Les Editions Albert Réné, Les Enfants Terribles, Pathé Films and Les Productions des Trésor’s Asterix Aur Obelix (dubbed from the French film Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom) is an action adventure family comedy.
Chinese princess Fu-Yi (Julie Chen), the only daughter of the Chinese empress (Linh-Dan Pham), escapes from a rogue prince, Deng Tsin Qin (Bun Hay Mean), and flees to Gaul. She seeks help from Asterix (Guillaume Canet) and Obelix (Gilles Lellouche), who are bestowed with super-human strength because of their magic potion. Asterix and Obelix, therefore, travel to imperial China for the first time, to help Fu-Yi.
The original story is based on a script by Philippe Mechelen and Julien Hervé. It is the first live-action Asterix film not based on any of the Asterix comic albums. The story and screenplay are written like a fairy tale. Although the drama is engaging, it holds very limited appeal for the Hindi-speaking audience for two reasons: firstly, because it has a fairy-tale-like feel to it, and secondly, because the Asterix comic albums have limited appeal for the target audience. The comedy is subtle rather than slapstick or even underlined.
Guillaume Canet acts ably as Asterix. Gilles Lellouche is endearing as Obelix. Vincent Cassel lends decent support as Julius Caesar. Marion Cotillard is alright as Cleopatra. Julie Chen impresses an princess Fu Yi. Linh-Dan Pham has her moments as the empress of China. Jason Chicandier (as Unhygienix) makes his mark. Jonathan Cohen (as Grandemais) is nice. Ramzy Bedia (as Epidemais) is effective. Leanna Chea (as Tat Han) is excellent. José Garcia (as Biopix), Bun Hay Mean (as Deng Tsin Qin), Manu Payet (as Ri Qi Qi), Tran Vu Tran (as prince De Deng), Pierre Richard (as Getafix), Zlatan Ibrahimović (as Antivirus), Philippe Katerine (as Cacofonix), Jérôme Commandeur (as Vitalstatistix), Angéle (as Panacea), Matthieu Chedid (as Remix) and Florent Manaudou (as Tabascos) provide good support.
Guillaume Canet’s direction is nice. Matthieu Chedid’s music is okay. André Chemetoff’s cinematography is lovely. Stunts are entertaining. Production designing (by Aline Bonetto and Mathieu Junot) is very good. Editing is sharp. Dubbing is average.
On the whole, Asterix Aur Obelix is an entertaining fare but its box-office prospects are very bleak.
Released on 12-5-’23 in Surat (Gujarat) thru Yash Raj Film Distributors. Publicity: poor. Opening: weak. …….Also released all over.
