even have to be better, so long as it's close. But then again, that's why masterworks are masterworks, and everyone else are mere mortals.

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 guess you have to speak or understand Norwegian to fully enjoy this film. It has a lot of local qualities, and it's more than just a car race. Follow the dialogue, and have a good laugh. Fair play to those who tried to translate the film, it must have been a hard job, but nothing will be like seeing the real thing.

Norway's little kids film must have been a classic of its kind with its delightful puppet animations and humor. Here in the States, it's a bit of a different story. This was released in '81 by a now-unknown kids movie releasing company called G.G. Communications under the title PINCHCLIFFE GRAND PRIX. It's been long out of print on U.S. home video for 17 years! (Video Gems was the distributor). I almost lost the whole thing because the tape got scrunched at the beginning! So was I impressed? Sort of. The racing bits looked real neat for a production that used the same techniques Rankin-Bass were known for in their X-mas specials. Character names are different here as well. My concern of this film is that it's hard to take real seriously. Americans are more tempted with highly upbeat comedy than what I've experienced here, although we do like the animation (A BUG'S LIFE is an exception). It's not so bad at all, but it just isn't any different from what I've seen before. Since it has something to do with racing, this may be a good film for the little kiddies to enjoy. Remember, this one is sooooo hard to find on U.S. video, and you've heard it right here!

Well, this one is a true diamond! Ever since I watched it the first time as a 7 year old, I have loved this movie. I am now 29 and still do. I don't know how many times I have seen this movie, but it manages to catch me every time.

This simply has to be the best animation movie ever made! Yeah, i am aware that recent animation movies are a lot more technically advanced. but the fact that it took more than 20 years, and a heck of a lot more technology, for the rest of the world to duplicate what Ivo Caprino did with his dolls, stands as a bullet proof testimony that the guy was an incredible genius. Ad to that the marvelous script written by Kjell Aukrust, an equally genius man, and you have a movie that will continue to amuse people young and old, for decades to come.

Yes, I have been impressed by the good animation on recent animation movies, and some of them even have a darned good plot, but they don't even come close when it comes to sheer entertainment value. And even when it comes to animation, this movie,despite it's age, are better than some of the new ones! It should not be possible, but it is!!!

There is something about that low key humour and warmth of heart, that lack in recent kind movies. Nowadays it is just full throttle action from start to end. The plot often seems to come second or third. Flåklypa Grandprix makes you fell strongly for or against the characters, whom are so wonderfully described, that you feel you know them personally.

Now, there certainly are plenty of action in this movie, but even the Action sequences is made with a twinkle in the eye.

I realize that much of the humour of the movie is very "Norwegian", and as such may be difficult to translate. And sadly I have been told that Norwegian is one of the hardest languages to learn in the world. This is probably the reason that it is relatively unknown outside Scandinavia.(shakes my head sadly) but I know there is both an American and German version. I have not seen any of those, but still I urge you all out there, if you ever get the chance to see this wonderful movie, then DO IT!!! I am fully convinced that you will have a fond memory for the rest of your life.

I apologize to all Americans that read this, but Disney Company could never make an animation movie half as good as Flåklypa Grand Prix. Not now anyway. Disney's latest productions looks like they don't even care making an effort, and keep resting and snoring on Walt's laurels. That was a man, which genius even Ivo Caprino had to look up to.

Well, thats it for now.

PS! The Car Race at the end of the movie, are so good that you actually find yourself forced to the sides of your chair by the G force.

This movie, about a man who decides that he will enter a car race to defeat his former friend who has stolen his plans for a car, is the best stop-motion movie of the 20th century, in my opinion. The animation is great, and it has so many components that are in motion at the same time, which makes the movie alive and natural. The story is very simple, but yet appealing. The characters have very different personalities, and their stereotypes make the movie quite funny sometimes. The sounds are great because they fit very well in the actions. The pace is a little slow, and there are a few motion flaws here and there, but the good things make up for most of it. Recommending!

I love this movie, like most norwegians. Still after all these years watching this movie again and again I still can barely believe it's norwegian! It's just TOO good to be true! Without a doubt one the greatest animated movies in the international history of movies! Too bad it contains so many internal references to norwegian characters and surroundings as these jokes then will be somewhat lost to foreigners, but there's still lots and lots left. This also has my favorite movie-line ever: "Jasså, døk sitt og glor?" :) (it looses a lot when translated)

It was sooo sad when Ivo Caprino died, who created this. Maybe, just maybe his son will be crazy enough to make a sequel 30 years later??? I wish!