As the head of the Roman Empire, Julius Caesar has the idea of encircling the Gaulish village with the “Mansions of the Gods”, a residential community for Romans. This cuts the invincible Gauls off from the forest around them, which is their principal resource for survival. In this way Caesar hopes to topple the last bastion of resistance. When the first Roman arrive, some of the Gauls let themselves get reeled in. But Asterix, Obelix, Cacofonix and Getafix have other plans.

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Finally! A movie that meets the high standard of René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. Previous to this, the list of cinematic failures has been long: the last being 2012’s Astérix et Obélix: Au service de Sa Majesté starring Edouard Baer and Gérard Depardieu as Obelix). This time, the story is animated, with actors only doing the voice-overs. The list of French stars contributing to the project is also long: Lorànt Deutsch, Laurent Lafitte, Alain Chabat, Elie Semoun, François Morel, Florence Foresti and the great Roger Carel (who has voiced C-3PO, Alf, Winnie the Poo, Benny Hill and Hercule Poirot for French audiences). Adapted from the book of the same name, the movie is in 3D – a feature seemingly inescapable theses days. Despite this drawback (which is a matter of taste), the result is excellent! Not astonishing, since co-directors Louis Clichy, who was an animator at Pixar (Wall. E and Up) and Alexandre Astier, creator and principal character of the M6 miniseries Kaamelott are in charge.