Astérix et le Coup du menhir

Before I critique the actual movie I should inform you that there are in fact TWO English dubs of this movie. The first features Bill Oddie once again as Asterix and keeps the plot and story as was originally presented in French. The American dub however changes names, changes plot details, adds a pointless narration, and has all of the Gauls speak with American accents. Make no mistake, this version is dumbed-down and I implore you to avoid it. The existence of this dub forces my score down to 4/10 when it would otherwise be 7/10.

The Romans, as usual, are camped outside the village waiting for a weak link to finally invade and conquer ALL of Europe. Obelix adjacently drops a Menhir on Getafix's head, making him forget the recipe to the magic potion. Meanwhile, a soothsayer arrives and cons the more gullible villagers into rewarding him. The Romans get wind of his scams and use him to clear out the village. The actual fight of the title does not happen in the movie as that part of the plot was lost when the adaptation was crossed with elements from another Asterix book.

The animation is lovely, the plot doesn't reach its potential, and voice acting is uncertain depending on what dub you are watching. Otherwise this movie ranks as an above average Asterix adventure.

Or "above averagix" if you like.

When Getafix loses his memory the village loses it's defence in the magic potion. The arrival of a mysterious soothsayer further endangers the village as the Romans prepare to invade. There are several attempts to make Asterix films and none of them are very successful. This is a mix of stories - it is an adaptation of Asterix and the Big Fight and Asterix and the Soothsayer. However the two stories are not complete and in fact some of the situations contradict each other, the plot is such a mess that the big fight of the title that ends the book is not in the film at all! The main problem is that this could be any cartoon, there is none of the humour and wit of the books. It even ropes in a terrible musical number - something that would never happen in the books! The voices are mainly all miscast, Bill Oddie is a terrible, terrible choice for Asterix - too mousy and squeaky. Getafix, Obelix and the women characters are all miscast. The only good voice is Brian Blessed - but his presence begs the question why was he involved in this? Overall this is very boring with a terrible mixed up story, unlikeable versions of the characters and a total lack of comedy present in the books.

The picture brilliantly retrieves the humour , strong satire and adventures of the original stories . The movie's plot is loosely adapted from the Asterix comic-books , with a number of changes to it. This is a nice adventure with hilarious moments here and there , and it has Asterix and his inseparable partner fighting , as always , against stupid Romans . This is an agreeable Asterix flick and in which when the notorious druid is pursued by the Romans , then Obelix drives them away by throwing a menhir on them - which accidentally hits Panoramix. Entertaining and fun adventure that is a version of the popular Astérix & Obélix comic books, being a rendition based on two comic-books . Enjoyable and attractive feats with Asterix and his faithful friend Obelix fighting Romans . The diminutive Asterix (Roger Carel , who usually provides the voice ) and his rather larger companion Obelix , warriors of the last village in Gaul still free after the Roman invasion, set out on a mission to search for necessary products in order to make the famous magic potion of their druid to help villagers to fight off the invading Roman army . The year is approximately 50 B. C , Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans commanded by Julius Caesar . Well, not entirely..One small village of indomitable natives still holds out against the invaders by means of a fantastic potion usually brewed by druid Panoramix , preparing the powerful potion getting superhuman strength . And the life is not easy for the Roman legionaries who garrison the fortified camps. There a small village located in Armorica live our friends , the intelligent hero Asterix, the menhir delivery and addicted to wild boar Obelix, the venerable druid Panoramix with his potion which gives the drinker incredible energy, the majestic,hot-tempered , brave chief of the tribe Abraracourcix , the Bard singer playing harp ... As always the perilous mission is immediately trusted to shrewd and cunning Asterix . Nowadays , frightened by a thunderstorm, the Gauls - with the exception of Panoramix , who is at his annual druid meeting - are huddled in the chief's hut, when they are visited by a soothsayer, called Prolix, who predicts that "when the storm is over, the weather will improve" and additionally predicts a fight , caused by the villagers' habitual argument over the over-ripeness of fish sold by fishmonger Unhygenixthe . Meanwhile , in order to wipe out the Gaulish village by any means necessary , Caesar plans a sinister plot by intervention the cunning Soothsayer.The Romans soon arrive to claim the village, while Asterix and Obelix hide in the undergrowth. The druid returns from his conference; and hearing of the situation, turns Soothsayer's ruse against him by creating and spreading a foul-smelling mixture of gasses; thus expelling the Romans, and Cacofonix the Bard, who returns to the other Gauls on the village to confirm the prophecy. When the druid Panoramix is attacked by some roman soldiers is accidentally hit by a menhir thrown by Obelix and loses his mind and memory . Obelix , ready to drop everything and go off on a new adventure with Asterix and this time accompanied by a nutty Panoramix . After this the druid has lost his memory and can not remember the formula of his magic potion , especially the one which gives superhuman strength. Here Asterix has to confront the heinous and envious fortune teller allied with the Romans , who results to be clearly more powerful and whose only flaw is not to have invented the magic potion . I say! The Romans have invaded! . The Gauls without the magic potion?! By Toutatis!

The story revolves around the superstitions of the people at the time , Gauls and Romans alike and of today, and parodies the general gullibility of humanity , including the Soothsayer's fantastical as well as fake prediction of the future . This 1989 film , based on the book , The Soothsayer , was adapted into the inaccurately-named ¨Asterix and the Big Fight¨, which encompassed only a few plot elements from the book it was actually named after . Despite the film's title, only a minor section of ¨The Soothsayer¨comic book features in the plot , specifically, druid's amnesia . Bemusing animated tale about the immortal heroes , based on characters created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo , though this time the script is adapted from two already existing comic book , it stars Asterix and his inseparable partner Obelix , from French comic-books .This is an enjoyable adventure with ironical elements , and has Asterix and his always friend Obelix battling , as usual , against idiot Romans as well as a nasty and ominous ¨Le Devin¨ or Soothsayer . Full of fights , noisy action , chases , jokes , customs critical about way of life and modern anachronisms that's common thing in comic books . The movie brilliantly captures the outrageous adventures , tongue-in-check , satire , absurd humour from original characters created by Albert Uderzo and by Rene Goscinny . The movie adapts parts of two stories from the Astérix comic series: the plot about the false Soothsayer is from the 19th álbum ¨The Soothsayer¨or original title "Le Devin", while the plot of the druid losing his memory is from the 7th album "Le Combat des chefs". As usual , on the finale scenes the village people celebrating a wild party and eating boars in a gargantuan lunch . The film provides a catching and lively musical score by Michel Colombier . Being well produced by Alan Poire and professionally directed by Philippe Grimond .

This passable entry was preceded by several cartoon movies , such as : ¨Asterix the Gaul¨ (1967) , ¨The Twelve Tasks of Asterix¨ (1976) , ¨Asterix in Britain¨ (1986) , ¨Asterix in America¨(1998) , in this latter a few scenes are reused from ¨Asterix and the big fight¨ (1989) . And various live-action movies as : ¨Asterix vs. Caesar¨ directed by Claude Zidi with Christian Clavier , Gerard Depardieu , Robert Benigni , Laetitia Casta , Arielle Dombasle . ¨Asterix and Cleopatra¨ by Alain Chabat with Monica Belucci , Jamel Debbouze , Claude Rich , Marina Fois , Gérard Darmon . ¨Asterix and the Olympic Games¨ by Frederic Forrestier with Clovis Cornillac , Santiago Segura, Monica Cruz , Jean Pierre Castaldi and Janel Debouzze . ¨Astérix and Obélix : On Her Majesty's Secret Service¨ (2012) by Laurent Tirard with Gérard Depardieu , Edouard Baer, Guillaume Gallienne , Vincent Lacoste , Catherine Deneuve , Charlotte Le Bonn. And subsequently two 3D entries : ¨The Mansions of the Gods¨ (2014) in computer generator that dealt with a Caesar's plan to absorb the villagers into Roman culture by having an estate built next to the village to start a new Roman colony and ¨Asterix and the secret of the magic potion¨(2018) by Alexandre Astier and Louis Clichy . The film will appeal to Asterix and Obelix fans , it's a funny entertaining for kids , grown-ups and nostalgics .

A mixed adaptation of both Asterix and the Big Fight and Asterix and the Soothsayer. The arrival of a mysterious soothsayer test the beliefs of the village as Getafix loses his memory and more magic potion can't be made without him to stop the invading Romans.

As a fan of Asterix this ranks with Asterix in Britain, certainly in terms of the balance of good animation, story and fun. Despite the musical number it's a very good outing. Voices include Andrew Sachs, Ron Moody and Brian Brian Blessed to name a few.

Many complain about the voices of English VHS version, Bill Oddie as Asterix and Bernard Bresslaw as Obelix, I actually think they are perfect in tone, capturing the humour and rapport. They are the epitome of what I'd expect those characters to sound like. So much so I was disappointed with the release of DVD box set not containing the aforementioned. It's down to personal taste I suppose.

One of the most Asterix rounded adventures that the follow ups Asterix Conquers America (1994) and Asterix and the Vikings (2006) and have failed to equal or surpass.

Asterix and the Big Fight is fantastic family fun.

The basic idea of mixing two Asterix stories together was not too bad at all: the Romans were a bit too pale and one-dimensional in the original big-fight story and the druid's absence and the resulting threat to the village was underexplained in the original soothsayer story.

However, the result sacrifices most of the satire of either story, aiming at a young kids market (which really isn't the traditional Asterix audience). But it is not just the story - also the animation moved a couple of furlongs towards Disney territory, especially the musical number made me cringe. How can the villagers dance to this bard's singing? It is supposed be painfully abysmal! A nauseatingly bad musical number would have been fine, but the film makers simply didn't dare.

I also could not warm to the English voices. While Brian Blessed put some oomph into his character, he overdoes it, as usual. An example of a scene which required cool understatement was when then the centurio instructed his messenger to Caesar. Blessed speaks it with too much excitement, though 70% of the blame has to go towards the director as the animation is similarly hyperactive at this point.

The English title of the film still sticks with "big fight" which is misleading as the actual fight (the one between Gallic chiefs) is not in the film.