Valhalla (1986 film)


Valhalla is a Danish animated feature film released in 1986 by Metronome, based on volumes one, four and five of the comics series of the same name, in its turn based on the Scandinavian tales of the Norse mythology, as they are told in Snorri Sturlusons so-called Younger Edda. It was directed by Disney animator Jeffrey J. Varab and cartoonist Peter Madsen.
The film was the most expensive Danish film of 1986 and proved popular with audiences, however the company failed to regain the cost of production and, as a result, the film became a financial flop at the box office.

Plot

The movie takes plot elements told from the three comic albums "Cry Wolf", "The Story of Quark" and "The Journey to Útgarða-Loki".
Thor, the god of thunder, and Loki, the god of lies, habitually visit Midgard, and one evening they take refuge for the night at a lonesome farmhouse, inhabited by a couple of ordinary Viking peasants and their two children, a boy named Tjalvi and his younger sister Röskva. Thor generously offers one of his goats which is dragging his chariot, as a feast dinner for all of them, but strongly warns any of the members of the household from breaking the bones. Loki, always treacherous, persuades the boy Tjalvi into doing exactly that, for the sake of the delicious marrow inside. Thor goes on to recount the Hymiskviða, specifically the part when he fished for the Midgard Serpent, Jörmungandr, to entertain his hosts.
The next morning, Thor revives his goat, but is infuriated when he discovers that the animal has become lame, caused by the breaking of the bone the previous night. Thor is craving for revenge, but Loki instead suggests that they take the boy Tjalvi with them to Asgard as a servant, which Thor reluctantly agrees to. Tjalvi on his part is not very courageous on going to Asgard or the prospect of serving 'the mighty gods' either, but his sister Röskva is very adventurous and keen to go, even though she isn't even a prospect. Eventually the gods and their new servant leave the farm and go back to Asgard via the Bifröst bridge. Once they arrive, they soon discover that Röskva has stowed away in the chariot, and so she is allowed to follow the company and her brother to Thor's home Bilskirnir where his wife Sif and their two infant children are awaiting. Here, the two human children are put to hard physical work immediately, having to clean not only the mansion with its 540 rooms but also nursing the two infants, Þrúðr & Móði, and serving the gods.
The glamor of the 'immortals' and their world soon vanishes, as Thor is frequently away from home on new adventures, leaving Tjalvi and Røskva with all the hard work. As a regular friend of the house, one day Loki shows up with a small nonverbal jötunn boy named Quark, who almost immediately causes havoc in the thunder god's home. At first Loki claims that Quark 'followed him' home, but finally professes he 'won' Quark when he lost a bet with Útgarða-Loki and now has to keep the boy until he behaves properly. Sif is so upset when she finds out Quark has to stay at Bilskirnir, that she leaves the home with the two infants in distress, which in turn, makes Thor go crazy and destroy everything around him, until he finally storms out, leaving Loki, Quark, Röskva and Tjalvi behind.
Soon, the children and Quark find they have something in common and befriend each other, while Loki just makes himself comfortably in 'his' new home. He acts as a lazy and cruel master of the house and the children and Quark finally run away to look up the mighty chief of the gods Odin, who lives in nearby Valhalla and who they suppose will help them against the unfair behaviour of Loki. They find out he will not even listen to them as no one is allowed to disturb him, and so they run out into the forest and build their own treehouse, setting up their own life. Almost everything is pure idyll, until Tjavli is visited by the ravens of Odin, Hugin and Munin. They lead Tjalvi to a sacred well where they present him with visions of the future: there he sees Thor trying to hold up Jörmungandr, the sea drying up and Thor hastily aging and dying. Suddenly, Thor shows up and brings the children, his servants, back to Bilskirnir by force. Now he confronts Loki with Quark, demanding he return the boy to Útgarðar. Since Loki is unwilling and unable to bring Quark back to Útgarðar, Thor forces him to accompany him to Útgarðar, along with Röskva and Tjalvi.
The group travel Útgarðar, where the jötunn-king Útgarða-Loki offers to take Quark back if they can overcome a series of challenges. First, Loki is set to win a eating competition against a jötunn named Loge. At first Loki seems to be victorious but he loses when Loge eats the entire trough from which he ate. Thor is then challenged to drink from a giant drinking horn, but the horn does not seem to empty no matter how much he drinks. Thor demands another challenge, but the jötunns only laugh at him and ask to lift Útgarða-Loki's cat instead. Despite the seemingly-small size of the cat, Thor is only able to lift a single one of the cat's paws off the floor; to regain his honor and save face, Thor demands a trial by combat. Útgarða-Loki then calls for his ancient mother, Elle, whose feeble and aged appearance nonetheless frightens the other jötunns. Thor tries to wrestle her down but is unable to; instead he starts to age rapidly and the old hag wrestles him down to the floor instead.
While Thor wrestles the old woman, Hugin and Munin show Tjalvi, Röskva and Quark the visions again in a mirror: they see Loge moving strangely like fire, Thor trying to lift Jörmungandr, and Thor aging and dying. The children realize that the jötunns are using magic to cheat: the drinking-horn is secretly connected to the sea, Loge is actually an insatiable fire-spirit, Útgarða-Loki's cat is in fact Jörmungandr the Midgard-Serpent, and the old woman is really old age itself!
Tjalvi tries to stop the wrestling match, but Thor appears to die of old age before Tjalvi can reach him. Tjalvi weeps over Thor's body, and his tears restore Thor to life and youth. Quark throws the water on Loge revealing his true nature as a fire spirit, which puts him out and kills him. Tjalvi and Röskva call out the jötunns' tricks. Thor is angry that the jötunns' have cheated, but he and Loki have lost the bet, and so they are forced to keep Quark. But Loki reassures Thor not to worry: he has a plan.
The next morning, the two gods and the three children leave Útgarð together. Útgarða-Loki laughs at them from the palisade for losing the bet, but what had appeared to be Quark suddenly turns into a chicken: Loki has used his illusions to trick everyone into thinking the chicken was Quark, who is still inside the walls of Útgarð and now has to remain there with the other jötunns. This saddens both Quark and Röskva, who wave sorrowfully to each other as Thor and Loki leave Útgarð behind.
Back home at Bilskirnir, Thor gives Tjalvi a sword as a sign that he now sees Tjalvi as a man. Röskva, still seen as a child and feeling very alone and unwanted, walks sadly away into the forest, and returns to the treehouse which she and Tjalvi and Quark built together. Suddenly, to her great surprise and delight, Quark appears from inside the treehouse, having run away from Útgarðar. The two friends are happily reunited, with much embracing.

Cast

Danish Version
German Version
Swedish Version
English Version

Development

The project was originally developed by character animator's Jeffrey J. Varab and Jakob Stegelmann.
They had previously established an animation-school in Copenhagen and trained most of the animators who would eventually work on the film. They managed to raise a small budget for the feature film adaptation before the project was eventually passed to production companies.
During production, the project ran into severe financial difficulties and was passed on between studios before being made by Swan Film.
In the final stages of production, the film's director Jeffrey J. Varab walked out of the project, due to disagreements with the new production management. On the final release version, Peter Madsen, who had drawn the comic books and been the film's art director, is credited as director, and Jeffrey J. Varab is credited as co-director.
At the time of its release, in October 1986 it was Denmark's most expensive film ever made, having cost around 40 million kroner. No Danish film has ever gone as much over budget since.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Ron Goodwin and was performed by the Copenhagen Collegium Musicum orchestra. The soundtrack was released in 1987 and re-released in 1998. The 45 minute soundtrack would be Goodwin's last film composition.
The Danish release version of the film features the voices of Dick Kaysø, Preben Kristensen, Laura Bro and Marie Ingerslev. The film was translated into other languages including English and German. During the production and animation stages, it was initially animated using an English language soundtrack featuring the voices of a primarily non-Danish cast. In the German dub, the late Sir Christopher Lee voiced Thor.

Release

The movie was released in October 1986. More than 100 artists had worked hard on the film for 4 years and the total cost of the film was DKK 35 million. The movie was an instant hit and for several years and reached number 3 on the Danish box office list. In spite of selling more tickets than any other Danish film in 1986, its heavy cost inevitably made it a box-office flop. Swan Film made eight spin-off short films for television featuring Quark, the troll character in both the books and the film, before eventually closing down.
The financial collapse of the Valhalla-production also brought down its sister company, LASER, which had been developing an animated feature film adaptation of Gilgamesh and a laserdisc video game, Pyramid, about a female hero battling various enemies inside an ancient temple structure. However, four animators and one producer prior to completing Valhalla regrouped and formed a new company, A. Film A/S, which to date is Denmark's most successful animation studio, producing frequent artistic triumphs and box-office hits.