Asterix in Amerika

Asterix (Craig Charles of Red Dwarf Fame) and Obelix are on a Journey to America to save their beloved druid Getafix.

Along the way he encounters all kinds of trouble from Indians to Animals. Some other great visuals, accompanied by a Great Soundtrack this is a Fun Film. Great Stuff.

Gets a 5 for being Astrix Looses 5 for the constant mild racism Ive been a fan of Astrix when I was introduced to it in France as a kid. The comics and cartoons were so much fun. I don't know if I was too young to see the racism or if I never actually watched this particular cartoon.

I would say please be aware of this before choosing to watch it. Maybe the others are more like I remember.

Knowing that the Druid Getafix is only one of the mighty Gauls capable of brewing the magic potion, the Romans plan to kidnap him and throw him over the edge of the world (the world, of course being flat). The Romans carry out their plan but are pursued by Asterix and Obelix. However when the edge of the world comes Asterix and Obelix don't find death – they find America and must search for Getafix before their village runs low on potion and is overrun.

In terms of story, this film takes one of the weak Asterix books and deviates from it – big mistake! The Asterix books are generally so good that to try and improve or change them for film is a bad move. The story is OK for kids though – even faithful it's pretty simple – however what it loses is the wit of the books. There are a few good lines early on, but most of this is slapstick that doesn't please anyone but young kids.

The animation is great compared to other Asterix films – this uses some nice visual tricks, the best being the opening shot of the globe that turns out to be flat and only Europe! The voices are also pretty good – Craig Charles is a pretty good Asterix once you get used to his scouse accent. Howard Lewis is not a great Obelix – but at least he isn't playing him like a fool. However Christopher Biggins is poor and the support characters are weak. Surprisingly for a mid-90's film, this is full of racist stereotypes – from rubber lipped blacks, to `ging-gang-gooley' speaking Indians.

The poor characterization also infects the main characters – for example the relationship between Asterix and Obelix is usually affectionate but here they bicker all the time and don't come across as friends.

Overall this film gets the animation just right and the voices are pretty good. It's just a real shame that the film then gets the characters, the story and the comedy very wrong. Still, it's good enough for kids.

This movie is a double edged sword for me, the animation is a bit better here. However, the film is so meaningless and irrelevant.

The character design isn't anything special either. This sausage-lipped senator just looks like a real typical cartoon henchman and Cesar doesn't look like a human in this film, but like the typical cardboard villain who also laughs devilishly and rubs his hands. Make plans. All of this has nothing to do with Asterix as I got to know it The other audio track is the Schwörerdeutsch dub, everyone's talking, hip-hop slang and jive, that's such a weird idea.

But there are worse things. What I find worse is that the film gets really boring in the middle because nothing happens. The thing with the Indians could be interesting, especially since they don't understand the language, but nothing is done about it either. It's such an unpredictable, run-of-the-mill cartoon. The one that just doesn't exist.

Well that's a film for kids, that is clear! However, that not means that Asterix in America is boring. The story is simple, but results convincing and entertains, which is its intention. The quality of the draws is not very good (I didn't expect them to be good, either) but the film doesn't try to result impressive. The only intention of the film is to make some laughs and to pass a good time, and, if you are not very exigent and you try to relax and smile, it is very possible that you enjoy this film. Of course it is not a masterpiece, but it has any intention of being it! Just relax and try not to be very critic, nothing more...