Les 12 Travaux d'Astérix

The best Asterix film at the time of its release and certainly one of the best overall. "Twelve Tasks" was always a favorite of mine and watching it now, close to 20 years later, it's still as funny and imaginative as it ever was.

As an Asterix movie it's a bit of an anomaly. It isn't based on any of the comic-books (are they graphic novels?) and doesn't follow any of the continuity or logic of any of the other stories. But since it's by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo themselves you could hardly call it unofficial.

Julius Caesar calls a truce with the village and says that Gaul can rule Rome if they can win Twelve impossible tasks in the vein of Hercules a few thousand years ago. If they fail, they must surrender to Caesar. But with Asterix and Obelix as their chosen champions do you really think they will fail? The plot lends itself to lots of visual humor and irreverent satire. How can a kid's animated movie have this much depth and wit and still be relatively unknown in the wider world of Toy Stories and Ups? It's insane.

Definitely a great treat for Asterix fans and the perfect way to introduce new people to the franchise.

Most of the by now many Astérix adaptions are based on the comic albums, this film has its own script - maybe that's why it works better than the other ones. The story is much more fantastic and postmodern than usual and most of the gags center more on sight than on wordplay - which is a good thing for a movie. The comics are full of clever wit but that's hard to translate on screen. There's also much satire here; I especially liked the bureaucratic hellhouse. Some of the 12 labours are obviously better than others but that's OK too, the story is episodic enough anyway. The animation is just OK, a far cry from Disney or Miyazaki standards, but basically it does its job.

Once again, in the year 50 BC, the Romans are having the holy hell beat out of them by a small village of defiant Gauls, who have inhuman powers, thanks to a magic potion. Rather common, as we all know. Hence the rumor spreads among the fearful Romans, that those Gauls could potentially be gods (unlike in the comics, the Romans here aren't aware of the magic potion). Bad news for Emperor Julius Caesar, who offers chieftain Vitalstatistix a deal: the chief's most capable men (obviously Asterix and Obelix) must complete twelve tasks. If they fail, the village must give up their defiance. If they win however, Caesar will accept their divinity and relinquish his crown – or rather his laurel wreath. Hence, our heroes must run faster than Greek marathon-runner Asbestos, beat Verses (the Persian) at javelin, beat Cilindric (the German) at a fistfight, cross a lake that is the home of sirens, survive the hypnotic gaze of Iris (the Egyptian), eat an enormous meal at Calorofix' (the Belgian) tavern, make it alive through the "cave of the beast", retrieve Permit A38 in "The Place that sends you mad", cross a ravine filled with hungry crocodiles via an invisible tightrope, answer the question of an old man on the mountain, spend a night on the haunted "plain of the dead" and finally survive a fight in the Colosseum in Rome.

Let me start off by saying, in Germany the "Asterix"-comics always had something of a family-tradition. Many a dad bring brought home the newest "Asterix" to their kids and for many kids – including myself – that was pretty much like somebody else's Dad taking his kid to a baseball-game. Actually, there were usually two copies purchased: One to be read and kept in mint-condition, the other one to take to the local grilled chicken shop and read will eating, pretending the grilled bird was grilled boar. (Don't laugh: In Germany it was not uncommon to see people sitting in the "Hendl-Shop", a German version of KFC, chowing away while reading "Asterix" and it wasn't even considered bad manners).

Having dropped that nostalgic tit-bit, I'm not the first to point out that "The Twelve Tasks of Asterix" is considered by many fans the best of all the many cartoon-adaptation. For one, it's not an adaptation, but rather a story completely unrelated to the series. The first two movies, "Asterix the Gaul" and "Asterix and Cleopatra" kept close to the comic, but missed the satire and cultural references that made the comics appealing not only to kids but to adults as well. What came later was clearly produced entirely for kids.

"The Twelve Tasks of Asterix" on the other hand could be enjoyed by both young and old, in fact, seemed to have been geared more at an adult-audience. The scene with the nymphs was rather raunchy for "Asterix"-standards, the task in the Madhouse (a pun on modern bureaucracy) probably wouldn't even make sense to younger kids, while the task with the ghost-legion was rather spooky. The animation remains the most pedestrian of all Asterix-films, but it's the seemingly careless painted backgrounds that give the film its charm and (thanks to the xerographic process) almost psychedelic feel, that at times remind of Ralph Bakshi cartoons like "Heavy Traffic", "Wizards" or many other 'artsy' 70's cartoons.

Producers often don't seem to understand that cartoons and comics are two different medias, which have only one thing in common: they're both painted. That doesn't make them compatible or easily translatable, however. Most of the 'twelve tasks' (perhaps with the exception of Obelix versus the Belgian cook; in German called Mannekinfix) wouldn't work well on paper, nor would they fit into the Asterix (comic)-formula. This is probably the reason why "The Twelve Tasks of Asterix" work, while most other Asterix-cartoons fail at capturing the magic of the comics, or – at best – appear like a pale adaptation.

The third Asterix cartoon (there would be five more, including numerous live-action films and a computer-animated cartoon) would remain the last for almost ten years. After that, the cartoons took on another formula, which usually spliced the stories from various comics together and, as said, were mainly targeting a minor audience. Whether that was because "The Twelve Tasks" was a box-office bomb or not, I cannot tell – but like many other hardcore Asterix-fans I felt sorry that future films would take the direction they did, and that "Twelve Tasks" would remain a unique experience. And this uniqueness made it the ultimate Asterix-cartoon and possibly the dearest to the hearts of most lifelong fans.

7/10

I've been laughing at "The Twelve Tasks of Asterix" for about 20 years now. Early on, I laughed hardest at the slapstick comedy segments. Now, I laugh hardest at the history-based jokes and sly sexual references. So you see, like all the best children's entertainment, this can be enjoyed on several different levels - some for the kiddies, some for the adults.

(The slapstick comedy is still cool to my adult self, by the way. Nothing beats watching an unruly mob of Gaulish villagers tear through a phalanx of hapless Roman dudes...)

The plot is very episodic, centering around the efforts of wily Asterix and oafish Obelix to perform twelve tasks and, if successful, become gods in the eyes of the Romans. Inevitably, some of the tasks are more interesting than others. The best one is set in the Place That Sends You Mad, a spot-on satire of bureaucracy and red tape. Probably the lamest task involves alligators and an invisible string, but even that's okay.

The animators did an excellent job capturing the style of the Asterix comic books. Oddly enough, though, the quality of the drawing is variable. Sometimes the characters look quite rough and sketchy, and other times the lines are much cleaner. However, the task set in the Beast's cave is undeniably very well-animated and even a bit creepy.

The ending is outrageous, and therefore brilliant. It brings the Asterix saga to a satisfying close (of course, the little guy's adventures continue in various formats). Speaking of the ending, pay especially close attention to Caius Tiddleus's cup when he's getting tickled by the priestess in the closing moments. It's a good, naughty sight gag.

This movie was my first exposure to Asterix, and thus I have a soft spot for it. Sentiment aside, though, I do think it's easily the best of the Asterix films, and is only rivaled by the very best comic adventures. Hey, I honestly haven't got tired of it during these twenty-odd years of occasional viewing - that's about the best endorsement I can give a film!

The year is 50 B.C. , Gaul is entirely occupied by the Roman. Well , not entirely..One small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders . And life is not easy for the Roman legionaries who garrison the fortified camps . In the village are our friends : ¨Asterix¨, the hero of this adventure , he's a shrewd , cunning little warrior , all perilous missions are immediately entrusted to him .¨Obelix¨ his inseparable friend , he's a menhir delivery-man by trading and addicted to wild boar , he's always ready to drop everything and go off on a new adventure with Asterix , so long as there's wild boar to eat , and plenty of fighting .¨Panoramix¨, the venerable village druid , gathers mistletoe and brews magic potions , his speciality is the potion which gives the drinker superhuman strength although also has other recipes up his sleeve . ¨Abraracurcix¨, the chief of the tribe , majestic , brave and hot-tempered , the old warrior is respected by his enemies , he has only one fear , he's afraid the sky may fall on his head tomorrow , but as he always says , 'Tomorrow never comes'. And of course ¨Cacofonix¨ , the Bard , opinion is divided as to his musical gifts , he thinks he's a genius , everyone else thinks he's unspeakable , but so long as he doesn't speak , let alone sing , everybody likes him.....

The film concerns Julius Caesar who offers the Gauls a covenant , they must prove if they're Gods by making twelve extremely hard works , similar to 12 works of Hercules , which are the following ones : Hercules vanquished the Amazons warriors , captured a wild boar and a bull of island of Crete , killed the Hydra , swept the stable of Ujias , murdered Gerion and Diomedes , he had apples of garden of Hesperides, he won a race against the clock to a deer , strangled Lion of Nemea , he shot arrows to birds at the lake Stinfano , he took Teseo from the inferno . Asterix and Obelix will be able to resolve twelve similar tasks that Caesar chose and if they fail they would turn slaves and the Gaul village would hand over the Roman empire . Among the dangerous missions our friends have to suffer are the following ones : the fighting a winner javelin thrower and against a judo-man , the lures of mermaids , taking on a celestial challenge with a God, combating a ghost army , the crossing an invisible bridge and confronting public officials , adding an extreme critique to the state bureaucracy , among others , and along the way including a lot of anachronisms , entertainment and fun . The picture will appeal to Asterix and Obelix comic-books fans.