Swiss play games with ‘our precious'

As if poaching (then dumping) our top yachtsman and sailing off with the America's Cup weren't enough, a Swiss movie maker has released a motion picture mocking our most successful film.

The Ring Thing, a Swiss parody of Oscar-winning The Lord of The Rings has been playing to packed houses across land locked - and, some critic suggest, humour-starved - Switzerland since its launch on December 16.

The movie about a Dark Lord Sauraus (meaning "pigout" in German) who plans to rule the world by covering it in cheese fondue has attracted more than 30,000 Swiss film-goers since its launch 10 days ago.

The film replaces New Zealand's scenery with the mountains of eastern Switzerland, and follows the adventure of bank clerk Friedo, who becomes an unlikely hero when he drops from a plane toilet into the middle of a fairytale world in the Swiss Alps.

The Lord of the Rings rip-off includes characters such as Almgandhi, a forgetful wizard; Schleimli, an evil green gnome; a drug-addicted elf princess called Grmpfli and several flatulent elves.

In a report in the Observer newspaper, a spokesman for the film said the movie was already the second biggest Swiss movie of 2004.

"Yes it [the movie] is very funny. It's a spoof. The concept is very amusing," he said.

But Swiss critics have given the film mixed reviews, with one labelling it the worst movie ever made.

"Monty Python and the Holy Grail has proved that you can make humour out of not very much." said critic Bruno Amstutz, who awarded the film two stars out of five.

"The problem is that everything in The Ring Thing has already been done by Monty Python - only better."

Switzerland's leading news magazine, Facts, suggested the movie was the worst Swiss film ever made.

The criticism has not fazed producer Dominik Kaiser.

He said the criticism showed Swiss critics preferred cultural movies to those including "dirty humour".

"There is a lot of silly stuff in our movie."

Despite the film being entirely in German, international distributors Buena Vista have shown an interest.