ma-cortes
First cinematic rendition based on the first comic book with the same title from Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo . It's an enjoyable cartoon movie with original story featured by ours immortal heroes , though drawings are badly realized . The year is 50 Bc. 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 trade 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..... Learning of this potion, a Roman centurion sends a Legionaire dressed in Gaul clothes and later on he orders the kidnapping Panoramix to get the secret formula out of him and which gives the drinker superhuman strength . Then ,the diminutive Asterix 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 free the kidnapped druid . This is a nice adventure with hilarious moments here and there, and has Asterix and his inseparable friend fighting, as always, against stupid Romans. It contains some customs critical about actual way of life and modern anachronisms that's common thing in comic books. The cartoon movie brilliantly captures the outrageous adventures, tongue in cheek, satire, comedy from original 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 tied a tree . This amusing movie is accompanied to lively musical score with a catching leitmotif on the start and the ending. Full of humor , it's a funny entertaining for kids and grown-ups . The picture will appeal to Asterix and Obelix comic-books nostalgics.
Shawn Watson
I wasn't expecting Pixar animation from a French cartoon from the Sixties, but I did expect the drawings to be a little more complex. It doesn't distract from the enjoyment of the movie but if you've ever seen some of the early Charlie Brown cartoons you'll find the stiff animation style quite familiar.The story itself is very simple and involves an undercover Roman spying on the Gauls to learn the secret of their superhuman strength. We all know it's because of the magic potion but this first movie is very "entry level" so don't expect it to get any more complex than that. It is an almost direct adaptation of the comic-book, but a few of the character names have been changed, for example Getafix is now called Panoramix. I am glad they didn't follow through with these weird changes for the rest of the movies.At a running time of less than 70 minutes there's not much time for a plot to develop but there are a decent amount of laughs and it's always fun to watch the hapless Romans get beaten up.Thankfully, the animated Asterix never got any worse than this.
Markmainwaring
I read the album then one day later I saw the film.Now in comparison to the other albums Asterix the Gaul is no where near the best. But its still good. And with this film it is the same Asterix the Gaul is no where near as good as the other films but it is still good.Maybe its the dubbing in the English language version but it just doesn't feel like it all came together. At times it was also confusing. They didn't explain or really animate the rapid hair growth of the Romans very well.The animation is not great but Asterix fans and young children should like it...
bob the moo
Asterix is the hero of the only French village to hold out against the might of Rome. The village achieves this with the use of a magic potion that gives superhuman strength, made by druid Panaramix. However a roman spy discovers this and kidnaps the druid, leaving Asterix to rescue him.One of the first Asterix films and sets a solid standard for the rest. The story remains quite faithful to the book and even manages to have quite a lot of the pun and wit. It's not rocket science, but for fans it's important. A minor complaint is that many of the characters don't use the same names that are used in the English books. So here we have the chief called Tonnabrix, the bard called Stopthemusix and Getafix called PanaramixThe animation is solid – it's not flashy but it is similar to the books and works quite well. Certainly kids won't be disappointed with it. The voices are OK but some don't fit – for example Asterix isn't very heroic sounding, and Obelix sounds way too dopey. However in the English version of the film it's a comparatively all star cast – Bill Oddie, Brian Blessed, Michael Elphich, Andrew Sachs (Manuel in Fawlty Towers), Tim Brooke Taylor, Douglas Blackwell etc.Overall it's not brilliant, but it's a faithful adaptation of the book and manages to bring some of the wit and charm of the characters out
