As he had already proved in other films, Jean Paul Belmondo is possibly the closest European equivalent to Jackie Chan in terms of the stunts and acrobatics he is willing to do (another candidate: Terence Hill). In "L'Animal" he is in peak form and takes some life-threatening risks (including standing on the top of a flying bi-plane!),and, playing two different characters (a stuntman, brave but with a knack for screwing things up, and a movie star, popular, spoiled and gay),he shows his comic talents as well. Raquel Welch does her share of physical stuff, and, needless to say, she is a total babe. This is not a great comedy by any means, and you'll find no substance whatsoever here, but it's still enjoyable enough, especially if you like the two leads. (**1/2)

It all starts with an ugly animated credit sequence focusing on a funky lion. Would that be the Animal in the title? OK, but it's hardly relevant with the character played by Belmondo.

The comedy aims to be wild with Belmondo hamming his double-part full-throttle. It may be funny to a 5-year old; for a grown-up it looks like tired jokes with heavy-handed direction in gross situations (the gay movie-star, the crooked and clumsy stunt double). Raquel Welch is beautiful and quite a relief compared to her partner.

Overall it smells like a big budget dilapidated into big stunt jokes, in turn dwarfed by the would-be burlesque tone. Somehow Claude Zidi must have been thinking the Marx Brothers had become famous for silly over-the-top gags devoid of any subtlety...

This movie is a lot of fun,i watched it when i was a kid when it came out in Europe and i remember laughing in several scenes.I don't know how Belmondo's style translates to American audiences but to the rest of the world he was a big star when this movie came out and made a fantastic duo with Raquel.Raquel Welch always had a good flair for comedy and this material allows her to show her abilities.Here she is supposed to be a stunt-woman,partnering stuntman Belmondo in films and wanting to get married and she is really a lot of guts and fun.Belmondo plays the stuntman and a second role as a gay film star who resembles the stuntman. Belmondo is on his turf here and delivers.There was a lot of publicity about the stunts in this movie.Almost all of them performed by Belmondo himself,especially impressive a flying stunt where Belmodo is standing on-top of a flying plane.This movie is a good showcase for both Belmondo and Raquel.