Movies
The Twelve Tasks of Asterix
A lot better than Asterix' adventure with Cleopatra. I watched this one as a kid and the gag with the "administrative formality" is something that has stuck with me ever since. It's not a timeless masterpiece, not even close in fact, but there's quite a bit of fun to be had with this one. Caesar is fed up with the Gauls and makes them an offer. If they can complete 12 godly tasks Caesar will give them Rome and retire, if they lose they become the slaves of the Romans. Of course the village sends out Asterix and Obelix, who start their travels by trying to beat the Olympic running champ. The comedy is pretty decent, the art style is nice and the administration gag really is legendary. The film is a bit repetitive though and it's a bummer that there's hardly a real challenge for the two Gauls, but it's a pretty short film and the pacing is solid. I had fun watching this again, as simple as it may be.Read all
I've seen my fair share of Asterix animations when I was younger, but I don't remember many specifics. It could very well be that I saw this film before, but it's a bit too generic to tell. If you need an introduction into the world of Asterix it's probably a decent starting point, but as a film it's just poor. The story is extremely basic and taken directly from one of the comics. Asterix and Obelix get mixed up in an argument between Caesar and Cleopatra. They end up helping one of Cleopatra's architects to build her newest palace in record time. There's even some time for a couple of random musical bits in between, just to get to an acceptable runtime. The animation is very limited (the camera for example is either complete static, panning or zooming, that is it), the character designs are typical but lack detail. It all comes off rather lazy and cheap, like a quick cash-in built on top of the success of the comics. It worked of course, but I felt this film wasn't worth revisiting.Read all