Asterix in Britain

An animated film adapted from the Asterix comics. The Roman armies have occupied Britain. One village in the north still holds out but its strength is going. One of its men goes to Gaul for help; his cousin Asterix has a village with a magic potion. Asterix and Obelix set out with a barrel of it. The journey is by sea; pirates, customs and Roman patrols come at them in turn. When they reach Londinium the barrel is lost. The Romans collect every barrel in the city and start tasting them one by one; that section is the film's best comic sequence. The humour is built on the habits of two peoples: the Britons break at a fixed hour every day to drink hot water, their food is boiled and they insist on their sauces. At the end the narrative offers an explanation of how tea was found. It was drawn in the French animation tradition; the movement is plain and the design kept close to the comics. In the French version Roger Carel voices Asterix and Pierre Tornade voices Obelix; both were the long-standing voices of those parts. Pino Van Lamsweerde directed. A pleasant choice for anyone who likes comic adaptations and family animation. For a viewer wanting a new narrative, the film follows the book closely and offers no surprise.