the audience applauded

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

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

Roy offers his druggie friends some money to help him work in the travelling Russian circus. Secretly he hopes to take it over for himself and make his fortune and certainly he is a key player in the circus as he is responsible for subduing the animals. In particular he has to keep elephant Jimmy supplied with a variety of uppers and downers. Meanwhile a group of animal activists want to try and bring down the circus and free the animals from their squalid conditions. A third group also has an interest in Jimmy, as the elephant has drugs hidden within its body.OK. I hate it when I disagree with the majority opinion as expressed by some of the IMDb reviewers that I respect but I'm going to have to here. The one thing everyone says here is that if you don't like the film then you simply don't understand the context in which it was made – this is akin to simply saying "you don't get it" rather than explaining why you got it. I was aware of the background vaguely and understood the metaphorical significance of Jimmy and approached the film with an open mind. Whether the film succeeds as a tribute to the maker's deceased brother or not I cannot say but I can judge it on a film because it is not unreasonable to expect that a film released to the world would not rely on "insider knowledge".The main thing about the film that strikes me as a problem is the fact that it is a feature length film. In terms of the substance of the film (and the intent that everyone bangs on about) it must be said that there is really not enough here even to fill 80 minutes. Perhaps it could have worked as an extended short film but it doesn't work here. I had no expectations from it (so it wasn't a matter of me looking for a family comedy when it never pertained to be) but I still found it lacking. In terms of laughs it is light – and I have a dark sense of humour. The plot is a real mess – I know it is meant to be filled with ugliness but this doesn't excuse how convoluted it is, nor how little I cared for any of the characters. The emotional impact others had mentioned wasn't there for me either and dare I suggest that, since they knew the back story and significance of it, perhaps they brought this content into the film with them, rather than finding it here? On paper the voice work is impressive with lots of names in the English-language version lining up to take part – it again made me wonder if they were all seeing something that I was not. Anyway, nobody really does anything with the material of particular note but in fairness there is not a lot for them to work with. Visually the animation takes a minute to get used to as it is pretty ugly. Technically it is good and it does suit the material in terms of how it looks but, without the material working, it does tend to just be left looking ugly.Many will disagree with me because of the bigger significance of this film but, for my money, this doesn't really work at all. The meaning is clunkingly obvious while also failing to be woven into the fabric of the film. This leaves the ugly aspect of the film standing all alone and exposed. Contrary to opinion here, this is a deeply flawed film that really should have been done differently and with a better focus.

Some of you who have commented on this movie obviously don't know the background for this movie. Christopher Nielsen who made this movie is brother of one of the most known dead punk rock stars in Norway, Joakim Nielsen. Who played in Jokke & Valentinerne, which is one of the most influential band in Norwegian punk.! And this movie is in a way Christophers' feelings, about how he feel how Joakims' life went. The way showbiz "drugged" Joakim(jimmy), so he would shut up and earn them some money. And most of the animated characters in the movie are ego's of people in the real life who were around Jokke. But i have to admit that a lot of the humor in this movie is directed to Norwegian viewers.

A cartoon about a drugged up elephant doesn't sound like it could be serious, but this was. I am a big Simon Pegg fan and was expecting something quite good with this. Unfortunately it was very slow moving, very unfunny, far too serious and overall, a bitter disappointment.The plot was ridiculously shallow, making it difficult for the movie to find any pace. The storyline wasn't overly intricate or clever and any jokes that were present were able to be picked a mile off, and then they still took ages to get to the punchline.Whilst I could have handled the low brow ideals of a movie like this if it had substance or humour, Free Jimmy didn't have either, so the low brow plot angle was just not acceptable.Not a movie Simon Pegg lovers should waste their time on. 3/10 is probably being a bit generous.