I think the director and animators did a tremendous job. I am a big fan of Pratt's art, and to be honest didn't expect much from the movie. The comic has a recognizable atmosphere, that I sincerely doubted can be successfully moved to the screen.But luckily - I was wrong. I was delighted with the final result. The atmosphere was there, just the way it should be - I actually felt like reading the comic.But beware - if you are not familiar with Pratt's work, or if you don't really love it - I doubt you can appreciate this piece. Also, this is a European movie, not American. It is very, very non-typical, and I fear that most of American public may find it confusing, probably even boring.The scenes are long and slow, the director doesn't rush anywhere, takes the time to show each facial expression, to give a weight to every said word. Just as the comic does.Also, in order to enjoy Pratt's art, you have to know a lot - you have to be interested in history, geography, legends, culture of various nations, mysticism, different religions and beliefs... And the same is true for this film. So - no, this is definitely not a movie for a typical American consumer.In short - if you know and like Pratt's work, you will probably enjoy the movie. Otherwise - you probably won't like it at all.

Corto Maltese is one of the greatest graphical novel characters, or even literature characters for that matter, ever created. He's an adventurer, a pirate, a murderer and a lover, what ever suits his needs. Or then again he might spend entire story by just watching other people do all the adventuring. Then he just disappears just to turn out from somewhere else.This particular story is from the more action end: Rasputin (Corto's insane Russian friend, who without any doubt is The Rasputin) and Corto are after Russian gold train, but then again so are lots of other people too. This gives a change to display some action scenes and conflicts between Corto and other parts of the story: Chinese, Russians, Mongols.As for all Pratt's stories go, the story line is rather multi threaded, but it's hardly explained in any part, sometimes things just seem to happen and no one is explaining why. But then again there's no real need for that either, it's just the way these stories are told.Animation is mostly well done, there are some parts which are little lacking, especially the human animation is little blocky in some places. All the special effects scenes are done with 3D animation, but they blend in with the painted backgrounds and characters rather seamlessly in most cases. Though there are some places where the difference is too visible.This movie should be a treat for all Hugo Pratt fans, as I myself found it to have same mood that most of Pratt's comics have. I wouldn't mind having more of this.

I am a big Corto Maltese and Hugo Pratt fun and in a way a cinephile. This movie was unfortunately a disappointment. It only captures very small parts of Corto's character and the general mysticism normally surrounding this hero and his adventures. In fact, everyone in the movie seems to have acquired a French attitude and face (incl. the Chinese) and I think only Rasputin is close to the enjoyable and surreal persona of Pratt. The animation is fairly well made but it becomes especially week in times of action. The more dreamy sceneries and scenes were much better. Overall, not a movie that I would see again (despite my love for Corto) but not one that I would totally reject. See it as a homage but dont expect anything breathtaking as the original graphical novel(s).

Granted, I don't speak French, so I won't be able to comment on the plot, but I got a fair idea of what it's about. The visuals range from fairly impressive to mundane - some of the film is obviously rendered (hand drawn over the rendering) but overall, "it looks good." It has its own style, very reminiscent of the comic book, which is pretty cool. The French voice acting is well done, as is the cinematography - the movie is very moody, but never dull. The various scenes have a lot of atmosphere, especially sequences with infrequent or no dialogue - just very well done and spooky sound effects. I'll have to see it again with English subs to decide how worthwhile it is, but for the visuals alone, I'd suggest seeing it.