It was probably one of the books I read and reread most often when I was a kid : Le Petit Nicolas by legendary Astérix writer René Goscinny and equally legendary cartoonist Jean-Jacques Sempé. At one point, I was quite addicted. I hid our local library’s copies because I wanted to be the only one to read them, that’s how bad it was.
When I heard a movie was in the works based on these hilarious stories about a young and lively (today we would say, hyperactive) kid and his schoolmates, I had the same sensation as when I first saw footage from the Watchmen movie – a combination of expectation and dread. How can you possibly make a movie based on a universe that is essentially completely defined by a very recognisable tone of voice and an equally ideosyncratic artistic line. But then I saw the trailer (above), and I’mquite at ease now : it is going to be great. And it’s going to be French to the core.