Blockbuster à la française par excellence, the new version of Asterix worn by Guillaume Canet passes under the scrutiny of critics. Press review of Asterix and Obelix and the Middle Empire.
[Mis à jour le 31 janvier 2023 à 17h20] The new episode of the adventures of Asterix and Obelix is awaited with impatience and concern in French cinema. Its success or failure at the box office will undoubtedly determine the future vitality of French cinema productions. It is its director, Guillaume Canet, who says so regularly in interviews. “I am well aware that this film is also eagerly awaited by the profession. It is very important that cinema picks up again, that films like this can generate enthusiasm and make people want to return to the cinema.” It is still necessary, of course, to offer a film that will please the public but also, to a lesser extent, the critics. The press begins to deliver its criticisms concerning Asterix and Obelix and the Middle Empire. Here is our press review! Note that not all media outlets have released their reviews for the film yet, so we’ll be fleshing out this review as we go along.
“All is not successful” announces Premiere
The cinephile magazine Première praises the fact that The Middle Empire did not choose the same path as the previous Asterix films: “it does not adapt an existing album and prefers to appropriate the places to keep only the equipment essential (fights, banquets, pirates and Julius Caesar)”. However, “everything is not successful (the kung-fu fights, the parade of accessory stars, from Angèle to McFly and Carlito, the strange sluggishness of certain scenes)”. Guillaume Canet also chooses “to put the figure of Asterix and Obelix back at the heart of the story” unlike his predecessors, which allows him to create a “more personal” but also “more human” film, which ” prevents it from collapsing under its digital deluge.”
“A peak of old-fashionedness” for Large Screen
With a rating of 1 star out of a possible 5, Ecran Large clearly did not appreciate this new version of Asterix in the cinema, which is described here as “a summit of mediocrity laid by boomers”. The website criticizes, for example, the many uninteresting cameos but also the script of the film “both too much and not enough written” as well as the staging and “its static camera which agrees with the little latitude given to the film. ‘improvisation”. Gilles Lellouche’s Obélix proposal was appreciated by Ecran Large but “theThe rest of the cast is weighed down by a catastrophic direction of actors “especially Jonathan Cohen. In short, Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom is “never funny and poor in terms of manufacturing”. “A nice waste of money that constantly seems to be twenty years behind.”
The “a little disillusioned” criticism of Le Monde
In the columns of Le Monde, we can read a relatively mixed review about this new episode of the adventures of Asterix. Guillaume Canet’s film has for him that he takes us on a journey in this unprecedented adventure in China: “this new empire brings a change of scenery, epic breath to the story and new characters”. Likewise, the action scenes have fun between typically Chinese martial arts choreography and the joyous mess of Gallic fistfights. “The contrast has its small effect, to then be diluted in a succession of jokes (not always funny), sketches and anecdotal scenes which distribute to each star his little piece of score.” On this subject, “the actors do what they can to give credibility to their disguise.” This is also the case of Guillaume Canet, who certainly directs but who also plays the title role: “under Asterix’s mustache, Guillaume Canet displays a disillusioned expression, which is painful to see.” And Le Monde concludes: “After the two hours spent watching the Romans fly, we look a bit like him.”
“A beautiful eulogy of friendship” for Le Figaro
In his review, Le Figaro explains that Guillaume Canet “enjoys pastiche Tiger and Dragon. Alongside this acrobatic kung-fu, the fight of the Gauls is getting old.” The interpretations of Asterix and Obelix are also hailed: “Lellouche brings a mixture of playfulness and candor to Obelix.” In what concerns Guillaume Canet’s Asterix, “iHe has neither the trickery of Christian Clavier, nor the energy of Clovis Cornillac, nor the eloquence of Édouard Baer. He is an ordinary, restless Gaul. Perfect alter ego of the Frenchman of the 2020s, inhabitant of a world in crisis.” The film is, according to Le Figaro which rates it 2.5/4, “under a blockbuster look, a beautiful eulogy of friendship.”
A formula “that makes pschitt” according to Le Parisien
In its review, Le Parisien explains that Asterix and Obelix and the Middle Kingdom “lacks rhythm and fantasy” despite its original scenario “but without relief” or even “winded.” Biggest problem for a comedy – adventure, yes, but comedy all the same – “We smile sometimes, but we never really laugh in this opus.” The references of Canet’s film seem “dated” here, especially in the 1980s. In the end, the Ile-de-France newspaper gives a score of 2.5/5 to this new opus.
“Better tied than Asterix at the Olympic Games” for Les Echos
Les Echos have published their review of Asterix and Obelix and the Middle Empire. The newspaper finds there “if not the brilliance, at least the tone of Goscinny and Uderzo” with a quite particular style “of piling up puns and reading the contemporary world in the mirror of a fantasized antiquity.” The comparison holds with the less good episodes of the saga but not with the best, namely Mission Cléopâtre by Alain Chabat. “Suite of more or less wacky scenes, the whole thing turns out to be better put together than the catastrophic “Asterix at the Olympic Games” […] Unfortunately, he lacks two or three very good gags, a few truly memorable bursts of laughter, to reach the level of Alain Chabat’s “Mission Cleopatra”.
“The duo works” according to France Info
In the columns of the France Info website, one can read a review which compares, as spectators of the film will undoubtedly do, The Middle Kingdom to the previous Asterix films. France Info also notes that “Guillaume Canet draws from each of these predecessors” with an “endless list of cameos and appearances” as with Chabat. “Like Zidi, the duo works. The complicity between director Guillaume Canet and actor Gilles Lellouche is old.” The continuous news site also specifies that “the special effects are humble but without lack of taste.”