A cute coming-of-age comedy that's part Huck Finn, part Moonrise Kingdom. Not as much of a road movie as you might expect with a quick glance at the premise, but keeps puttering along based on the sweet and sincere friendship between its two main characters as they bounce around between rocky or unorthodox home lives, puberty, and a few unexpected encounters on their way across the French countryside, including some surprise surrealism (which is more the style you'd expect from Gondry, given some of his prior work). Sentiment mixed with some inventive writing and surprising subplots. (3/5)

Not enough of Gondry's magical realism stylings for my liking but still a fun coming-of-age road trip movie.

This movie us part coming of age part travelogue of two misfit French lads. Microbe is an artist and musician who's moniker is due to his small size while Gasoline who's father is a mechanic gets his name from the aroma of his petrol soaked clothes. They construct an unusual vehicle, part car part house and make their way around the French countryside meeting bizarre challenges evading the cops and overcoming obstacles along the way. The charm of this picture overcomes any reservations about its plausibility.

A charming buddy-on-the-road comedy that, with just a hint of strange, manage to stir away from the feeling of "Deja vu".

Although this certainly is not everyone's cup of tea, the film resonated with me. The two leads are spectacular. Their budding friendship, entirely believable. The writing is exquisite. A joy from start to finish.

Kids not speaking English.

An almost pointless adventure of Daniel and Theo.

good mixing of genres here combining a road trip picture with a coming-of-age tale successfully another winner from Gondry.

Just not that good. There were a couple of funny parts, but it never really pulled my in. Tries to be something like Little Miss Sunshine, but misses the mark. The ending is just strange.

Me atrevo a afirmar que Michael Gondry es uno de los directores más originales, no solo de nuestro tiempo, sino de toda la historia del cine. Sus videos musicales y sus películas como "Human Nature", "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", "La Ciencia de los Sueños", "Be Kind Rewind" y "La Espuma de los Días", son piezas inmortales que perdurarán a través de los años. Inclusive "The Green Hornet" me parece una película de superhéroes maravillosa. Es un misterio y un hecho que no tiene perdón, que sus trabajos sean atacados o, peor aún, pasen desapercibidos. Por favor, si usted ama el cine, no deje pasar "Microbe Et Gasoil", una conmovedora historia acerca de la amistad que se construye entre dos niños (los magníficos Ange Dargent y Théophile Baquet) al borde de la pubertad. Confeccionada como una "road movie" más que original, las aventuras de Microbio y Gasolina son tan mágicas y encantadoras, que usted las sentirá como propias y deseará que la película nunca acabe. El amor de Michel Gondry por su arte no tiene límites y esta película es prueba clave de ello. Imperdible.

Me atrevo a afirmar que Michael Gondry es uno de los directores más originales, no solo de nuestro tiempo, sino de toda la historia del cine. Sus videos musicales y sus películas como "Human Nature", "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", "La Ciencia de los Sueños", "Be Kind Rewind" y "La Espuma de los Días", son piezas inmortales que perdurarán a través de los años. Inclusive "The Green Hornet" me parece una película de superhéroes maravillosa. Es un misterio y un hecho que no tiene perdón, que sus trabajos sean atacados o, peor aún, pasen desapercibidos. Por favor, si usted ama el cine, no deje pasar "Microbe Et Gasoil", una conmovedora historia acerca de la amistad que se construye entre dos niños (los magníficos Ange Dargent y Théophile Baquet) al borde de la pubertad. Confeccionada como una "road movie" más que original, las aventuras de Microbio y Gasolina son tan mágicas y encantadoras, que usted las sentirá como propias y deseará que la película nunca acabe. El amor de Michel Gondry por su arte no tiene límites y esta película es prueba clave de ello. Imperdible.

Tributo al poder creativo e imaginativo de la adolescencia y la importancia de las personas que nos rodean en esa edad para sacar adelante cosas que a veces ocultamos por vergüenza. Grandiosa historia sobre este par de amigos que se embarcan en una diminuta "road movie" para mostrar la importancia de la amistad. PS y con un odio a Shakira bastante gracioso!

Very enjoyable look into the young lives of two misfit teenage fellas in France. They make the most of their talents and provide the viewer with a whimsical adventure along the way. The movie is in French with English subtitles.

cinegeek.de Es gab mal eine Zeit, da war Michel Gondry einer der meistgfragten Regisseure unserer Videothek, die damals noch einfach Filmkunst hiess. Gondry liebt die Skurilitäten des Alltags und filmt immer knapp an der Realität vorbei. Hier kommt die Geschichte einer wunderbaren Freundschaft. Daniel ist nicht gerade gross und auch nicht sehr kräftig. Weil seine blonden Haare etwas länger sind, halten die Anderen ihn immer wieder für ein Mädchen. Dann kommt Theo in die Klasse. Er ist ein Bastler, der etwas nach Benzin riecht (deshalb bekommt er den Spitznamen Sprit) mit unbändigen schwarzen Locken. Akzeptiert wird er auch nicht und so freunden die Beiden sich an. Sie haben aber viel mehr gemein als nur ihr Aussenseitertum: Die Lust an philosophischen Debatten, aber auch die etwas verrückten Familien. Vor allem aber Abenteuergeist und Wagemut! Hier beschliessen zwei Freunde, ihre Zeit nicht mit der desinteressierten Familie zu verbringen, sondern miteinander. Im Mittelpunkt steht ein Baumhaus auf Rädern, dass mit etwa 20 km/h über die Nebenstrassen zuckelt und das neue Zuhause der Freunde darstellt. Gondrys Film ist übrigens quasi autobiographisch. Gondry, aufgewachsen in Versailles, drehte sogar im Haus seiner Grosseltern und über seine eigene Kindheit ist nachzulesen, dass er oft für ein Mädchen gehalten wurde. Gondry = Mikro, dazu passt auch seine eigene Familie (über die er einmal eine Art Doku inszenierte, die ihr bei uns im Verleih findet). Gondrys Kindheitsträume dürfen nun endlich Wirklichkeit werden und zwar in seinem Film! Die irreale Atmosphäre des Werks bedeutet übrigens nicht, dass Microbe et Gasoil unglaubwürdig wäre. Genauso wie die beiden Freunde begegnenen wir selbst dem Unwahrscheinlichsten noch mit grosser Gelassenheit, denn ist nicht die ganze Pubertät eine Spinnerei?

This delightful quirky gem is a treasure of emerging adolesence and teenage rebellion against parents, school authorities and a non-undrestanding world of grownups. These two boys, Daniel and Theo, call themselves, and others name them Microbe for his small stature and Gasoline because he works on his fathers' engines just before school. MIcrobe is a naturally gifted artist who sketches during class and stores his erotic imaginings of women on drawings he hides under his bed. Gasoline is a savant of sorts, the kind who responds to bullies with psychoanalytical barbs rather than juvenile taunts. Gasoline does most of the heavy lifting and together the boys scrap their way into building a motorized garden shed on wheels powered by a lawnmower Briggs & Stratton. The boys strike out without their parents knowing for an adventure on the back roads of southern France. Do watch the trailer. This sweet story of exploring life, how messy it can be, the heartache of first love, the frustration of not being "like everybody else" is very well executed in this indie gem. See it, you will be touched at the power of the story underneath its flippant exterior.

Gondry is no stranger to making off-the-wall slightly twee, oddities of films. After the largess of trippiness in ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP, and MOOD INDIGO, MICROBE AND GASOLINE is a far smaller endeavour for Gondry. That's not a bad thing. Pared down to a story of the titular pre-teen boys going on a summer adventure, it is as one would expect in the basics of that plot. Strange and funny things happen, the boys learn about themselves and grow. But Gondry keeps what could be "been there, done that" fresh by drawing natural and charismatic performances from the boys and, because it's Gondry, an oddity - in this case by way of a miniature house built on a go-cart engine the two built themselves and use to drive across France. Audrey Tautou is on hand as Microbe's mother, as she is required to be in every French film imported to the US (she voices a character in a later review for PHANTOM BOY). MICROBE & GASOLINE is a light-hearted delight, a great family film nearly following in the steps of the genre that it's a part of but slightly different enough to make it fresh. From my site: http://www.ageeknamedbob.com/#!siff-2016/wiq67

Naughty but amusing. Théophile Baquet, who plays Théo (the one in red jacket in the poster), is simply wonderful. Michel Gondry's creative props strike once again. I like this Michel Gondry rather than the one making ?Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind?, ?La Science Des Rêves?, ?Be Kind Rewind?, ?The Green Hornet ? & ?L'écume Des Jours? .

Inventive White Stripes music video director and incredible French helmer who has built an unmistakable career out of films that combine fanciful adventure, distinct visual aesthetic and probing coming of age and existentialism strikes again with a lower key but no less fun film. Microbe et Gasoil is vivid in Gondry's own special way and its absence of CG in his candy-coated world is a breath of fresh air for a film like this. Even his most dignified efforts ('Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind') have populated his world with flights of adolescent fantasy and nostalgia-tripping. While this adventure may not aim for the lofty heights of being deeply philosophical, it moves to its own buoyant drum and the two standout French leads (one, Microbe who is loosely based on adolescent-age Gondry and his best friend with a black mop of air who he's since lost touch with) are sensational and instantly won me over from the first frame. What does bog this film down a tad is narrative cohesion as Gondry kind of loses his way in terms of the script's plotting. Longtime writing partner Charlie Kaufman or sometime collaborator Spike Jonze could have reigned this film in and sharpened Gondry's bells and whistles tale to a precision point that could have made his another instant classic. Still, there is a great deal to admire here and its a blissful heartwarming tale of brotherly love, sibling-esque rivalry and the hormonal-induced rebellion of two teenagers trying to make the most in the prime of their lives by debunking their societal stereotypes and having a one-of-a-kind odyssey. Audrey Tautou is also always a pleasure - here donning horn-rimmed glasses and a series of rather unfashionably conservative skirts and outfits to portray Microbe's conservative, academic but ever so loving mother. Microbe at one point laments: "She loves me too much, I feel sorry for her" as if to indicate he's been a disappointment. This film will seep its way into your heart and never leave.