Asterix & Obelix gegen Caesar

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.

Depardieu is very hilarious in the role of Obelix while Clavier as Asterix is perfect in bringing laughter and joy.Detritus played by Begnini is depictive of the Roman marshall in an environment of Roman expansion.Brilliant comedy based on visual effects.Transformation of the cartoon series that will work well in bringing the spirit of the Roman era with the naivety of the Galatian people and their resistance against the external menace.If you read the cartoons,you will love this too.

Before I went to see it I had some open items about this movie: - How would the actors fulfill the roles of the cartoon characters? - To which book(s) will the movie refer? And the really most important question: - How the hell are they going to animate the flying Romans?

To answer the last question: The special effects are really brilliant, every Asterix-fan will be delighted by the ways how the Romans leave ground. As well I really fell in love with the village.

Some actors are really good. Most of all Roberto Benigni as the evil Destructivus is gorgeous. As well, I was positively surprised by Depardieu as Obelix. But Asterix is not as witty and humorous as in the books, Miracolix (alias Panoramix or Getafix) the druid is not the relaxed old wise.

The plot is new but has a lot of motives from the books. The real Asterix-fan will have noticed (I only know the German titles): Der Seher, der Kupferkessel, der Gallier, die Goten, als Legionaer, and there are surely more.

All in all I really much enjoyed the movie although I was really skeptic about it before. And I missed the pirates.

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.

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?