Asterix and Cleopatra

source: Asterix and Cleopatra

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?

Asterix is well known as a French icon. Appearing in comics in 1959, he has appearing in almost everything. This movie, from the 1960's, is one of the many films involving this hero. In ancient Egypt, Cleopatra is having an argument with Caeser, and after he loses faith in the Egyptians, the queen makes a bet with him that she will have a grand palace built for him in Alexandria in three months, with success convincing Caeser the Egyptian people are still powerful. Hiring Edifis for the task, with failure resulting in him being fed to the crocodiles, and needing magic to make it possible, he goes to his old friend, Getafix, and enlists his help alongside Asterix and Obelix. However, Artifis, the rival of Edifis, is out to sabotage the construction by any means necessary, and even Caeser attacks when he learns of the three heroic Gauls being in Egypt. This is a neat French cartoon, as it has a lot of action and comedy. The English voice acting is nice (even though the lip sync is off, but thankfully, the intro warns of this), and the music and songs are memorible.

There are some good gags in this film, like the poor dubbing in the beginning, the scene where the man is sharpening his hand to karate chop wood, the architect's's poor designs and Cleopatra acting like a spoiled brat. But the songs are terrible. There is only 3 songs and the lyrics are hopeless. Cleopatra's song in the bath consists of only "La la la la la." and that annoying lion dancing. The food song consists of "When you're eating well, you're well. When you're eating well, you're well. Loss of appetite is a dreadful blight. When you're eating well, you're well." And don't get me started on the song where the villain bakes a cake. The point of writing a song is to make it catchy so that people can't get it out of their heads. These lyrics are obviously written by a first timer. Black people are drawn in a shockingly stereotypical way with giant lips and speak in stereotypical voices. I'm surprised the BBFC didn't cut those scenes out. They probably knew it was Asterix and gave it a U anyway without watching it. You could have full frontal nudity in it and they wouldn't know. The animation is not great, it is not a Hollywood Disney film. Just a low budget French film. The voice acting is average. Asterix with an American accent is not good idea. Ceaser and Cleopatra's voices work though. It's also really short. But back in the 60's, animated movies were very short. But it is entertaining. There's good visual gags in it and it is certainly a lot better than Asterix The Gaul which was awful. Despite it's flaws, it is worth watching if you're an Asterix fan.

I know this movie form a long time, certainly for the past 18 years, and still I watch it occasionally. There are quite a lot differences in the language you watch this movie, and I have seen German, English & in Dutch.As has been mentioned the movie looks very fresh, and it is 40 years old. It's quite weird that France had to give up his colonies in for instance Africa in the last decade and a half before this film was made. I like a lot of the dialogs especially of Asterix and Obelix, Asterix is much smarter than Obelix, but some of Obelix's decisions tend to have a good effect in things that happen. The use that Asterix and Obelix make of the Panoramix magic potion works quite well for me, partly I think because they do not use it for every issue or problem. The magic potion cant help for instance when they can't find the way out of the pyramid. But in this movie the only problem is a limited amount of time. And even that is not a real a problem. I think that because of this, although it has shifted from time to time for me, the lack of real conflicts / problems/ confrontations etc I like a bit more the film le douze travaux d'Asterix. In this film there is a major problem with bureaucracy, and the way Asterix and Obelix solve it is very funny. Bureaucracy is also a theme I hardly see in movies. Because of the architecture and art, I think that some sort of Egyptological advice went into this movie. Otherwise the makers did do their homework and were much inspired bij for instance at that time quite recent discoveries ( Lake Nasser, from Montet & Carter f.i. ). Although a lot of art is not really accurate, because cartouches don't appear in the homes of citizens and not even in rich peoples houses. But I like to see the attention there is paid to it. Some animations have some puzzling objects. When Cleopatra takes a bath, there is a boat visible quite similar to an object that has been found in Tutankhamens grave, and the meaning of this particular boat is not clear. But I have some things that should have been done much better, even though a lot was not known about this in 1968. .I'm not optimistic (from experience) about this, but I hope that every viewer realizes that we are given a stereotyped view on the appearance of the Egyptians for instance. I could only find some truth in the portrayal of the Egyptians in regard to the to their ages. They are often young, consistent with the fact that most ancient Egyptians died between their thirties and forties, and the (early) childhood mortality rate was very high. But despite the relative low life expectancy and the relatively isolated geographical situation, the (ancient) Egyptians have a wide range of physical characteristics. There was even a king from the New Kingdom who had red hair. I had hoped that these aspects would have been included.

This is so unfair that this wonderful animation movie is not ranked higher than 7.2.. This is the most beautifully animated movie ever released. It is a musical, the funniest and most entertaining asterix movie but also it is a masterpiece. Every line is funny, the characters are singing, dancing,full of life , it is far better than "les 12 travaux of aterix" because this one is also a musical, the characters are extremely interesting and it never stops to amazed me. The plot, the story are extremely entertaining. it is easily the best asterix ever and people should start to realize it because we can not find a bigger classic for an animated movie that this. Every children in the world should watch this but the reason this movie is so magical and so unique is that it is as much entertaining for adult people of all ages than children. A wonderful adventure, full of melodies and of touching characters.

OK: I'll admit it. I don't remember all of the details of the story any more. But this movie was one of my favourite Asterix movies. It is based on the Asterix comic of the same title (the 2nd or 3rd one in the series, I believe), and it contains the one moment that I, a big Obelix fan, have always been waiting for.... I won't spoil it, but it's been the best bit of the movie for me. Also, it contains such a remarkable nose... Funny and enjoyable, one of the better Asterix cartoons and movies.

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.

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.

Well, well, well... I managed to find this movie one morning in late December of 1994, so I could record it on my VCR, and I have watched it now and then ever since. About "Asterix" in general, I can only say, that I only like it for one thing: Its historical setting and its mention of ancient gods and goddesses. Otherwise, it can't compare to let's say "Tintin" when it comes to quality. But about this story in particular, where the Gauls Asterix, Obelix and Getafix have to go to Egypt to help queen Cleopatra's architect to build a temple for Julius Ceasar within three months, I must say, that it has to be one of my favorite "Asterix" stories of all time.