Asterix and Obelix Take on Cesar

A movie by Claude Zidi

With Christian Clavier, Gérard Depardieu, Marianne Sägebrecht, Michel Galabru, Sim, Roberto Benigni, Arielle Dombasle, Pierre Palmade

Monika says:

Following the example of the Flintstones now Asterix and Obelix are presenting themselves not as animated but flesh-and-blood characters. Claude Zidi and his star-studded cast took the in the eyes of some fans outrageous step to bring one of the gaul's adventures to the big screen as a live-action movie. And believe it or not, he's succeeded quite well. But don't expect an adaption that's true to every word or picture in the comic books. Then you'll be just as disappointed as if you'd expect the same of a movie adaption of a novel.

The story is told quickly: power-hungry Lucius Detritus (Roberto Benigni) wants to overthrow Cesar (Gottfried John) and to achieve this goal he captures druid Panoramix (Claude Piéplu) so he can get his hands on the magic potion that makes the gauls invincible. Asterix (Christian Clavier) and Obelix (Gérard Depardieu) set out with their small dog Idefix to rescue Panoramix, but fall into the hands of the Romans themselves.

From the beginning the lovingly made up set and costume design jumps to the eye. All the characters look exactly as you would expect them to look, including Idefix. The best casting choice was Gérard Depardieu as Obelix who seems so perfect for the part that the make-up artists surely didn't have to spend much time on him. And since this is supposed to be a family film Depardieu doesn't drop his clothes like he did in THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK and GERMINAL.

The rest of the cast is well chosen and seemed to have a lot of fun with their parts. Marianne Sägebrecht as Bonnemine is delightful, even if her part is but small. I never noticed before that comedian Sim looks exactly like Agecanonix, but this is the mental image forever ingrained in my mind from now on. Versatile artist Pierre Palmade as Assurancetourix on the other hand didn't leave much of an impression. Christian Clavier is the least convincing of the cast. Perhaps the part of Asterix just wasn't funny enough for him. He was much better in the 1993 French comedy LES VISITEURS, one of the biggest hit movies of all times in France, but not so successful for example in Germany.

ASTERIX AND OBELIX may have to face the opposite fate. The French might resist any attempt to bring this cult comic to the screen and let the movie flop in its own country while it is successful abroad.

Successful comic book adaption, accompanied by bretonic music by Jean-Jacques Goldman.

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Monika Hübner

Last changes: 01/04/03