Review of Asterix the Gaul (1967) by Jacob B — 31 Jul 2018

I think Goscinny and Uderzo had good reason to dislike this movie. The "movie" was originally going to be televised but instead got a theatrical release. It's painfully obvious too thanks to its repetitive music, crappy Hanna-Barbera-style animation - I can only tolerate those walk cycles and repitition of frames for so long - and constant fades to black.

My God, do those voices not fit the characters. I know things were different in the 60s but those American accents don't sit well with me. It's faithful to its source material and there are few funny moments but the movie's a bit too faithful, almost as if the writers are afraid that if they truly differentiate from the comic, the fans will crucify them, when some changes should be made because it's a movie, first and foremost.

Asterix the Gaul is not terrible but it's still bad and I'm glad later movies had considerably more effort put into them (at least the animated ones), even if some of them seemed to have a worse reception.