Film Review: Ronal The Barbarian (2011)

Somewhere around the 80’s when I was a kid, let’s say I was 12/13, I used to catch the tit bits of my brothers comic collection, never really understanding half of it (The Watchmen just looked good) but enjoying it nonetheless. One comic that I did get was Groo The Wanderer a half wit barbarian living in Medieval Europe, bumbling his way through adventures making us laugh with some sharp writing. After finishing Ronal the Barbarian I couldn’t help but think about the similarities between the two, made even stranger by the Danish sense of humour.

This is an adult CGI animated film that would do well to get a 15 in the UK such are the cheeky sexual innuendos peppered throughout. Butch men wearing tight skimpy outfits, evil prince’s wearing spiked jackets and horse riders whipping their behinds on horseback give you an idea of where the jokes are coming from.

Nordic folklore has been integrated into a few films from the region with great effect, a tool used to introduce us to the Sons of Crane; barbarians created from drinking the blood of the legendary Crane himself. Ronal is the odd one out in a village packed with ripped muscles and bored fighters as the lad is all skin and bone and no courage to go into battle. The world of Metalonien is a detailed medieval landscape offering a well realised backdrop for Ronal but his village is destroyed, leaving him the last free standing barbarian. He has no option but to seek out the only sword that can defeat the evil Prince Volcazar or lose his kinship forever.

The laughs come from the general incompetence of Ronal trying his best to avoid any sort of physical conflict and the silly sex jokes made so easy by their costumes. An example would be probably the worst journey a pair of testicles has ever experienced on screen, after he runs out of invisibility cream before sneaking into an Elven tower so floating testicles in his pouch bounce along in surreal sneak mode. Think of it as a watered down version of the silliness Eurotrash would throw at you.

Story wise it follows the traditional animation story arc let down by an ending that doesn’t really hold much excitement or interesting set pieces. It is reminiscent of a 90’s console game as the giant demon looms down from the sky but can only seem to move incredibly slowly from the waist up. Buying into Ronal isn’t hard however, his boyish naivety keeps you following his adventure despite knowing where it will all end and even though the childish humour wears a little thin at times it’s all harmless fun.

More CGI needs to be developed and released from Europe to offer a counter balance to what feels like a one sided genre at present. From recollection this was received well at Cannes last year subsequently selling to an international audience quite quickly which shows there is life beyond the Studio sheen we’ve all become accustomed to.

Director: Kresten Vestbjerg Andersen, Thorbjørn Christoffersen

Production co: Det Danske Filminstitut, Einstein Film, Nordisk Film

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