Today I watched this movie on TV. I read the stories years ago and so I was curious to see what they had made of it. I remember them being quite witty and Iznogoud was a rather nasty person. Unfortunately I have to say, that what I saw, was not what I expected to see. It had some (very few) good moments. I saw some nice F/X but they alone don't make a good movie. As a resume I think it was not worth wasting 95 minutes of my time. Iznogoud was too young and too good looking and the caliph was too old. In my eyes the cast could have been way better. This is a good example of a bad result you get when trying to convert a cartoon into a live-action movie.

....and how much did I love them!Goscinny and Tabary used to work wonders for there was only one plot:the Grand Vizir Iznogoud wants to get rid of the caliph and be caliph himself;but every time they came up with funny new situations,hilarious puns and a lot of black humor.Patrick Braoudé completely butchered Iznogoud.He's got a lot of nerve to dedicate his piece of junk to Goscinny and Tabary!The lines are vulgar, full of saucy innuendos(whereas the comic books never deal with sex even to the lesser extent).The songs are abysmal and essentially filler:the reworking of "Pretty woman" is an insult to the great Roy Orbison.It's really too bad for the late Jacques Villeret :the part of the caliphwas tailor-made for him and had he worked with a clever director,he could have succeeded in his portrayal.As I cannot say something nice about the rest of the cast....Now do yourself a favor and read again one of those wonderful comics.

This was the last movie of Jacques Villeret who died 28 January 2005, he was funny as Le Calife Haroun El Poussah. It was very similar to the cartoon if you remember it. Michaël Youn was excellent as Le grand Vizir Iznogoud and he totally embodied the character. Youn's talent as a performer was cleverly used in the movie as he was part of the band Bratislava Boys. Oliver & Kad (Olivier Barroux & Kad Merad) were excellent in their comedy routines as always. A short appearance of Elie Semoun, Laurent Baffie, Vincent Desagnat, Pascal Sellem and Ariel Wizman were just funny as they all represent the elite of French comedy right now. This was a good movie in the cartoon comedy genre. It was much better than I expected.

This movie is based on an old (mid 70's) french graphic novel once famous for its humour, based both on situations and on strange and funny characters name (as the main character, Vizir Iznogoud). The adaptation to cinema is a total failure. Braoudé, the writer, totally lacks of imagination. Based on the graphic novel, a continuous flow of gags, hilarious situations, references to classical movies and/or political situation are waited for. But nothing, or quite, happens. A few bad jokes, often predictable (such as the gate in the middle of the desert), a bad copy of "Asterix - Mission Cleopatra" ancient/modern conversations (the flying carpet described as a brand new car), some poor references to the movie "Pretty woman", and that's all folks! 10 (bad) jokes in a 1h30-long movie, it's poor, especially when this movie is supposed to be a comedy. I watched it in a movie-theater in a small town in France. Except, sometimes, a six-year old boy, nobody laughed! Maybe Braoudé should try another job, something which doesn't involved imagination and creative skills...