The first Werner"-comics had a phenomenonal success, when first published in 1981: the drawings where simple, yet very articulate, the text written colloquially, kept in so-called "Plattdeutsch" (a dialect spoken on the northern shores of Germany) and the adventures of main-character "Werner" centred around riding bikes, fixing bikes, hanging out with his rocker pals and drinking Beer. "Werner" was rough, "Werner" was rude and most importantly, "Werner" was as authentic as it gets. "Werners" creator, Brösel (translated as "bread-crumb"), being a biker himself, takes his stories from real life, adoption his own youth-experiences and his clique of friends into comic-form.
Expectations where high when the film "Werner", at the height of the Werner-boom, hit cinemas in 1990 and lining up before the cinemas often turned into a party, fans congregating with bottles of "Bölkstoff" (Beer), loudly repeating catchphrases like, "Sag mal jemand Bescheid". Alas, their enthusiasm usually went down a notch, after the animated intro faded to real-live.
So, what was Brösel thinking? We don't know, but my two theories are, that a) he tried to emulate "Who framed Roger Rabbit" and b) he thought it would be good fun, him and his pals appearing as themselves in a movie.
The live action sequences are rather forgettable – Brösel obviously has no talent to act, the jokes really aren't funny and if one can give them one merit, it's that we get to see the real-life inspirations for many of the "Werner" characters, all played and based on Brösel's friends.
The animation is somewhere between the works of Ralph Bakshi and Belgium shock-cartoonist Pischa; simple, rudimentary yet keeping in suit with the comics. Brösel has taken some of the most popular stories (Werner in hospital, as apprentice or Werner's football game) and fuses them the real live scenes.
A highlight was casting Klaus Büchner, iconic singer of cult Rock band "Torfrock", as the voice of "Werner"; many readers had envisioned his unforgettable timbre as the voice of "Werner", long before there was even talk about a film. "Torfrock", having reunited for this project, also supplied the excellent soundtrack (if you're into Biker Rock, that is), containing a number of songs that would later become hits in Germany.
A word of warning to non-German speakers (or even German speakers, who're not familiar with the northern dialect): it is virtually impossible to translate most of the slang or catchphrases, and if it were possible, well, they wouldn't be funny anymore. Or how would you translate "Beinhart"? "Leg-hard", which could be applied to bikers, choppers, bier or the general situation.
Being a "Werner" fan, giving points isn't easy, but I can only give it a meagre 6 out of 10, mainly due to the live-action segments.
Expectations where high when the film "Werner", at the height of the Werner-boom, hit cinemas in 1990 and lining up before the cinemas often turned into a party, fans congregating with bottles of "Bölkstoff" (Beer), loudly repeating catchphrases like, "Sag mal jemand Bescheid". Alas, their enthusiasm usually went down a notch, after the animated intro faded to real-live.
So, what was Brösel thinking? We don't know, but my two theories are, that a) he tried to emulate "Who framed Roger Rabbit" and b) he thought it would be good fun, him and his pals appearing as themselves in a movie.
The live action sequences are rather forgettable – Brösel obviously has no talent to act, the jokes really aren't funny and if one can give them one merit, it's that we get to see the real-life inspirations for many of the "Werner" characters, all played and based on Brösel's friends.
The animation is somewhere between the works of Ralph Bakshi and Belgium shock-cartoonist Pischa; simple, rudimentary yet keeping in suit with the comics. Brösel has taken some of the most popular stories (Werner in hospital, as apprentice or Werner's football game) and fuses them the real live scenes.
A highlight was casting Klaus Büchner, iconic singer of cult Rock band "Torfrock", as the voice of "Werner"; many readers had envisioned his unforgettable timbre as the voice of "Werner", long before there was even talk about a film. "Torfrock", having reunited for this project, also supplied the excellent soundtrack (if you're into Biker Rock, that is), containing a number of songs that would later become hits in Germany.
A word of warning to non-German speakers (or even German speakers, who're not familiar with the northern dialect): it is virtually impossible to translate most of the slang or catchphrases, and if it were possible, well, they wouldn't be funny anymore. Or how would you translate "Beinhart"? "Leg-hard", which could be applied to bikers, choppers, bier or the general situation.
Being a "Werner" fan, giving points isn't easy, but I can only give it a meagre 6 out of 10, mainly due to the live-action segments.