Asterix and Cleopatra (1968)

In the "Movies-that-Made-my-Childhood" anthology, "Asterix and Cleopatra" is the number one. I grew up with it, my parents did (that's for posterity), I can recite it line by line, watch it again and again, I still laugh and may even discover subtle details in the process. But don't take my 'history' with the film as a bias; just watch it and you'll see that Disney had not the monopoly of entertainment, laughs and catchy songs. "Asterix and Cleopatra" is something special.The first frame shows a funny-looking Egyptian with a deadpan expression. The narrator starts : "About two thousand years ago in the time of Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, the Egyptians talked like this" a speech bubble appears while the Egyptian talks in gibberish codified by funny drawings illustrating each sound he makes: a fly for buzzing, smoke for coughing, a bird for tweeting etc. After this hilarious nonsense, the narrator then concedes: "This language was rather difficult to understand, so the film you are about to see has been dubbed. However, due to the fact that dubbing techniques had not been perfected in this period, you may notice that the movement of lips is not always synchronized exactly with the words being spoken" The Egyptian proves his point by setting the tone: "And now after this interesting and instructive prologue, we are privileged to present a great historic epic drama".The Egyptian is right on one thing, the prologue was indeed interesting and much, much instructive; however, I'm more doubtful about the word 'drama'. Which foreign drama (from most IMDb users' perspective) would acknowledge dubbing's inconsistencies? Hell, which animated feature would do so? To my knowledge, "Asterix and Cleopatra" is the only one to elevate the parody to such summits of hilarity. And it's only the beginning of a ten-laugh per minute spectacle, starting with a score imitating these historical epic peplum until it turns to Asterix' theme. The film is an adaptation of one of the most famous little Gaul's adventures, labeled then as the greatest story ever drawn. The cover exhaustively listed all the furniture that contributed to the making: pencils, paintings, pens, paper, beer etc. I guess any comparison with a little film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton was totally fortuitous..The 'Cleopatra' book was a great choice because only the big screen could recreate, even improve, the epic feel through music and majestic shots on Egyptian sites in the backdrop, before turning them into derision. This explains why the same story was used for Alain Chabat's "Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra" which became one of the highest-grossing movies of French cinema. The story is a winner, starting from the titular character: Cleopatra, the delightfully hot-headed, exquisitely histrionic and capricious (drama) queen whose nose would have changed the face of the world, had it been shorter. Cleopatra, voiced by Micheline Dax, is more of a prima donna in the film and this is the perfect characterization to make her funny without damaging her inner majesty. On the other side, the suave and debonair Julius Caesar doesn't sugarcoat his words and provokes Cleopatra by stating that Egyptians are decadent and lost their touch as far as architecture is concerned. Cleopatra then promises a sumptuous palace built in three months, it's a deal.For that mission, she hires Numerobis (Edifis in English), the greatest architect of Alexandria but that's not saying much since his trademark consists on buildings that end up collapsing and make laugh the neighbors. It's a hit-or-miss for Edifis, gold or crocodiles (replacing the arena's lions in Egyptian tradition), who's got no other choice than asking for help Panoramix (Getafix for the English speakers), the old druid accepts and he's escorted by the village's best warriors: Asterix, Obelix and little Idefix (Dogmatix). In their adventure, they encounter the ruthless pirates whose 'boarding, slit-throating, destroying, massacring, and, sinking' are labeled by the green parrot as 'daily routine'; they face the vicious plots of Edifis' main rival Amonobofis (Artifis). He's not that bad actually, even offering his precious help. However, he only consents on sharing the gold in case of success, otherwise, Numerobis would be sent alone to the crocodiles. Anyway, it won't be an easy job, even Julius Caesar would try to undermine their road to success, but our Gaulish heroes find time to travel along the Nile and visit the Pyramids, where Obelix notices a little cameo of Santa Claus in the hieroglyphs.And that's only one of the countless gags that transcend the 'epic historical drama' facade. Served by a dubbing from (among others) Roger Carel, Pierre Tornade and Micheline Dax, who were also the main French voices in the Muppets Show, the film also benefits from a great music. During the first visit in the construction site, it's slow, pompous and depressing, like the sight of the two workers struggling to pull a one-ton block of stone during overtime. But as soon as the workers drink the magic potion, it's as if the potion even fueled the music with a fast-pacing rhythm, catchiness and energy, it goes so fast, you might even miss some hilarious sight gags. The film also features an operatic duo between Cleopatra and her scene-stealing lion; a magnificent ode to the joys of food, when Obelix makes some entrechats with roasted boars and Asterix informs that the old adage changed "we don't eat to live, but we live to eat", this trippy parade is one of the greatest tributes to French' appetite and the best about food is still to come. Who'd have thought making a poisoned pudding could be so jazzy? The film has everything: slapstick, verbal humor, music, even the obligatory happy ending is treated with a a subtle detachment. "Asterix the Gaul", the first film; met with popular success, but it was cheap and graphically poor. With a few songs, escapism, unforgettable secondary characters, the authors Uderzo and Goscinny finally found the recipe for a cinematic magic potion.

I read Asterix cartoons over and over in my youth so know them well, but had never seen the animation until today and I'm sad to say I was disappointed. The film didn't have the language wit of the comic strip (the Latin asides) and the animation was naive. You can't say, "Oh but it was 1968" because look what Disney was doing then! It was entertaining and fun to watch but not great. The drawing was poor, which was proved when my film froze a few times to reveal the sketchiness of the artwork! It was similar to the comic in the design of the characters - they looked the same - but song and dance numbers? Really? Maybe I'm being too pedantic about a much loved comic book but there were many points where I thought it was lazy production. I didn't even laugh. I guess for older children, who this is supposed to be for, it would be okay, but it lacked continuity, was too stop-start, limited dialogue (I suppose they were keeping to the comic) so it seemed too simple and not entertaining enough and I got the impression it was trying to be Disney but falling well short. I think I'll stick to reading Asterix.

Enjoyable cartoon movie with original story based on the hugely successful series of comic books and featured by our immortals heroes . Asterix books are a popular comics with the same title about a village of indomitable Gauls who resist Caesar's invasion thanks to a magic potion that renders them invulnerable supermen . 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..... Meanwhile the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra bets against the Roman Emperor, Julius Caesar, that her people are still great, even if the times of the Pharaohs has long passed. She vows to build a fabulous palace for Caesar within a short period of time. Since all her architects are either busy otherwise or too conservative in style, this ambivalent honor falls to a botcher architect. He is to build the palace and be covered in gold or, if not, his fate is to be eaten by crocodiles. Then the Egyptian architect calls upon an old friend to help him out: The magician Druid Panoramix from Gaul, who brews a fantastic potion that gives supernatural strength. In order to help and protect the old Druid, Asterix and Obelix accompany him on his journey to Egypt. En route to Egypt, the ship is met by a gang of pirates , and as always the pirate vessel is sunk .When Julius Caesar gets wind of the project succeeding, he has the building site attacked by his troops in order to win the bet and not lose face. But just like the local pirates, he hasn't counted on Asterix and Obelix .This is a fine adventure with hilarious moments here and there, and has Asterix and his inseparable friend Obelix traveling to ancient Egypt to help Cleopatra build a fantastic palace and fighting, as always, against the stupid Romans , pirates and an ambitious architect. Although contains a primitive drawing , however being better developed than former entry ¨Asterix the Gaul¨ , both of them produced by Raymond Leblanc. 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 . This amusing movie is accompanied to lively musical score by Gerard Calvi 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 popular animated hero Asterix and his faithful sidekick Obelix fans and comic-books nostalgics. A successful, funny adaptation from a great comic book.

When an argument between Caesar and Cleopatra over Egyptian ability turns into a bet, an architect is charged to build a palace for Caesar. The architect turns to Getafix, Asterix and Obelix to help him with the construction. However with a rival architect and the Roman empire seeking to stop Caesar losing the bet Asterix et al have more on their hands than they reckoned for.The story is yet again faithful to the book, even opening and closing on the original cartoon itself. It doesn't manage to bring all the jokes out of the book as it could have done but it is still pretty good. The animation is solid and stays close to the source in style.The characters are quite good, however their voices sound the same at times and don't match their roles too well – Obelix sounds less dopey this time but Asterix still sounds too squeaky. The downside, watching it now, is that the racist stereotypes are really crude – the black characters are dark with huge rubber lips. But I suppose at the time nothing was thought of it and we should take it in the spirit it was intended.The musical numbers are OK –there aren't too many so the film isn't slowed down. The bets one is a sort of warning against anorexia with the lines `If you're off your food, you're ill' and `when you're eating well you're well'!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.