Reviewed - Terkel in Trouble: "Now here's something I haven't seen before." That, I imagine, will be the response of many viewers as this profoundly unusual Danish animation oozes over them.
Most will, however, not be adopting the tone they would use when remarking on a new star or a previously unnoticed wild flower. The effect is, rather, like finding some ugly, rapidly metastasising blemish on a favoured organ.
Featuring computer animation so rudimentary it would fail to astonish even the most primitive hominid, Terkel in Trouble deals in misanthropy, misery, child suicide, pederasty, casual abuse and murder. Set mostly in a primary school, the picture follows the sad adventures of its titular hero, the son of a deadened father and a chain-smoking mother, as he encounters a deranged hippie teacher, suffers torture from relentless bullies and causes a larger girl to jump despairingly to her death.
Well, the makers might remark, worse things happen weekly in the consistently amusing South Park. The Danes might further point out that the animation in that show is equally unlikely to be mistaken for the work of Pixar.
There is a message here. You can get away with almost any atrocity in comedy - see also Derek and Clive, and Lenny Bruce - if your jokes are sufficiently funny. Terkel is so witless, crude and, unlike South Park, so profoundly lacking in humanity it should drive even the most liberal viewer to righteous fury.
Most worrying of all is the suspicion that, though severely disturbing, and despite its justifiable 15A certificate, the film might indeed be intended for a juvenile audience. The little ones would be better off staying at home and watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre on DVD.
