In one early scene, the movie briefly shows a world map, from which it appears that “Aldovia” occupies the same space as did the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This explains a lot: clearly, this series of films takes place in an alternative universe in which the First World War never happened and absolute monarchy still reigns over Central Europe. But is there still a Czar in Russia? A British Empire? A Kaiser in Germany? Is there even a united Germany? I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS. Later they refer to the Euro as a currency, which implies that there exists an EU of some sort, notwithstanding that most of Central Europe is still an absolute monarchy. I’d always assumed that Aldovia was meant to be the size of a country like Luxembourg, but it’s enormous! I only got a glimpse of the map but it looks to cover most of modern Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, parts of southern Poland, Croatia, Slovenia … The events of the movie also make clear that Aldovia shares a land border with a state that is ethnically East Asian – what does that imply about the political geography of Europe? WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE!?

The movie is fun, but it’s elevated by the insanity of the worldbuilding, and the general commitment of everyone involved to the knowing madness of the premise.