For a movie that's not based on any of the Asterix & Obelix comics, The Middle Kingdom still retains much of the humor and tone of the original comics. However, it's still not without its flaws.
As par for Asterix & Obelix, the movie contains a fair amount of brawls and slapstick humor with elements of kung fu and Hong Kong action cinema thrown in. In fact, The Middle Kingdom is probably the most impressive Asterix & Obelix film action-wise to date. However, despite sporting some great action sequences and impressive action set pieces, the movie still drags on in some places and it's mainly thanks to some really solid casting choices and performances which prevent the movie from turning into a total dullfest.
One major problem with the film lies in its really questionable changes to Asterix's character where Asterix (played by Guillaume Canet) is portrayed as a love-stricken stumblebum throughout the majority of the film. It's a shame because Canet seems excellently cast as Asterix where I can see Canet successfully portraying Asterix as a more serious, witty and straight arrow type of character much like in the comics but unfortunately his performance is hurt by the movie's goofball rewriting of Asterix's character. On a different note, Gilles Lellouche does a pretty fine job of filling in Gérard Depardieu's's shoes as Obelix and I'd love to see him star in future sequels. The film's cast overall was excellent and really funny, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic's bizarre cameo in the film.
All in all, Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom still delivers some good, silly entertainment if you're a fan of the comics and/or liked any of the previous Asterix & Obelix movies.
As par for Asterix & Obelix, the movie contains a fair amount of brawls and slapstick humor with elements of kung fu and Hong Kong action cinema thrown in. In fact, The Middle Kingdom is probably the most impressive Asterix & Obelix film action-wise to date. However, despite sporting some great action sequences and impressive action set pieces, the movie still drags on in some places and it's mainly thanks to some really solid casting choices and performances which prevent the movie from turning into a total dullfest.
One major problem with the film lies in its really questionable changes to Asterix's character where Asterix (played by Guillaume Canet) is portrayed as a love-stricken stumblebum throughout the majority of the film. It's a shame because Canet seems excellently cast as Asterix where I can see Canet successfully portraying Asterix as a more serious, witty and straight arrow type of character much like in the comics but unfortunately his performance is hurt by the movie's goofball rewriting of Asterix's character. On a different note, Gilles Lellouche does a pretty fine job of filling in Gérard Depardieu's's shoes as Obelix and I'd love to see him star in future sequels. The film's cast overall was excellent and really funny, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic's bizarre cameo in the film.
All in all, Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom still delivers some good, silly entertainment if you're a fan of the comics and/or liked any of the previous Asterix & Obelix movies.