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Free Jimmy
Stars: Voices: Woody Harrelson, Simon Pegg, Samantha Morton, Kyle MacLachlan, Emilia Fox, Jim Broadbent, Phil Daniels, Kris Marshall, David Tennant, Douglas Henshall, James Cosmo, Jay Simpson, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatiss
Director: Christopher Nielsen
A throwback 40 years in time to the brief period when such 'X' certificate cartoons as Fritz the Cat were all the rage in animation. Simon Pegg must take much of the blame for this extremely unpleasant Anglo-Norwegian film, as he not only acts in it, but also wrote the English screenplay, crammed full of four-letter words, drugs, violence and even a nude sex scene which is quite revolting.
It's Norway and four stoners (led by the voice of Woody Harrelson), four activists (led by the voice of Kyle MacLachlan) and three Lapp gangsters are all after a drug-addicted circus elephant called Jimmy, who has a million pounds worth of heroin sewn into (where else?) his butt end.
Jimmy's circus provides the only smiles in the film in the form of an acrobat who can't balance on anything. Otherwise, all human degradation is here in this bleak movie, and an amazing voice cast can only underline the shabbiness of it all. PS: Don't expect a happy ending.
David Quinlan
Norway/UK/Denmark/Canada 2008. UK Distributor: Breakthru Films. Colour.
85 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 15.
Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 2, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 2, Swearing 2.
Review date: 06 Oct 2008