Werner - Eiskalt

Get the oil out, because Werner is back. Eight years after his last cinema appearance, the comic hero now returns in Werner - Eiskalt After the first four Werner films were able to lure almost 14 million viewers into the cinemas, fans are to be rewarded for their loyalty in a very special way in the fifth part. For now it is finally revealed how it all began.

Even in his pram, Werner couldn't go fast enough. And even then there was a big competitor for him: Holgi! In every phase of their lives, the two delivered each other fierce racing duels. And having always drawn the short straw, Werner now wants the final revenge. A great story, which could revive the faded cult of Werner and help his creator (Rötger Brösel Feldmann) to new fame. Too bad, though, that while on vacation at the seaside trying to impress a beach beauty (Ivonne Schönherr), Brösel suffers a stupid accident and is believed by all the world to be dead. And while the supposedly last Werner adventure is to be made available to the grieving fan community, preparations for a memorial race are in high gear.

Werner - Eiskalt has to contend with two major problems. In the case of the cartoon sequences, these are the gags, all of which are quite dusty and also badly overused after four films and quite a few comic books. There are a few very good laughs, such as the small appearance of a very popular honeybee, but truly original jokes are noticeably underrepresented. However, the film is pleasantly self-deprecating about the fact that Werner seems to be past his prime, which also makes up for some points at this point.

The second and biggest problem, however, is the real-life scenes. While the idea is to present both storylines running quasi parallel and interwoven, unfortunately Rötger Feldmann is simply not a good actor and even less a convincing comedian. And unfortunately Gernot Roll, an excellent cinematographer, is not strong enough as a director to somehow make up for this weakness. So many moments in these parts of the film then also animate more to the Fremdschämen, than to the hearty laughter.

Surely, loyal Werner fans will come here again at their expense and can amuse themselves about the sometimes very crude jokes deliciously. But even the biggest Bölkstoff followers will have to admit that a pure animated film after all the years of waiting would have been a nicer gift in any case and that the real scenes not only drag out the action unnecessarily, but are simply also only very limited amusing. Therefore: for fans okay, for all others hardly recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp