Movie Review: Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion

The second movie I went to see last Sunday. The Asterix franchise and me, we go way back. I was introduced to it fairly young, as my father is also a huge fan. In fact, he's a fan not only of this series, but also of Lucky Luke, another Franco-Belgian comic book series. A TV channel in my province likes to air the films from these two franchises (as well as Tintin) throughout December. I've seen every Asterix movie (not an achievement, there's only ten) and own four on DVD; as for the comic books, I lost track of how many I own. I don't have them all, but I do buy every new entry in the series when it comes out. It's usually a present for my dad. The Asterix franchise may be among the ones that give me the biggest feeling of nostalgia.

This movie was releaed in Europe in December 2018, we only got it in February on the other side of the ocean. I, of couse, went to see it in theaters with my father. No way we were going to miss that.

The Secret of the Magic Potion is less of an Asterix or Obelix movie. It actually seems to focus more on Getafix, the Gaul village's druid, the creator of the magic potion that gives the villagers that incredible strength that allows them to fend off the Roman invaders. It's nice to have a day in the limelight for other characters in the series sometimes. Getafix tends to be put aside, as he's usually shown with only two main traits: He's the wise old man of the village, and he makes the potion. This movie gives him a lot more personality than we usually see.

This film wastes no time, either, in showing the main conflict. While gathering ingredients in the forest, after rescuing a baby bird, Getafix falls off a tree. Now healing from a broken foot, he realizes his own mortality. After a few days, he realizes that he won't be there forever to make the magic potion for the village, and so he decides to go on a quest to find a worthy successor to whom he'll teach the recipe for the potion. Asterix and Obelix go with him, and Pectine, a young gadgeteer girl from the village, comes along after hiding in a small cauldron they were bringing with them.

For this quest, Getafix has to get to the council of druids in the Forest of the Carnutes. He sends boars to tell the news to other druids, but a baby boar gets lost in the way and ends up at the hut of Sulfurix, a rival of Getafix and rogue druid who's been banned from the community due to his malevolent use of druidic magic... Also not helping things, there are MANY apprentice druids out there, but very few of them seem to be worth the position; most are either incapables, idiots or sellouts. This is going to be a long quest. Soon, the men of the village decide to tag along, most of them, leaving the village to be defended by the women (and Cacophonix). They have decent reserves of magic potion, but it won't last forever...

I like that this is a story that's never been told, and I actually mean two things there. First, it's an original story, not inspired from any book from the series. Second, the Asterix series rarely focused on druids and magic, so it's interesting to finally have a story that tackles this element of that universe in greater depth. Then again, anytime magic gets too involved in the Asterix series, everything goes pear-shaped, so it shouldn't be a surprise that things get crazy later in this film.

The story takes some turns that you can see coming - in fact, my father who hardly ever gets things right when trying to figure out how a story will unravel actually guessed correctly one of the twists of this one. But that doesn't deter from the non-stop comedy and the impressive visuals. Oh, this movie is gor-geous. You would think it was made by an American animation studio with a big budget. Many, many moments stand out with how beautiful and/or impressive they are. The soundtrack isn't bad either!

I guess my biggest issue with the film (which was also my dad's) was that, with the focus on the magical side of that world, things get so crazy that the climax ends up feeling very un-Asterix. Call that a shark-jumping moment if you want, I personally don't feel it's quite there, but it does clash a bit with the usual Asterix fare. The franchise is no stranger to parody, but this one time it may have veered a little too far into parody to the point the final scenes didn't feel like they quite belonged in there... Buuuuut since we're talking the final scenes of the climax, it would be huge spoilers to explain what I mean.

However, I do recommend it, as it's not a few minutes at the end that should ruin what was, up to that point, a fantastic story that was never told before with these characters. If it airs in a theater near you, in your language, do go and see it.

A last few elements in the story, still mostly spoiler-free:
-The elder druids aren't exactly incapables, but their council is definitely not as great as you'd expect it to be. A staple trope of works written by the maker of Kaamelott, really.
-Why doesn't Getafix want to share the secret of the potion with anyone but his successor? The more people know about it, the more chances it can get in the wrong hands. And some druids reveal themselves unscrupulous enough to side with the Romans, and them learning the secret would be devastating.

-Getafix is looking for a talented apprentice druid, which is already rare, but he's also looking for one who's both disciplined and can instill a sense of wonderment through his knowledge of magic, which is also pretty rare considering druids tend to prefer spells that have a clear utility.

-One of the apprentice druids met on the journey looks a lot like Jesus, and his skill is to multiply bread. Subtle.

-Thinking it would be better if someone from the village learned the secret, Unhygienix (the fish salesman whose products are never fresh) tries his hand at potion-making during the trip. It doesn't go as planned.
-The villain, Sulfurix, is pretty great.
-Last but not least, the pirates get sunk four times in this film. That might be a new record.