Asterix and Cleopatra (1968)
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Asterix and Cleopatra Movie Review
Asterix and Cleopatra is a 1968 Belgian-French animated comedy film directed by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. It is a terrific movie adaptation.
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“You can never get lost inside a menhir“
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A Gallic soldier and his friends must build the most beautiful palace in Egypt or be eaten by crocodiles. This movie came out a year after the first film ‘Asterix the Gaul’. That one was hated by Goscinny and Uderzo as they had no personal input on it. This led to the duo helming this entire project on their own, and the results are remarkable. The animation and every other aspect is significantly improved here.
Based on one of the greatest volumes in the history of this comic, Asterix and Cleopatra the movie faithfully adapts the stellar source material while adding some of its own unique touches, the foremost being the musical numbers. The two that were the longest ones are The Arsenic Cake Song and When You’re Eating Well, You’re Well. The former is this over-the-top villain song that was hilarious while the latter functions pretty much as an acid Disney song with gorgeous, trippy animation and a great use of Obelix’s gluttony.
As for the characters, they are all just as phenomenal as they were in the book. Dogmatix got the meatiest role in this story and he was so endearing. His highlights include helping the protagonists get out of a pyramid maze and “sending a message” to Cleopatra, which Asterix actually does in his name. Speaking of Asterix, he’s great here and quite proactive while Obelix got a couple of very funny moments with the funniest being his menhir appreciation lines.
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Caesar is here much more present than in the original story and his spy is hilariously creepy and villainous. As for Cleopatra herself, I missed the nose jokes from the comic and I found her voice grating, but otherwise she was memorably spoiled. There is this overly extended sequence involving her bathing and the lion waiting for her. It was filler material, but undeniably fun one with excellent cartoon gags.
Getafix gets to be the smartest guy in the room once again while the two architects are both faithfully adapted, one being too nervous and the other being conniving. There is also a strong use here of those pirates who attack our heroes while sailing. Those scenes were so much goofy fun.
By far the biggest improvement from the first movie is the animation. Asterix and Cleopatra pretty much could be mistaken for a Disney movie of the time, which in and of itself is a huge accomplishment. The vibrant colors just pop off the screen while the backgrounds are gorgeous and meticulously detailed, at times resembling the comic itself. The character designs also worked and the action is well executed with much better character movements. The best moments happened when the action stopped, though, and we got to marvel at the stunning Ancient Egyptian scenery that looked like paintings at times.
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The score is also wonderful with the repeated main theme being delightful as always with the added Egyptian touches being quite welcome. The sound is actually too loud and cartoony, though it could produce funny results in certain scenarios. The overall movie focused on appealing too kids way too much, but the humor is still mostly excellent while the dialogue was stupendous. You can clearly see that the duo who created the comics made this film as they cared enough to faithfully adapt their work while adding some new things to make it different as well.
Asterix and Cleopatra is a wonderful adaptation of one of the best volumes in this comic book series. It is faithful to the original story while still having its own additional touches that are different and unique, the foremost being the musical elements with a couple of very entertaining and charming songs. The characterization is top-notch and the humor is superb, but the highlight here is its gorgeous, detailed and polished animation that could genuinely rival what Disney did back in this era.
My Rating – 4.5
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