'The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec' richly entertaining

She makes Indiana Jones look like a lazy wimp, so hats off to the wonderful Adele and her extraordinary adventures … of which there are a lot, and while we’re mentioning hats there are a lot of them too, all gloriously flambouyant.

Besson has taken one of his favourite boyhood stories – a French comic graphic novel by Jacques Tardi – and turned it into a rollicking, mad, incident-filled film that delights, thrills and charms … it may be a daft, disorganised romp, but it’s richly entertaining.

Adele (the beautiful Bourgoin) is everybody’s dream of a go-getting female: she’s a journalist, she’s smart, adventurous, sexy, quick-witted, no-nonsense, sharp tongued and very modern (the story is set pre-WW1). Who wouldn’t want to know a gal like her?

She’s in Egypt – her editor thinks she’s elsewhere – battling would-be lovers, nutty scientists, pre-historic monsters, police baffled by mysterious murders in Paris, digging in Pharaoh’s tombs, cursing at awkward camels … she’s everywhere, doing everything.

Don’t even think about the waywardness of the plot just go with the flow and have a great time in the company of the excellent Adele.

What a gal!!

Star Rating: 5/5