After being thoroughly confused by a five second clip on tv, I decided to take my first plunge into the Risto Räppääjä cinematic universe. As a non-Finnish speaker with no background on the Risto Räppääjä book series, I had no clue what I was getting myself into. There were several options on YLE, so I chose Risto Räppääjä ja viileä Venla.

If I follow the plot correctly, it seems that the film follows Risto and his friend being abandoned by some lady who leaves them on a boat so they end up camping by themselves so she can chase a human version of Hemulen? And then they go to a campsite run by an intense old lady who is in love with Venla’s dad? I also didn’t realize the amount of song breaks that would happen in this film, although I guess it makes sense given the title. Was this series inspired by Elastinen’s success? Risto actually does a shockingly small amount of rapping though, despite his name.

The editing effects in this film were absolutely bonkers, as were the clothes. Could the casting directors of this film not find a child who was actually ginger? Was he actually ginger and they just dyed his hair darker? Whatever the reason, it looks wild. I also really would like to ask the script team why they chose for Venla to keep using internet slang in actual speech to seem cool? Maybe it was cool at the time? I kind of doubt it though.

Overall, I actually kind of liked the film despite how bonkers it was. It reminded me a lot of going to my partner’s summer cottage and had a good Finnish summer vibe. The colors, songs, and editing would definitely be fun for younger kids. I wasn’t very interested in the main storyline though, because it seemed pretty predictable. I honestly wanted more of the aunt/grandma’s romance story with Venla’s dad. I also wanted to see more of the Hemulen guy.