Asterix and the Big Fight (1989) Poster

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6/10
Funny and amusing Asterix adventure in which Panoramix goes insane when Obelix throws a menhir
ma-cortes6 March 2019
The picture brilliantly retrieves the humour , strong satire and adventures of the original stories . The movie's plot is loosely adapted from the Asterix comic-books , with a number of changes to it. This is a nice adventure with hilarious moments here and there , and it has Asterix and his inseparable partner fighting , as always , against stupid Romans . This is an agreeable Asterix flick and in which when the notorious druid is pursued by the Romans , then Obelix drives them away by throwing a menhir on them - which accidentally hits Panoramix. Entertaining and fun adventure that is a version of the popular Astérix & Obélix comic books, being a rendition based on two comic-books . Enjoyable and attractive feats with Asterix and his faithful friend Obelix fighting Romans . The diminutive Asterix (Roger Carel , who usually provides the voice ) and his rather larger companion Obelix , warriors of the last village in Gaul still free after the Roman invasion, set out on a mission to search for necessary products in order to make the famous magic potion of their druid to help villagers to fight off the invading Roman army . The year is approximately 50 B. C , Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans commanded by Julius Caesar . Well, not entirely..One small village of indomitable natives still holds out against the invaders by means of a fantastic potion usually brewed by druid Panoramix , preparing the powerful potion getting superhuman strength . And the life is not easy for the Roman legionaries who garrison the fortified camps. There a small village located in Armorica live our friends , the intelligent hero Asterix, the menhir delivery and addicted to wild boar Obelix, the venerable druid Panoramix with his potion which gives the drinker incredible energy, the majestic,hot-tempered , brave chief of the tribe Abraracourcix , the Bard singer playing harp ... As always the perilous mission is immediately trusted to shrewd and cunning Asterix . Nowadays , frightened by a thunderstorm, the Gauls - with the exception of Panoramix , who is at his annual druid meeting - are huddled in the chief's hut, when they are visited by a soothsayer, called Prolix, who predicts that "when the storm is over, the weather will improve" and additionally predicts a fight , caused by the villagers' habitual argument over the over-ripeness of fish sold by fishmonger Unhygenixthe . Meanwhile , in order to wipe out the Gaulish village by any means necessary , Caesar plans a sinister plot by intervention the cunning Soothsayer.The Romans soon arrive to claim the village, while Asterix and Obelix hide in the undergrowth. The druid returns from his conference; and hearing of the situation, turns Soothsayer's ruse against him by creating and spreading a foul-smelling mixture of gasses; thus expelling the Romans, and Cacofonix the Bard, who returns to the other Gauls on the village to confirm the prophecy. When the druid Panoramix is attacked by some roman soldiers is accidentally hit by a menhir thrown by Obelix and loses his mind and memory . Obelix , ready to drop everything and go off on a new adventure with Asterix and this time accompanied by a nutty Panoramix . After this the druid has lost his memory and can not remember the formula of his magic potion , especially the one which gives superhuman strength. Here Asterix has to confront the heinous and envious fortune teller allied with the Romans , who results to be clearly more powerful and whose only flaw is not to have invented the magic potion . I say! The Romans have invaded! . The Gauls without the magic potion?! By Toutatis!

The story revolves around the superstitions of the people at the time , Gauls and Romans alike and of today, and parodies the general gullibility of humanity , including the Soothsayer's fantastical as well as fake prediction of the future . This 1989 film , based on the book , The Soothsayer , was adapted into the inaccurately-named ¨Asterix and the Big Fight¨, which encompassed only a few plot elements from the book it was actually named after . Despite the film's title, only a minor section of ¨The Soothsayer¨comic book features in the plot , specifically, druid's amnesia . Bemusing animated tale about the immortal heroes , based on characters created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo , though this time the script is adapted from two already existing comic book , it stars Asterix and his inseparable partner Obelix , from French comic-books .This is an enjoyable adventure with ironical elements , and has Asterix and his always friend Obelix battling , as usual , against idiot Romans as well as a nasty and ominous ¨Le Devin¨ or Soothsayer . Full of fights , noisy action , chases , jokes , customs critical about way of life and modern anachronisms that's common thing in comic books . The movie brilliantly captures the outrageous adventures , tongue-in-check , satire , absurd humour from original characters created by Albert Uderzo and by Rene Goscinny . The movie adapts parts of two stories from the Astérix comic series: the plot about the false Soothsayer is from the 19th álbum ¨The Soothsayer¨or original title "Le Devin", while the plot of the druid losing his memory is from the 7th album "Le Combat des chefs". As usual , on the finale scenes the village people celebrating a wild party and eating boars in a gargantuan lunch . The film provides a catching and lively musical score by Michel Colombier . Being well produced by Alan Poire and professionally directed by Philippe Grimond .

This passable entry was preceded by several cartoon movies , such as : ¨Asterix the Gaul¨ (1967) , ¨The Twelve Tasks of Asterix¨ (1976) , ¨Asterix in Britain¨ (1986) , ¨Asterix in America¨(1998) , in this latter a few scenes are reused from ¨Asterix and the big fight¨ (1989) . And various live-action movies as : ¨Asterix vs. Caesar¨ directed by Claude Zidi with Christian Clavier , Gerard Depardieu , Robert Benigni , Laetitia Casta , Arielle Dombasle . ¨Asterix and Cleopatra¨ by Alain Chabat with Monica Belucci , Jamel Debbouze , Claude Rich , Marina Fois , Gérard Darmon . ¨Asterix and the Olympic Games¨ by Frederic Forrestier with Clovis Cornillac , Santiago Segura, Monica Cruz , Jean Pierre Castaldi and Janel Debouzze . ¨Astérix and Obélix : On Her Majesty's Secret Service¨ (2012) by Laurent Tirard with Gérard Depardieu , Edouard Baer, Guillaume Gallienne , Vincent Lacoste , Catherine Deneuve , Charlotte Le Bonn. And subsequently two 3D entries : ¨The Mansions of the Gods¨ (2014) in computer generator that dealt with a Caesar's plan to absorb the villagers into Roman culture by having an estate built next to the village to start a new Roman colony and ¨Asterix and the secret of the magic potion¨(2018) by Alexandre Astier and Louis Clichy . The film will appeal to Asterix and Obelix fans , it's a funny entertaining for kids , grown-ups and nostalgics .
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6/10
Lacks a bit in terms of depth, but still an okay watch Warning: Spoilers
"Astérix et le coup du menhir" or "Asterix and the Big Fight" or "Asterix - Operation Hinkelstein" is a co-production between West Germany and France and as a consequence this film is once more (mostly) in the French language. This was released back in 1989, so it is over 30 years now and it is one of the older, but not oldest Asterix movies. Definitely also among the ones who have not seen by too many, but I shall get to that a little later. Maybe this also has to do with the fact that the director is Philippe Grimond here and, while he has been fairly active in other departments, this one here is his only career effort as the man in charge behind the camera. There also seems to be little information about where he is now, if he is still alive etc. Same applies to writers Voight and Kabatek with the key difference that these two have never worked on another film project at all, which is surely on the surprising side because writing a screenplay for an Asterix movie was kinda big back then too. I guess it is fitting that those writers who will always be remembered for these works are of course Goscinny and Uderzo with the former being dead for a long time now sadly and Uderzo left us not that long ago. This film runs for approximately 80 minutes, but the version I saw earlier today was even shorter I believe. Also they showed all these animated Asterix films not too long ago here, I think it was for Easter, and this one they did not show and wait until Whitsun now and this really makes it obvious that it is not one of the best, not one of the funniest and also not one of the most inspired films from the series.

A key difference here is for example that Asterix, Obelix and the rest stay at home and to not explore a new country or even continent. So this takes away some jokes already on the level of how much the Brits love their tea for example. The culture clash element is completely gone. Instead, it is more a clash if reason vs. Insanity. One example would be how the druid really loses it here because of an unlucky collision, but another example is also how the people from the village fall for a scam artist in a wold costume. I clearly remembered this guy from back then when I read the comic book(s) and saw the film on an earlier occasions, but I am still not sure if he is interesting enough to be basically included here as some kind of main antagonist from beginning to end. Oh well. It could also be called "mentir" instead of "menhir" you could say at the very end of the title. People that speak French will understand what I mean. So yeah, Asterix is getting away for me with the idea of the magic potion, with the idea of these few people being able to stand up to the Roman empire, but these scenes of the druid's insanity were really a bit exaggerated this time I must say. Too much and too over the top. Same applies for me to the transformations of one Roman soldier in the second half of the film when he becomes really big, then really small and goes through all kinds of other shapes before basically being turned into a balloon.

This Roman soldier nonetheless gave us one of the funnier moments, namely when we have Obelix grab him by his leg and pull him to become basically a lab rat and see if the druid manages to come up with the magic potion despite his insanity. That entire scene was just too much, but the brief process of pulling was fun. It was rather the small moments where the film delivered this time in terms of comedy. Obelix was severely undeused this time though. The character is so much funnier than he is allowed to put on display here. Another solid moment was when the Roman leader (not Caesar, he is not in the picture in person this time) is taking a bath and his genital gets exposed briefly for one of his guards to see (not for us to see of course) and he makes sure the guard does not react in an inappropriate manner. Maybe there really wasn't that much to see. And finally, involving sid Roman leader again, there is this moment of confrontation by Caesar's delegate which was decent too how he really loses it, even if the Gauls' laughing that followed immediately afterwards was slightly too much already. But it still can be said that the Romans never really got closer to defeating the villagers than they did this time. Oh and I must mention the scene of course when the Roman leader gives this famous quote about the entirety of Gaul being conquered and he says "Yes, all of Gaul" when being asked if he really means "all of Gaul". That was kinda memorable, almost in an epic way, not really in a funny way. But of course, he is proven wrong and in the end there is happiness all along once more. Not really for the singer though up there on the tree as usual. Sorry for not using the international names. I never remember them, except the two protagonists of course who have the same name almost everywhere I think. I watched the German dub once again, so also cannot comment on Carel, Tornade and the others. I'm sure they did a solid job though and still nice to see some alive. Chazel would be one example.

Okay, that is pretty much it. There are similarities again here and there with some of the other films. I mentioned some of those already. It's also nothing new that this minor Roman leader dreams of making it big here and getting hiw own Cleopatra. We have seen that on other occasions as well. The idea of Obelix's dog being considered a meal though is something new. That fraudulent seer surely must have been hungry. But I stand with my initial perception. He's not a character I find truly memorable or worth mentioning when speaking about the best there is from the Asterix books and films unfortunately. His (forced) back-and-forth from admitting he is a scam artist and pretending not to be one to please the Roman leader also did not work out in a comedic was as much as I hoped it would Same applies to some of the other jokes. I already said that Obelix's material here also was not exactly a revelation and this includes his take on curing the druid by doing the exact same thing again that caused this misery. I mean the idea was mildly funny, but also very absurd and Obelix trying to reap the honors afterwards was also not super funny. Not among the weakest of the film either admittedly. Overall, the outcome here, which is despite the short running time not even among the shortest Asterix films, is a fairly close call for me in terms of deciding if I should give out a positive or negative recommendation. I guess I will be generous this time though and say that it is worth seeing, but really you should see (almost) all other Asterix films before this one here. Maybe also read the book first and then decide if you want to watch the movie version as well. Depending on how much you like the story. These films are almost always pretty close to the books in terms of contents, so the issues are already a bit in the book(s) this time and you cannot be too harsh with the filmmakers. They tried their best. It's barely enough.
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Fitting Voices ranks with Asterix in Britain
amesmonde20 May 2011
A mixed adaptation of both Asterix and the Big Fight and Asterix and the Soothsayer. The arrival of a mysterious soothsayer test the beliefs of the village as Getafix loses his memory and more magic potion can't be made without him to stop the invading Romans.

As a fan of Asterix this ranks with Asterix in Britain, certainly in terms of the balance of good animation, story and fun. Despite the musical number it's a very good outing. Voices include Andrew Sachs, Ron Moody and Brian Brian Blessed to name a few.

Many complain about the voices of English VHS version, Bill Oddie as Asterix and Bernard Bresslaw as Obelix, I actually think they are perfect in tone, capturing the humour and rapport. They are the epitome of what I'd expect those characters to sound like. So much so I was disappointed with the release of DVD box set not containing the aforementioned. It's down to personal taste I suppose.

One of the most Asterix rounded adventures that the follow ups Asterix Conquers America (1994) and Asterix and the Vikings (2006) and have failed to equal or surpass.

Asterix and the Big Fight is fantastic family fun.
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8/10
When the wise forgets the past and the scam predicts the future ...
ElMaruecan8221 February 2014
"Asterix and the Big Fight" concludes the second movies' period of the famous little Gaul. This statement is inaccurate but I've never really paid attention to the 1995' "Asterix conquers America" or "Asterix and the Vikings" made one decade after, and I'm fine with that. These two films failed to capture that spicy wit that made the Asterix's adventures so enjoyable, the lameness of their songs and the Americanization of their plots betrayed the marketed intentions of their makers. In others words, these films didn't have the secret ingredient of the magic potion.

And neither does "The Big Fight", but that's only because it's part of the plot. It starts with the Roman soldiers who had the misfortune of meeting two Gauls in the forest… well, not quite, as they try to explain to their centurion, there were not just two Gauls, they had one dog, plus two wild boars, so technically, they were five, what a relief: the honor is safe. Romans are much aware that the Gauls owe their force to the magic potion and therefore they plan to kidnap the druid Getafix. But their plot fails thanks to Obelix' providential intervention. He throws a huge menhir at them, convincing them to run away. But gravity is a bitch, and it's on poor Panoramix that the big rock concludes its doomed trajectory.

The consequence is a mix of amnesia and dementia putting Getafix in a child-like state. Obelix tries to make amends, précising that it was just a little menhir, but who is he kidding? As soon as Getafix opens his eyes, his hallucinations say enough about his medical condition. And this part leads to the first (and only) musical sequence where the well-meaning bard Cacofonix sings the film's defining song, a catchy Rock'n'Roll theme … that lasts one minute, but it would have been too patience-demanding for Fulliautomatix to let him finish. The ancestor of all musical critics puts the final note with his huge hammer. Granted Cacofonix' head is used to these displays of brutality so he'll not probably end up like Getafix.

This part of the plot belongs to the "Big Fight" album, but like "Asterix vs. Caesar", another album inspires the narrative, and not the least, "The Soothsayer". A mysterious man penetrates the village under a rainy storm, the kind that reminds us the Gauls' only fear: that the sky would fall on their heads, perhaps a metaphor for bad omen. Prolix, to name him, is welcomed to the village and shares a bowl of milk and some boar with Obelix (let's not guess who eats what). In an ominous and solemn voice, he reveals that he anticipated everything that would happen. How come? He's a soothsayer. The whole assembly is impressed, only Asterix, the smartest one have reasonable doubts and Obelix has no sympathy for someone who takes pride from being capable to read in dog's guts.

The merit of the "Big Fight" is to be based on an album totally set in the Gaul's village, no escapism, but a rather static adventure where the Gaul villagers play a significant part, notably the females. Vitalstatitix' wife is even one of the most important characters. No Asterix movies dared to keep the action in the village, which says a lot about the maturity of the makers, who trusted the originality of the album and knew they could make something out of an adventure where even Asterix and Obelix would spend most of their times watching the druid. The two plots mixes rather well, confronting the village to two dilemmas: the wisest man hasn't just lost his mind but can't even remember the magic potion's recipe and the soothsayer can manipulate them, to the point of convincing them to leave the village.

And with all this sensation of doom pending over their heads, "The Big Fight" features some hilarious sequences and great pieces of animation. The soothsayer is caught by the Romans, and when realizing that his 'I'm a soothsayer' rhapsody would cause him to be arrested, he then reveals he's a scam. But the Centurion who just learned he might be upgraded doesn't want to believe it, he submits him to a 'heads or tails' test, whose outcome is one of the film's greatest gag followed by Prolix' desperate to convince the Romans that he's not a soothsayer, he's just clever. The second part is a hilarious and fast-paced scene where a poor legionary is asked to taste the potions made by Getafix, slow-motion, shrinking, transformation, nothing is spared for the poor soldier. His capability to fly at the end feels almost like a consolation, starting a friendship with a very sympathetic owl.

"The Big Fight" evolves smoothly and confidently and never leaves an opportunity for a gag, even the druid's cure is followed by a hilarious attempt of Obliex to cure him with delicacy. The film culminates with a great fight that ends up with the Gaul's triumph, but there's something strangely melancholic and moving in the final score, when the Gauls leave the Roman camp, and the centurion realizes a bit too late that the soothsayer's predictions weren't worth the coin he flipped. The film concludes with the brave soldier flying away from the camp with his friend, the owl, into the sunset we see him again in the pale moonlight under the legendary banquet that concludes every adventure. And the rock'n'roll score is back. End of the story, a good one.

I'll never forget the day I saw the film for the first time, on a moody Sunday of 1991, those were the times where each Sunday featured a cartoon adventure, no 3D, nothing, just the simple power of images and imagination. Anyway, the "Asterix" movies couldn't have had a better conclusion, yes, they were others to be made, but when it comes to cartoon, they finish with the "Big Fight".
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4/10
Good idea, poor execution
SMK-423 June 2002
The basic idea of mixing two Asterix stories together was not too bad at all: the Romans were a bit too pale and one-dimensional in the original big-fight story and the druid's absence and the resulting threat to the village was underexplained in the original soothsayer story.

However, the result sacrifices most of the satire of either story, aiming at a young kids market (which really isn't the traditional Asterix audience). But it is not just the story - also the animation moved a couple of furlongs towards Disney territory, especially the musical number made me cringe. How can the villagers dance to this bard's singing? It is supposed be painfully abysmal! A nauseatingly bad musical number would have been fine, but the film makers simply didn't dare.

I also could not warm to the English voices. While Brian Blessed put some oomph into his character, he overdoes it, as usual. An example of a scene which required cool understatement was when then the centurio instructed his messenger to Caesar. Blessed speaks it with too much excitement, though 70% of the blame has to go towards the director as the animation is similarly hyperactive at this point.

The English title of the film still sticks with "big fight" which is misleading as the actual fight (the one between Gallic chiefs) is not in the film.
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2/10
They should have stuck to the original plot
phantom_tollbooth7 August 2000
I bought Asterix and the Big Fight expecting it to be a big screen recreation of one of my favourite Asterix books. I was sorely disappointed. To begin with, the plot was entirely different, and inferior, to the book of the same title. Bizarrely, it seemed to boast a glaring omission, namely a significant enough big fight to warrant the title. Also, the character of a soothsayer was added and many others dropped. On the subject of characters, for some reason the names of all but Asterix and Obelix had been changed from their usual English translations. Getafix became Vitamix, Vitalstatistix became Chief Bombastix! All very confusing. The voice characterization was way off the mark. Obelix, for one thing, should always be portrayed as a deep voiced dummy, but here it sounds more like he should be hanging in the 'hood! All in all, this film lacks the appeal of the Twelve Tasks of Asterix film, or the Asterix and Cleopatra film and an attempt at a musical number, a gimmick which worked well in the latter film, goes sourly wrong, with poor writing and the Gauls singing in voices drowned out by the music. I advice you not to buy Asterix and the Big Fight. From the patronising opening scene in which Asterix explains the term 'Gaul' to Obelix, it is clear that you are in for a tedious hour long slog.
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Boring with terrible voice work in the UK version
bob the moo4 January 2002
When Getafix loses his memory the village loses it's defence in the magic potion. The arrival of a mysterious soothsayer further endangers the village as the Romans prepare to invade. There are several attempts to make Asterix films and none of them are very successful. This is a mix of stories - it is an adaptation of Asterix and the Big Fight and Asterix and the Soothsayer. However the two stories are not complete and in fact some of the situations contradict each other, the plot is such a mess that the big fight of the title that ends the book is not in the film at all! The main problem is that this could be any cartoon, there is none of the humour and wit of the books. It even ropes in a terrible musical number - something that would never happen in the books! The voices are mainly all miscast, Bill Oddie is a terrible, terrible choice for Asterix - too mousy and squeaky. Getafix, Obelix and the women characters are all miscast. The only good voice is Brian Blessed - but his presence begs the question why was he involved in this? Overall this is very boring with a terrible mixed up story, unlikeable versions of the characters and a total lack of comedy present in the books.
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4/10
Avoid the US dub, I implore you!
CuriosityKilledShawn19 January 2014
Before I critique the actual movie I should inform you that there are in fact TWO English dubs of this movie. The first features Bill Oddie once again as Asterix and keeps the plot and story as was originally presented in French. The American dub however changes names, changes plot details, adds a pointless narration, and has all of the Gauls speak with American accents. Make no mistake, this version is dumbed-down and I implore you to avoid it. The existence of this dub forces my score down to 4/10 when it would otherwise be 7/10.

The Romans, as usual, are camped outside the village waiting for a weak link to finally invade and conquer ALL of Europe. Obelix adjacently drops a Menhir on Getafix's head, making him forget the recipe to the magic potion. Meanwhile, a soothsayer arrives and cons the more gullible villagers into rewarding him. The Romans get wind of his scams and use him to clear out the village. The actual fight of the title does not happen in the movie as that part of the plot was lost when the adaptation was crossed with elements from another Asterix book.

The animation is lovely, the plot doesn't reach its potential, and voice acting is uncertain depending on what dub you are watching. Otherwise this movie ranks as an above average Asterix adventure.

Or "above averagix" if you like.
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