Asterix – Operation Hinkelstein (1989)

Asterix – Operation Hinkelstein: Directed by Philippe Grimond. With Roger Carel, Pierre Tornade, Henri Labussière, Julien Guiomar. The druid is accidentally hit by a menhir thrown by Obelix and loses his mind and memory.

“When Getafix loses his memory the village loses itu0026#39;s defence in the magic potion. The arrival of a mysterious soothsayer further endangers the village as the Romans prepare to invade. There are several attempts to make Asterix films and none of them are very successful. This is a mix of stories – it is an adaptation of Asterix and the Big Fight and Asterix and the Soothsayer. However the two stories are not complete and in fact some of the situations contradict each other, the plot is such a mess that the big fight of the title that ends the book is not in the film at all! The main problem is that this could be any cartoon, there is none of the humour and wit of the books. It even ropes in a terrible musical number – something that would never happen in the books! The voices are mainly all miscast, Bill Oddie is a terrible, terrible choice for Asterix – too mousy and squeaky. Getafix, Obelix and the women characters are all miscast. The only good voice is Brian Blessed – but his presence begs the question why was he involved in this? Overall this is very boring with a terrible mixed up story, unlikeable versions of the characters and a total lack of comedy present in the books.”