Asterix and Cleopatra

This is the second Asterix film and, frankly, it's much better than 'Asterix the Gaul' (the first Asterix movie). Partly, I think this is because it's actually less faithful to the book than the first film. As a result, there are jokes that work far better on the screen than on the page, there are new scenes and there are even some fairly decent musical numbers.

I only have one real complaint about this film, and that is that a lot of the jokes lack subtlety- they are carried on beyond the point at which they remain funny.

That aside, not a bad film. More for the kids than the adults, but fairly entertaining nonetheless.

My kiddos loved the first Asterix movie, so I quickly picked this up on ebay: one again, a "version remasterisée" on blu ray with excellent quality picture and clear sound, the original English dubbing. Surprisingly, although they are both interested in ancient Egypt, they liked this one less than the first and the third movies. By far their favorite part, and very much in keeping with the series' farcical spirit, is the introduction, in which one of the Egyptian characters (the troubled architect) mimes hieroglyphics as "natural" language (e.g. Sounds of animals and environmental features) rather than human natural language: part of his apology that the dubbing (of Egyptian, apparently, not French!) will be off sequence with the lip movements of the animated characters. How's that for metatheatrics?

It's been a surprise for me to see this movie was made in the late 60's. I just can't count the times I've seen it during my childhood, because it was such a great parody of the Hollywood peplum and historical movies. As usual, Goscinny's story and talent brings out a lot of fun and humorous situation, helped by the excellent quality of drawings. Too bad there wasn't enough money to make more frames per sec., but this anime's quality and humour lie in the great work of reconstitution and study of houses, temples, furnitures, each becoming a reason for fun; the two friendly companions Asterix and Obelix once again show their talent helping an architect for a bet between Cleopatra and Caesar. A long and funny story making you travel from the shores of Gaul to the water of the Nile... perfect entertainment for kids (and their parents !). And listen carefully for the lyrics of the "Arsenic pudding" song !!! :)

This is probably one of the best French animated films to date. It surely is the best of all Asterix movies since its story holds more together than any of the others. Its comic parts are many, but they are not ridiculous as many found in the others. On the cover of the book there was this motto: "The Greatest Story Ever Drawn". Surely it says right. Although much of the animation seems to have been inspired by 20th Century Fox's "Cleopatra" (1963), still it is full of originality. There is never a dull moment - it is entertainment from beginning to end.

The second of the animated Asterix films and once again based fully on an early comic album of the same name. This time Asterix, Obelix and druid Getafix travel all the way to Egypt to help a friend of Getafix, an architect named Edifis, who has been ordered to built a magnificent palace for Queen Cleopatra. The only problem is that he only has three months to do so and he has absolutely no skills as an architect.

This time Asterix creators Goscinny and Uderzo oversaw the project and it shows. The film has real energy behind it, which has always been a hallmark of the Asterix series. The film is full of good visual humour, clever wordplay and fun characters. The animation quality is also much higher than previously and even the music, arguably the strongest point of the first film, has gotten bit of an upgrade. Plus, the characters are still very, very good, which we of course have the original comics to thank for.

Unfortunately the film suffers from the same problem the first one did. The comic album simply didn't have enough material for a full length feature film and thus they had to pad most of the scenes to obscene amounts. This is especially notable in the scenes with Cleopatra. Had they simply made new scenes and added subplots, it might have been more bearable, but this way it just seems needlessly prolonged.

Still, it is an improvement and a very good film for kids. Adults will probably find themselves slightly bored, but because the film is constantly moving, entertaining and showing you at least something, the children are not likely to notice. I certainly didn't.