Asterix and the Vikings

I have known for a long time that France has its own animation industry, but I'd never seen examples of it before. I chose this movie to be my first look at "Franimation", because I am an Asterix fan - I've read almost all of the books, including the one this movie is based on.

Overall, I was pleased with this movie. First, the animation. While the animation may not quite match Disney theatrical movies, it comes close. The movement is fluid, the colors pop out of the screen, and the backgrounds are detailed.

As for the story, it was overall fine. The movie does follow the book about halfway through, then goes in its own direction. Probably this was a wise decision, because the second half of the book is mostly talk. In this movie, there is more action and slapstick in the second half, and it's more cinematic. The whole story zips along at a good pace and contains plenty of action and laughs.

My one criticism of the movie is that the characters of Asterix and Obelix - the principle characters of the books - become secondary characters here. It seems odd to have Asterix in the title of the movie. One other criticism other viewers might have is that, if they are unfamiliar with the books, some details may be a little puzzling.

The animation is very good and the humor is very absurd; the plot could have been better, but it's enjoyable.

New adventure well paced, being a diverting animated feature to be lifted from the marvellous and attractive texts and drawings from Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo comic books . Vikings go the Gaul country and kidnap the chief's son called Justforkix. The normands abduct the fierce teen in the mistaken belief that he will be able to teach them to fly . After that , Asterix and Obelix are dispatched by their chief Abraracurcix to rescue the sympathetic young who is considered to be a Champion of Fear, while the terrified Vikings attempt to learn how to eliminate the terror . Later on, the friendly adolescent develops Stockholm Syndrome and falls for both, his captors and Abba, the Viking chief's daughter, an action girl and rights campaigner.

Loosely based on the album : ¨Asterix and the Normands¨, taking parts here and there. This amusing adventure has Asterix and his faithful friend Obelix set out in pursuit the vikings who have abducted a wimpish Gaul boy who was invited at their village by their chief . Here Asterix and Obelix are once more called upon to lay waste Romans , pirates and specially Vikings . It is a fun and funny Asterix movie including usual anachronisms , adding a couple of funky dance tunes are completed to traditional mix . The art direction as well as drawings of this kooky animated movie recreates admirably the comicbooks landscapes , backgrounds and foregrounds, including some brief images in 3D computer generator. The formula is still basically the same a good-natured punch-up heavy rescue-adventure with Roman puns for the adults . Apart from some questionable editing and the use of slightly watered-down colours, the film stays true to the roles , but partially faith to the original album. The animation, however, is good and while is low on the musical count , it all rushes by too fast to notice. The Nordic filmmakers, Stefan Fjeldmark, Jesper Moller, have done fine to keep Goscinny and Uderzo's word play to the fore and in first line. This is one of the best Asterix animated films along with Asterix conquers America , Asterix in Britain, Asterix and the big fight. Youngsters will no doubt enjoy it, but true fans prefer to stick with the pun-ridden books.

This acceptable outing was preceded and followed by several cartoon movies , such as : ¨Asterix the Gaul¨ (1967) , ¨The Twelve Tasks of Asterix¨ (1976) , ¨Asterix in Britain¨ (1986) , ¨Asterix and the big fight¨(1989) ,¨Asterix in America¨(1998) . 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 .

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.

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.