Astérix et les Vikings

... but I laughed. A lot.

I saw 'Astérix et les Vikings' at a public screening during the World Cup. The sound was lousy, it was too bright to see the screen properly - but I still enjoyed myself immensely. The names of some of the characters had me rolling on the floor: Smsix, Abba, Vikea... All not very witty, but in good Astérix tradition. Some very good jokes, but also some that not everybody seemed to get.

The only thing I didn't like were the voices of Astérix and Obélix, in the German version at least. The voice actors are very well-known around here, which was the only reason they were casted, really. They don't fit the characters at all.

All in all, a good way to spend some time (and if it's free, like in my case, all the better) and to have a couple of laughs. 8 out of 10.

Since the last horrid Astérix film and the fact that we only get the Swiss German version in cinemas, here, I went to watch it with quite a bit of trepidation... Unfounded, as I was happy to discover ^____^

The film is funny and modern, has good gags, a good animation, an amusing character interaction, a good voice cast (Note: I can only speak for the Swiss German one!) except for the Viking chief's daughter Abba (her name is great, despite the not very inspired voice actress)...

I especially liked the character Justforkix (Goudurix in French, Grautvornix in German. He's the young man who is supposed to be put in shape...). He's a very amusing portrayal of a mollycoddled, urban teenager; but he's very likable, despite the teenage mannerisms... XD The interaction between Astérix & Obélix and their young charge is fantastic and thoroughly entertaining.

It shouldn't be compared to the old films, since this one is quite different... Which surprisingly doesn't make it bad. On the contrary. When they tried to modernize the last film (twelve years ago), they completely blew it. This film, however, proved that it can be done just fine... ^-^

I came out of the theater cheerful... Always a good sign ^_~

This film is a perfect example that a movie can not be successful with a high budget alone. It's obvious that there was a lot of time and effort dedicated into this: the animation is fluid, detailed and superb- the soundtrack isn't too memorable except for the ending song by Celine Dion (at least I think it was her). The musical score is powerful full orchestra material. Kudos to the animators and music composers! 9/10. However, the story and characters fall flat. It feels very 'been there, done that', predictable and plain uninteresting. The characters have distinct personalities but nothing too likable. They annoyed me to no end. I tried really hard to like this, but I didn't care about the story- it was cliché action-adventure plot. There were 'jokes' that weren't funny. It was vomit inducing predictable from start to end. The dialogue was cliché and awful- especially the last line "It's not ... that gives you wings, it's love!" Whatever it was, I remember cringing. I was wishing it would hurry up and finish. I wasn't the only one either- the people I went with thought it was boring. Please watch the Asterix and Obelix Cleopatra film if you're going to watch any. This was a waste of time.

As a great fan of Asterix I was off course very thrilled when I saw that it was decided the adventures of Asterix would once again become animated, because quite frankly I found the movies to be really unimaginative and unwatchable.

The animation itself left me almost speechless. Also for the first time we were able to hear some familiar music in an animated cartoon ("Get Down On It" and "Eye of the Tiger").

The story itself didn't really follow the comic. Only the original idea, that the Vikings wanted to learn fear and thus kidnapped Justforkix who was sent to the Gaul village to become a man, was used. Some of the characters were taken from some other Asterix adventures (seen in the comic books).

The thing that bothered me most was the poor delivery of lines. In the comic the punch lines were much better delivered and the story was simply more amusing. In the movie even those punchlines they used were lost, because the story around them has been changed so much, they were actually just trying to place these punchlines in the new story and failed! Still as this is obviously intended for the youngest of viewers I will say that my nephew enjoyed it greatly, while the rest of us (my father, brother and myself - the four of us went to see it together) were bitterly disappointed and immediately pulled the original comic from our collection.

So to summon it all up, you'll see great animation, hear good music, all in all have a very well made cartoon in front of you - but with a poor storyline.

Attending this film was an excuse to escape the work I had to do for my classes but it turned out to be one of my best experiences here in France. The film makes quick work of building multidimensional characters and has an excellently smooth storyline. The characters really did have the voices you would expect reading the graphic novels and the artistic talent exceeded my expectations The music was catchy and the comedy toying and lighthearted, almost a flinstoneish inclusion of modern items in playful manners. The film was attention grabbing, cute and action packed at the same time. A wonderful tale spun expertly. I'll be showing it to my French students.