I still don't know what to make of this film, but at least it was written by the French meaning that the original French flair that appears in the comics is present within this film. However, it was always going to be difficult to make a live action version of the comics since many of the characters in the comics (as is typical of the French) are so larger than life that it is going to be hard to capture that feel, and it a way that is how the film turned out. I am so used to seeing a cartoon Asterix that it was actually really difficult to pick Asterix out from the rest of the characters, and while Obelix was noticeable, he simply was nowhere near as well rounded (you never call him fat) as he is in the comics.
This film is not based on one particular comic but appears to be a mix of a number of them. Obviously one of the comics is Asterix and the Soothsayer as the bogus soothsayer appears in the village with a scam to steal the Roman taxes and Asterix is the only one that sees through his scam. I suspect that the original comic, Asterix the Gaul is represented, and there are borrowings from other comics as well, such as Asterix and the Great Divide and Asterix and the Goths (though the Goths do not appear in this comic).
This film, however, is still very entertaining, and even though it is the second time that I have seen it (after reading a number of the Asterix comics and really enjoying them) I have still enjoyed it. I quite liked the way that they did the magic potion, and you can tell that the film makers used every available technology to create the film. However, I suspect attempting to watch it as a person who speaks French as a second language would be quite difficult since they do speak quite fast.
One thing I have noticed when I was in Europe are the films that are advertised in the various countries that I visited. If you go to Germany you will see that a bulk of the films advertised are all Hollywood films, however when you cross the border into France pretty much all of the Hollywood advertising disappears and are replaced by French films. Hong Kong (though not in Europe) seems to have a 50/50 split. I suspect that the reason for this is that Germany does not have a huge filmmaking industry, whereas the French and Hong Kong do (though it seems that the people of Hong Kong don't actually like Hong Kong cinema). Anyway, with most French films that I have encountered, I generally expect them to be better than their American counterparts.
This film is not based on one particular comic but appears to be a mix of a number of them. Obviously one of the comics is Asterix and the Soothsayer as the bogus soothsayer appears in the village with a scam to steal the Roman taxes and Asterix is the only one that sees through his scam. I suspect that the original comic, Asterix the Gaul is represented, and there are borrowings from other comics as well, such as Asterix and the Great Divide and Asterix and the Goths (though the Goths do not appear in this comic).
This film, however, is still very entertaining, and even though it is the second time that I have seen it (after reading a number of the Asterix comics and really enjoying them) I have still enjoyed it. I quite liked the way that they did the magic potion, and you can tell that the film makers used every available technology to create the film. However, I suspect attempting to watch it as a person who speaks French as a second language would be quite difficult since they do speak quite fast.
One thing I have noticed when I was in Europe are the films that are advertised in the various countries that I visited. If you go to Germany you will see that a bulk of the films advertised are all Hollywood films, however when you cross the border into France pretty much all of the Hollywood advertising disappears and are replaced by French films. Hong Kong (though not in Europe) seems to have a 50/50 split. I suspect that the reason for this is that Germany does not have a huge filmmaking industry, whereas the French and Hong Kong do (though it seems that the people of Hong Kong don't actually like Hong Kong cinema). Anyway, with most French films that I have encountered, I generally expect them to be better than their American counterparts.