“Asterix and Obelix in the Middle Kingdom”
No magic potion will help! The new Asterix film is no wild boar feast
Salad or wild boar? Obelix (Gilles Lellouche) and Asterix (Guillaume Canet) are at odds
© Christophe Brachet
New cast, old problems: The fifth live-action film “Asterix and Obelix in the Middle Kingdom” doesn’t catch fire.
Small test. At the sight of a pretty woman, Asterix’s wings on his helmet open up and begin to flap. Julius Caesar’s court clerk is presented as a dastardly gay cliché. A martial arts fight scene is accompanied by the song “Kung Fu Fighting”. And as a little hint that it’s really funny right now, the tuba rumbles in the background. So what decade are we in? 50 B.C. BC, that’s for sure. What is meant is the year of manufacture of the new Gaul adventure “Asterix and Obelix in the Middle Kingdom”. Doesn’t become very clear to you. 2023? Could also be the 1980s or 90s.
Ave and such: Vincent Cassel plays Caesar. Always there: his writer Biopix (José Garcia)
© Christophe Brachet
Eleven years have passed since “Asterix & Obelix – On Her Majesty’s Order”, which was a moderate success at the time and, like each of the four live-action films to date, rather unloved by fans and critics. Now the next attempt with a budget of 65 million euros and a clear message from Anne Goscinny, the daughter of Asterix creator René Goscinny: Another film adaptation must be a new beginning, with innovative ideas and a fresh cast.
However, the supposed revolution is not a revolution and is quickly dismissed. “Asterix and Obelix in the Middle Kingdom” is the first live-action film that is not based on an album but tells an original story. It takes place, as the title suggests, in China, where our heroes have never been before. They follow the cry for help of the emperor’s daughter Fu Yi, whose mother is in prison after a coup d’etat, and in this context they learn about Tai Chi, meditation, acupuncture and, of course, Asian martial arts. Apart from the fact that Asterix would much rather have a mixed salad with mushrooms and chestnuts than wild boar, and a few wokeness references, everything has stayed the same.
Asterix remains pale
Lots of flat jokes, more or less successful puns and pop culture references (a ship’s captain is called Titanix), battered Romans and a handful of superstars of French cinema – Vincent Cassel as Caesar (great), Marion Cotillard as Cleopatra (underpowered) and Pierre Richard as Miraculix ( magical potion).
Gilles Lellouche as Obelix comes across as playing Gérard Depardieu playing Obelix. His friend Guillaume Canet, who is also close in real life and who also directs here, remains pale as Asterix. Unlike his predecessors, notably Christian Clavier in Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar (1999) and Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (2002), he is not a great comedian and fails to provide the little warrior with the necessary equip with lively charm. He’s also almost the same height as his, sorry, fat pal.
In the end, the whole thing looks a bit like the now 41-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimović and his cameo as the Roman antivirus fighting machine, with which he satirizes himself. When the legions hesitantly awaited the signal to attack, he stormed off roaring, tearing his right thigh in the process. Diagnosis from a comrade: “Well, he didn’t really warm up.”