Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

joeravioli Having only recently emerged from childhood, but not recently enough to have forgotten it, I can say with credence that Laurent Tirard's slightly absurdist, deliriously comic adaptation of Rene Goscinny's "Le Petit Nicolas" books knocks Richard Linklater's unnecessarily dreary and pointless Oscar-excuse out of the park and into the poubelle where it belongs. Unlike Boyhood, Le Petit Nicolas finds - a decidedly comical - joy in childhood, reveling in naivety and innocence with appropriately childlike delight.Le Petit Nicolas follows a young boy, Nicolas, as he interacts with his friends and family. When he discovers that his parents are going to have a child, and to his horror, that such a development could mean his expulsion from his home, he and his friends set out on a quest to hire a gangster to kidnap the baby and leave it in a jungle. The film bounds from hilarious misadventures to surprisingly dark coincidence with gorgeous fluidity. The story is told well enough to charge every frame with purpose, and even the comedy has a certain universality about it that will render the film irresistible to any age. It's no emotional tour de force, or even as funny as I would like to say it is, but I consider it one of the most true depictions of childhood I have ever seen on film. In other words, "oui, c'est bon."

[email protected] It has been suggested that this film is a Gallic style Diary of a Wimpy Kid type of film. In both style and approach it is very much closer to the wonderful 1980 Australian Classic 'Fatty Finn', and is much the better film as a result, especially for the adults in the audience. Maxime Godart apparently effortlessly becomes the character of Nicolas, who has a very clear take on events around him, as most boys his age do. This film brings back to me all the joys and fears of my own eight year old life, and it is a joy to see that the rest of the cast get into the spirit of Nicolas' world with relish. Watch this film, and enjoy being a child again! Better still, watch it with your own children and enjoy being the same age as them!

zxy-evonne I didn't watch lots of movies, but this is the sweetest movie I've ever seen. The whole story is about love among parents and kids, teachers and kids, and love between kids, parents, friends. It touches the tenderest part of my heart. Every kid should be decently raised up that way. Your parents love you, but won't spoil you. Your teacher care about you, but won't push you too hard. Your friends support you, though sometimes they envy you, you always cover each others' ass, and have fun together no matter how stupid it looks like.Despite the setting is in an old France that I don't know much about, the story would fits in any period of human history (except for war times). The sweet love, awkward moments, unnecessary worries, war between teachers and students together composed a harmonious symphony.

Maciek Kur Before I saw this movie I was strongly skeptical. First of all "Nicholas" while being one of top 10 children books ever made... Have no storyline. It's just series of very funny but very short stories center around a group little French boys. There's no adventures or perils – just amusing anecdotes from every day life of Nicholas and his friends. Second of all the books was written by Rene Goscinny. A French author most know for his comic books "Asterix" and "Lucky Luke". While those are some of the most delightful peaces of graphic novels I ever read I sadly must admit they where butchered during the last decades with some horrible, horrible adaptations (with few exceptions, second Asterix movie was pretty good) "Nicholas" being a hard material to adapt already felt like a bad idea, and the fact so many of Goscinny's work was made into terrible movies wasn't a sing they will treat it with a proper respect. To be honest making "Nicholas" into a movie felt like going pretty low to get some money from his creation. When I was a kid I dreamed of Asterix being made into a movie even back there Nicholas felt like a absurd idea.The third reason I know it won't work was the fact it was a children movie. Obviously it wouldn't work in any different way but the fact is Nicholas stories never had morals or life lessons. In fact stories where pretty cynical. A lot of humor came from the fact that Nicholas pals would get into fist fights very quickly. The kids would call each other names all the time and Nicholas parents would fight and argue all the time. It was part of the charm, however we live now in the age of Political correctness so I was sure they will tone down the violence, make it more sugary sweet/cute and ad some morals… To my big surprise… Non of those problems appear in the movie! The script makes a excellent combination of different Nicholas stories and stay true to the characters and their personalities and in fact spends a lot of time playing with the character and their personalities. I like this type of movies as you never feels the plot rushing you just enjoy the ride and individual time spent with each character. The humor is great. It uses a lot of lines from the book but ads a lot of jokes… and I must say It actually gets pretty dark at moments. I don't got to much into detail since some of the biggest laugh-out-loud jokes come from the black humor. The kids actor where fantastic and where cast very well reflecting different personalities from the book. There is even a sequence which is a homage to Goscinny's other work (Asterix) as well a cute paper-cut-out opening sequence which is a tribute to Sempe – the illustrator. In a way it was very much like the book. Just collection of small anecdotes but tide into a larger story at the same time which build up to a terrific and incredible funny punch line. The ending is in fact very sweet and heath worming without being off-character for the series. My only complains are total nitpicks. Some characters where completely different (fiscally) that the way I imagine them in the books (especially Nicholas parents) but the actors manage to make them work in their own way. Few characters (girl that's Nicholas love interest or the next door neighbor) felt to be forced into the script just because "they where in the books" and their scenes serve no purpos other then showing those characters for the fans. There was maybe one or two gags that where completely off-character for the series as well few small moments that don't make sense in any translation out-side of France.Overall It's surprisingly fun movie both adults and kids will enjoy. One of best adaptations of Goscinny's works!