Erik the Viking

From what I have been able to find out, this film is based upon Terry Jones' 1983 children's book The Saga of Erik the Viking in which a Viking Warrior sets sail with his men on the Golden Dragon to find the land where the sun goes at night. I haven't seen the book myself so I've no idea how closely the film follows the plot of the book. Some of the ideas in the film do seem lifted from a kids book, especially the Norse gods being children themselves.

In summary, this movie had great potential, there is a distinct lack of intentionally funny fantasy adventures, and this could easily have been the film to fill the gap in the market. Unlike "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" this film isn't a comedy farce from the start, and with the type of humour that Terry Jones has written it should have been, farces need to all or nothing, having an otherwise serious film with farcical scenes doesn't work well. For this sort of film, a more tongue in cheek or dark approach would have worked better. If I could change one thing about the film I'd change the writer's surname from Jones to Pratchett, Terry Pratchett writes just the right sort of adventure fantasy that would have made this film an instant classic. As it is it's well acted but ultimately forgettable fable whose exciting, interesting scenes are sabotaged by ill-fitting plots.

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