“Asterix and Obelix: The Battle of the Chiefs”: a Gallic gem, thanks to Alain Chabat
More than twenty years after "Mission Cleopatra," Alain Chabat hasn't forgotten the recipe for the magic potion. Since April 30, his animated adaptation of "The Battle of the Chiefs," another Asterix album, has been available on Netflix. "It has everything it takes to become a classic," enthuses the German daily "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung."
Almost everyone knows the stories of Asterix and Obelix, in which René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo revisit Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars from the perspective of the conquered Gauls (not quite, in this case). Thanks to Asterix and Obelix, Uderzo and Goscinny became national heroes, transforming the defeat of Vercingetorix in 52 BC into a humorous fable that sees the Romans regularly beaten up by a handful of invincible Gauls.
The comics have spawned nearly two dozen big-screen adaptations, numerous video games, short stories, radio plays, documentaries, board games, a television series, and an amusement park.
When it was announced that Netflix was planning to release yet another version of the Gauls' adventures, there was reason for cautious celebration, given that French director Alain Chabat would be at the helm. In 2002, Chabat shot Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, an adaptation in which he himself played Julius Caesar, whose condescension angers Cleopatra and triggers an absurd bet on the construction of a spectacular palace. The architect in charge
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