The Twelve Tasks of Asterix (1976)
One of my favorite animated movies when I was a kid was The Twelve Tasks of Asterix. For those of you who are unaware, Asterix was a belgian comic book by Uderzo and Goscinny, which is an historical parody of the Roman Empire, in a largely dominated Gaulle, only a tiny village has yet to be conquered by Caeser's legions. The gaulles in that village are super strong due to a magic potion that grants them super powers. The main hero is Asterix, one of the soldiers and his best friend Obelix, an obese quarry man, who is the only one who never needs to take the potion, because he fell into a cauldron of that stuff when he was little.
Many of the stories involve Asterix and Obelix foiling the Roman's plans to take over that little village.
The stories are littered with modern references, running gags and tons of 4th wall jokes.
This movie is no different. The Romans after getting constantly pounded, must've realized that the Gaulles might be Gods and Caeser issues them a challenge, to complete different variations of the Twelve tasks of Hércules, the famous hero of Roman mythology.
By winning them, Rome surrenders.
It's a fun little movie, but does it hold up as well. Not quite, since our heroes resort to the actual potion most of the times, they go through each and every challenge largely unschated, one of the movie's highlights, however, comes in the form of one of the tasks that have them just simply asking for a permit. But asking for a permit requires them to endure some nearly impractical burocratic procedures and obnoxious civil servants.
But other than that, you are just going through the motions, because you know that they are unstoppable.
It's a fun little film for kids, but sadly, adults, such as myself will find the movie a tad tedious.
