ASTERIX AND OBELIX VS. CAESAR (1999)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological*

This film (which I'll abbreviate as CAESAR) is the first of the successful live-action adaptations of ASTERIX,drawing from at least five of the popular Franco-Belgian comics albums. Naturally the first movie in this series introduces the basic setup: a small village in Roman-ruled Gaul proves able to repulse all the efforts of Caesar's legions to extort taxes and fealty. The druid of the possibly-unnamed village has created a potion that can endow those who drink it with super-strength and durability, and if attacked, all of the barbarian Gauls have but to drink the potion and become powerhouses that can devastate everything in their path. But for most incursions, usually only the village's two foremost warriors are necessary: the short-statured Asterix (Christian Clavier) and the brobdingnagian Obelix (Gerard Depardieu). 

The story's very episodic but the core of CAESAR's conflict is that Caesar's military leader Detritus (Oscar-winner Roberto Benigni) learns about the potion that gives the Gauls their powers, and launches strategies to steal the potion so that he can turn his Roman soldiers into powerhouses as well. The evil schemer succeeds in kidnapping the druid Getafix and taking him all the way back to Rome. Asterix and Obelix follow, but only Obelix's super-power remains stable because he fell into a potion-cauldron as a baby, while that of Asterix wears off once he's not imbibed the necessary chemicals.

CAESAR's high point takes place in a Roman arena. Asterix uses hypnotism to help the dull-witted Obelix impersonate a legionary in order to get them past the city gates. However, powerless Asterix is taken prisoner and forced to run a gamut of death-traps in the arena. Throughout his ordeals the Gaul can see his friend standing at the side of Detritus-- who, by the bye, has used his new power to overthrow Caesar. But Obelix doesn't recognize his buddy thanks to his being in a hypnotic haze. Eventually, though, the two friends are united and return to Gaul with the liberated Getafix. The druid then brews up a special potion so that the villagers get special powers that help them repel the next attack despite the fact that some Roman soldiers have super-strength now. I'll omit the nature of these special powers, but Detritus is defeated and Caesar reclaims his throne, pledging to leave the barbarians to their own devices-- at least for the time being.

It's a pleasant comedy, a little funnier than most of the animated adaptations, and there's a good subplot in which the lummox Obelix falls in love with a girl who's already got a fiancee. One of the oddest touches is that early in the film, the heroes torment one of the Romans by trying to make him sing "Ai yi yi yi, like the Frito Bandito," according to the subtitles. That Frito's spokesman was retired over twenty years before this movie was in production. So I don't know how the Frenchies knew about that bit of advertising ephemera, unless it had appeared in one of the comics albums.