Another year, another big-screen Asterix adventure.
Say what you will about these, the eternally popular Gaul, who has been adapted into umpteen languages in umpteen countries, is always on hand to provide pleasure to both parents and children – and his latest cinematic foray, ASTERIX: THE SECRET OF THE MAGIC POTION is going to give a new crowd of kids some pleasure.
Those dastardly Romans are determined to run the Gauls out of Brittany. Who can blame them when you have an all-conquering Empire to complete? Julius Caesar wants them eliminated from the map.
However, they have reckoned without the Gaulish gall of Asterix and good buddy Obelix, who has been affected since childhood by an accident involving the legendary ‘Secret Potion’ that has given him super-strength, but even super-strength Gauls get tired of it all.
Ageing Druid Getafix seems to have the solution in his bid to preserve his legacy of the Potion a la Sorcerer’s Apprentice tactics – pass on his secret recipe to a worthy young successor, but evil Druid Demonix, who has a fair share of resentment from their rivalry as children, clearly wants to have the mix for himself and pursues Asterix, Getafix and Obelix as they travel the breadth of their beloved nation to find the individual who can bring balance to this world….
There isn’t really anything I can say that will stop fans of these characters who follow them either on the page on Film and Home Video etc to come out for the new adventure and this late Summer release in the UK will provide some relief for children about to return to School for the Autumn term and their next year of studies.
It’s a by-the-numbers animation that will be no more than mere filler for cinema screens in the shadow of other blockbusters and it has some cute animated animals and characters that fulfil the vision of the original books and previous movies. The visuals are excellent and embracing for younger viewers and there’s a simple tale of legacy and slapstick that will not be much trouble to concerned parents wanting to take their children to family entertainment.
Fans of the Pixar staple of releases will be found wanting, as the ongoing imagination and inventiveness of those movies in examples like TOY STORY 4 and THE INCREDIBLES 2 remain the benchmark for all other CGI-based story-telling, but one always lives in hope of a contender, rather than a pretender, to the Pixar crown.
Workmanlike family fun.
