I got to see the British version of this film and yes it was very funny. Be warned though, due to the stereotype that obviously we London Cockney's have got is used to the full in this. The Facking (use a u instead of the a and you get what i mean, if you are a Londoner you will Definitely know what i mean) word gets used quite a lot in this film, nearly all the time. The cream of British talent is in this which was what stood out to me in watching it. Phil "Quadrophenia" Daniels plays a funny foul mouthed cockney junkie in this that really has to be seen to be believed. Simon "Hot Fuzz/Shaun of the Dead" Pegg is the other main characters in this and at times is virtually unrecognisable in this as he is doing a voice and you can only just get that it's him. The one who played the little guy of the group made me laugh the most as he was always doing things wrong. David "The Doctor" Tennant is also in this and made me laugh quite a few times as he uses his original Scottish accent to the full here. Woody Harrelson Plays the American junkie who dreams of having his own circus, Kris "My family" Marshall plays a animal rights crusader, so does Samantha "Band of Gold/Minority Report" Morton plays a emotional and clumsy animal rights crusader. Even Kyle "Twin peaks" Mclachlan turns up in this as the leader of the animal rights crusaders. This movie is a riot from beginning to end but also there is a message in it too. It may be hard to find under the language and the laughs but when the film is finished, it will hit you. There are some very touching scenes in it too. Free Jimmy is a film for Older kids because of the language but if you can by pass that then kids will love it and laugh with you at all the jokes.

The story is a bit slow but the acting and the performances push it through and make it an entertaining movie to watch. Like i said Parents: It's up to you if you want to show this to your kids, mind you kids already know that kind of language nowadays so i don't see why not. It's the kind of cartoon Disney would make if they had the balls.

And pun not intended, because I'm talking about "politically correct" (which the movie isn't) and not about how it was made! The graphics might not have the standard a big budget animation movie has, but then again, it wouldn't be good to compare this with "family" entertainment! It clearly aims for an adult audience and achieves it's goal, by being incredibly dark humored.

There will be people out there, that won't like it because of it and there will be people out there, that love because of it (I'm in the latter group). So be aware that this is as far from Disney as it can be and you might enjoy the movie (I did ... until the ending ruined a bit of my enjoyment ... the movie ran a bit out of steam quite some times)

The first few minutes of this seem like something out of Spike & Mike's Sick and Twisted. Adult language and situations with gangsters and drug use and circuses felt like it was going to spin out quickly and do its thing. Didn't help that I thought when initially watching it that I was getting ready to view a short film.

However, it turns out to be quite the production in the long run. The English speaking voice cast is filled with stars and character actors, and the dialog is written by Simon Pegg. Fitting it into the Norwegian original is probably why it's a bit chatty at certain parts, and the movie is somewhat slow paced for what it's trying to be, but that has more to do with what was obviously a long process of animation. This movie doesn't come out to be as striking of an independent animation as something like Fritz the Cat, but by the time you're a good half hour into it you realize you're seeing something unlike any other.

Jimmy the Elephant is a drugged up dragged out old circus elephant addicted to the drugs they feed him to keep him trapped and performing, and unfortunately for him he becomes wanted by a wide array of sketch characters. There's the deadbeats lead by Arnie to work at the circus so that they can have access to a special package hidden in Jimmy's rump; bumbling animal's rights activists that end up killing more animals and making more speeches than effectively doing anything; Asian jester bike gang sent by the Russian mob to hunt down Arnie, only to find that Arnie's interest in Jimmy is even more valuable; and an angry fat hunter wanting a prize kill. Via various escapades they end up in the Moors and vie for a variety of positions very violent, resulting in mayhem. Poor Jimmy has to recover from his drug problem and survive in the wild in the middle of it.

It's the latter point where the movie gets a heart, a surprising one, but probably the thing that pulls the movie together the most. The rest is slapstick comedy and the adult humor can drag a bit at times (especially in the dialog) but suddenly when you see a moose befriend Jimmy and put him through recovery, you get this strangely wonderful, wonderfully absurd, and absurdly powerful recovery plot that sticks. The music is a little hokey, yeh, but the character animation and how they personify the characters of the moose and Jimmy is pitch perfect.

So, that only leaves the trouble of where the heck did this come from? An 80 minute animation from Norway with a story like that was not only a movie I didn't expect to stumble upon (currently it is playing for free on Mubi.com),less do I understand why I wouldn't have heard somethings about it. This is certainly currently an undiscovered gem--flawed, not exactly the best movie out there, but something different. Maybe star power behind the voice actors will bring it a little more attention.

--PolarisDiB