Don't know why there are some really awful reviews or attacks on people who liked it. It's definitely not Lord of the Rings but you know that going in. It's a good little story that's well worth watching. I could see us watching it again sometime. It's clean fantasy for the family.

Ash Lad is an inoffensive, comical take on old Nordic fairytales involving princesses, noble quests and mountain trolls. That's about it. Other reviewers on these pages comparing it favourably to The Lord of the Rings chapters are just trolling themselves and being frankly ridiculous in the process. A much better comparison is with The Princess Bride. Neither film takes itself too seriously, but Ash Lad lacks the witty script, the interesting sub-plots and the romantic chemistry between the Princess and her would-be-commoner rescuer of The Princess Bride.

What it does do which is somewhat different from the regular tropes featuring in this genre, is to have a hero, who's not that heroic and not even the sharpest tool in the shed. But he is a punter with a long-term goal, who is ready and willing to play the long game to achieve his quest, aided and abetted by his even thicker two brothers. Up against them, besides the natural and supernatural obstacles is a quartet of bumbling, stumbling villains, whose leader, Prince Frederic, gets most of the good lines.

Judged from other reviews on this page, I must have been lucky seeing an English sub-titled version of the film, as the dubbed version doesn't seem to win universal acclaim. The production looks quite good and makes great use of some spectacular location scenery, but don't expect any groundbreaking special effects in the CGI department. Again like the PB, Ash Lad is generally content to use miniatures, clever photographic angles, costumed capers and puppetry to achieve its supernatural content. The acting is sound, without being stand out and I think the production team erred a little in only having limited interactions between Princess Kristin and Esben. The script didn't really give them enough time to build up a believable rapport, before they were separated until well into the third act of the movie. It also just needed to be a little more cleverer with the dialogue which is frequently run of the mill, to be kind. A few more wickedly sexy lines like Kristen's last line in the movie regarding enjoying riding with her, would have gone down a treat with adult viewers of what is ultimately, not a lot more than a kids' film.

With loads of brawl and growls this can scare the guts of a child lets say upto 10 yrs old, all the darkness and extraordinary long waiting game could bring intense experiences for the children

but not for me, the troll like grumpy old man, i will say this was a overblown up expectation of a folktail , more known for the music made by edward grieg that the actual fairytail is for Ola Nordman. had they tried to adapt the animated iconic movies made by Ivo Caprino, e.g askeladden og de gode hjelperne, or reveenka or guten som kappåt med trollet, that would have been far more folkloristic than this one.

i shall admit i did see this in a very daftly english dubbed version on a tv screen, and compared to the norwegian peasant language its pretty poor. a subtitling wouldve done it better. the actual take on the fairytail itself aint autenthic and diverts alot from what ive read. a waiting game it is and it dissapointed me with too little time spent with the actual troll

positive is the filmography, nice settings, good scenic views of norwegian nature.

negative is the poor acting efforts, the actors doesn seem ready at all on several occations, and the score couldve been based around the griegs composition all through the film, actually just really used ca 2 minutes in the film.that couldve been improved.

well its always a quest for money when norwegians make movies, so i do give a 6 star as a patriot, but not more. its a recommend to view with your kids.