Asterix & Obelix gegen Caesar

Critics, in France and Quebec, have been very hard on this movie. They all compare the film to the excellent comic books of the adventures of Astérix and Obélix. It's the same old story for any movie adapted from a book : the book will always be better! That's right: Astérix is not as charming as in the books, and some characters (Falbala) are there for... well... what for? Some of the characters of the books are missing in the movie: Cétautaumatix and Ordralfabetix. But for just good entertainment, this is a good movie! It reminds me a little bit of the Flinstone movie : better in cartoons (or comic strips) but not so bad at all. When I saw the movie, I noticed that people really loved Roberto Benigni, because of his succes in the Life is wonderful movie. Children of the audience love the movie, I have lots of fun, so, what's really wrong?

This was a film I was curious about. My childhood has fond memories of the adventures of the brave little Gaul and his pals. This film was perfect in capturing those memories.

The essence of the film seems to be fun. In fact this one of a few films I would dubb a family movie. All ages can view this and come away with something. Personally the slapstick humour I enjoyed. Also the dub for English translation was excellent, hats off to Mr Jones.

The one bad point, and this is a minor point, is that the film is actually four books mixed together. If you know the books you can have a good idea about whats coming up, which is a bit unfortionate. An original script may have served the film better.

However overall it proved to be entertaining. May that little village in Gaul always remain free.

This movie is a feast of recognition for those who know the comic. The story is straight forward. It doesn't follow any story-line from any of the comics. The movie doesn't flow, it's more a collection of scenes. The characters sometimes seem a parody of the characters in the comic than rather staying true to the comic. The visuals are good and have a comic book feel to them. If you know the comic this movie is worth seeing, but don't expect too much from it. For all the other people don't bother.

I, not being a fan of live-action movies based on cartoons or comics, didn't expect much of this film. "At least it's made by the French, as were the comics", I thought. The film, however, turned out to be pretty good. The actors did their jobs well and actually managed to look like the original Gauls and Romans I've grown to love. The special effects were impressive, especially the effect of the magic potion. The plot didn't follow any particular album, instead it was a mix-match of several album stories, with a little of its own thrown in. In my opinion, they didn't focus on certain albums enough. The main story, however, was very good. My only real complaint is the portrayal of the Roman legions. The Italian accent they spoke in was needless, because the Italian language wasn't around in 50 BC. And they should dress in green, not red! I recommend this movie to all fans of the Asterix comics. This is what live-action movies about cartoons should be like, which is more than I can say for many Disney movies.

This film is a genuinely brilliant live-action translation of an (arguably) unfilmable classic comic book series... Claude Zidi's writing and direction are top notch, and the main characters as played by Clavier and Depardieu work extremely well.

The English translation, on the other hand, is awful. When I saw the film in England having already watched it in France, I was, frankly, embarrassed! Terry Jones relies too much on direct translations and gags that don't fit... perhaps they should have used Bell and Hockeridge, the hugely talented translators of the actual books. Oh well.

I definitely recommend the film, though, albeit only in the original French. Don't worry if you don't speak a word of the language; you'll soon pick up what's going on, without the experience being spoiled by the abysmal English dubbing.