Astérix chez les Bretons

Of all those wonderful adventures of our brave Celtic friends Asterix and Obelix, I believe this one is the VERY best: it depicts all the... little peculiarities of the British in a hilariously funny way - a feast for the French authors, of course! At the time the 'Asterix' comics were created, there still were quite a lot of post-war animosities between the various European peoples; and so each one of those cartoons (some of them were adapted for the screen later, as animated films or 'real' movies or both) kept picking on the strange characteristics of some other people - the British, the Germans, the Swiss, the Vikings - , but without becoming malevolent or insulting - the only thing was, of course, that the Gauls were ALWAYS the strongest, the bravest, the most fearless, and the most stubborn ones...

Well, in this case, Asterix comes to the aid of his British cousin (which shows the Celtic relationship between the two peoples!) against the Romans - and along the way, Asterix and Obelix meet with about ALL the British 'traditions': tea-time (even during battles), driving on the wrong side of the road, drinking warm bear and eating stewed boar with peppermint sauce (what a SHOCK for Obelix!)...

In short, this FABULOUS animated movie will be a wonderful enjoyment for the kids - but also GREAT entertainment for the grown-ups, who understand the more subtle sides of all the humor it contains; a simply PERFECT family film!

When the Romans invade Britain they do such ghastly things as fight outside working hours and at weekends, hence the island quickly falls. One Briton sneaks across the channel to seek help from his cousin Asterix. Asterix, Obelix and the Briton take a barrel of magic potion back across the channel in an attempt to help the British villages to fight back.

Another in the staggered animated Asterix series. This story follows the book quite closely and manages to have some of it's wit – `send us a victorious wind o gods' implores Caesar just before his map blows over his face! However much of this is the usual hitting Romans fare. The story may not be great but it's still very enjoyable for children.

The colours are a bit washed out looking at times and the animation isn't state of the art (even then!) but it's easy to overlook this. Some of the characters are very good – the British, although cliched, are very funny, however the main characters are a bit off. All the Gauls have `Allo, Allo' French accents that annoy. Worse is Obelix being played again like a buffoon crossed with a child – not very good at all.

Overall this is an acceptable addition to the Asterix stable, it doesn't totally manage to carry off the wit of the books but it's a reasonable funny and faithful version. The worst thing is the terrible Euro-pop played over the end credits.

Having seen this one many times as a kid, I wasn't sure I would still like it as an adult. To my positive surprise, however, it's filled with original ideas and jokes that may vary in subtlety, but remain at a funny level throughout. One may see this Astérix-episode as a respectful parody of British peculiarities, seen from a French perspective. The animation is quite beautiful at times.

The year is approximately 50 B. C , Britain is entirely occupied by the Romans commanded by Julius Caesar . Well , not entirely.. One small village of indomitable Bretons still holds out against the invaders . And the life is not easy for the Roman legionaries who garrison the fortified camps . Similarly happens on Gaul , where a small village located in Armorica live our friends , the intelligent hero Asterix , the menhir delivery and addicted to wild boar Obelix, the venerable Panoramix with his potion which gives the drinker incredible energy, the majestic,hot-tempered, brave chief of the tribe Abraracourcix... There come a Asterix's cousin asking for help against Romans. As always the perilous mission is immediately trusted to shrewd and cunning Asterix . Obelix , ready to drop everything and go off on a new adventure with Asterix ; then they set out to deliver a barrel plenty of powerful potion getting superhuman strength and brewed by druid Panoramix . His mission transport it for the Britons and vanquish the invaders Romans.

The picture brilliantly retrieves the humour , strong satire and adventures of the original story . 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 . Full of habits critical about actual British way of life and modern anachronisms that's common thing in comic books . The cartoon movie splendidly captures the outrageous adventures , tongue-in-cheek , irony , comedy from comic book story with the same title and drawn by Albert Uderzo and writing credits by Rene Goscinny . As usual , on the finale the village people eating boars in a gargantuan lunch and the Bard Cacofonix tied a tree and being accompanied by a lively musical score by Vladimir Cosma with a catching song on the start and the ending . The film will appeal to Asterix and Obelix fans , it's an funny entertaining for kids and grown-ups and nostalgics.

This was funnier than I expected it to be. I mean, I love the Asterix books but I rarely laugh out loud at them. The animated adaptation also managed to be cleverer than the book in certain instances, though some of the dialogue was unnecessarily changed in others. Something struck me about the character animation, as well, as some characters seemed to be better animated than others. I realize this is probably because different artists were assigned to different characters, but I wish a greater effort at consistency was attempted. These are minor points. This is great fun, for everyone, even if it says "Just for Kids" (the name of the company, I think) on the box.