In this new series, we will explore Saturday Morning Cartoons from around the world. So, grab a croissant with a chocolat chaud and join us in this exploration of cartoons from yesteryears.
As all the adventures of our hero Asterix start, so must we:
“The year is 50 BC, and a Gaulish village in the west of France is still holding out against the Roman conqueror. Thanks to the druid’s magic potion, the little group of dauntless Gauls succeeds – among other things – in irritating Caesar and his proud legions to the utmost degree! Their only fear is that the sky may fall on their heads.”
With this setting, the adventures of Asterix are those a hero, his best friend Obelix, a small dog called Idefix (Dogmatix), and their village. In the first animated film adaption of the successful comic book released in 1961 itself came in 1967, without the approval of Uderzo and Gossiny, its creators. This is a whole other story for perhaps another day, if you are curious, it is available to read online in a few spots. This first film has animation that does look dated in 2022, but it is full of charm. Now, this is not typical a Saturday Morning Cartoon as it usually airs as a film and not as an episodic adventure, but given its age and the influence it has had on French comics and animated films, it’s a must.
The story here is Asterix and Obelix must face the Romans and save their druid Panoramix who has been kidnapped with the intention of forcing him to make magic potion for the troops. The story here is fairly simple, contains high jinks for the Gauls and a few absolutely ridiculous sequences. The film goes from forest adventures to a singing bull merchant to a complete overgrowth of hair on the romans before the film even gets near its ending.
The film is animated in the style of the late 1960s and is extra charming because of that. Of course, the film has aged since and the techniques for animating such an adventure have seriously evolved. But somewhere between the old animation, the damage to the film, and the voice over work, this is a beloved animated film of just about anyone who grew speaking French and in most of Europe. This is a “get to know me” film sort of situation where some can repeat all its lines by heart even as adult. This is a nice one to look for and it has been released a few times on disc so it’s available out there. To find a copy with an English track or subtitles may be a bit harder, but definitely worth the search. For those who may find themselves in Quebec around the Holidays, it usually is run on television with minimal ad breaks every year.