Asterix and the Big Fight (film)

Asterix and the Big Fight (Astérix et le coup du menhir) is a 1989 French-German animated film directed by Philippe Grimond and produced by Yannick Piel. It is based on the Asterix comic book series. The film has a different plot from the book of the same name. It combines plot elements from Asterix and the Big Fight and Asterix and the Soothsayer. Although there is plenty of fighting — as usual for an Asterix story — the actual fight that the story is named for is not part of the movie's plot. The novelization was titled "Operation Getafix" (the German translation of the film was Operation Hinkelstein, a hinkelstein being a menhir).

Plot summary
When the Romans plan to capture Getafix in order to prevent him from making the magic potion, a rescue is attempted by the Gauls, in which Obelix accidentally puts Getafix out of action with a menhir, the impact of which causes amnesia and insanity. While the Gauls come to grips with this, a major storm sweeps over the village and a soothsayer named Prolix seeks shelter with them. He quickly deceives the more credulous villagers about the authenticity of his abilities and after the storm passes he sets up in the forest nearby.

Knowing that that they will not be able to protect themselves without the magic potion, Asterix and Vitalstatistix desperately attempt to have Getafix brew some, resulting in explosions and the occasional flying cauldron, and thus alert the Romans that something is up. They send a camouflaged, and very reluctant, spy to investigate, who is quickly captured and used as a guinea pig for Getafix' less explosive concoctions. However, one of these makes him lighter than air causing him to float away, where he reports their problem. The Romans soon send a patrol to investigate, and come back with the Soothsayer instead, whom the villagers think had been driven off by a sceptical Asterix. The centurion is quickly convinced that Prolix is genuine (much to his dismay since Gaulish soothsayers are to be arrested) and decides to use him to chase away the villagers. Soon Prolix appears at the gates and foretells doom if the village is not abandoned — apart from Asterix, Obelix and a still crazed and potion brewing Getafix, the entire village leave for a nearby island.

Meanwhile Getafix brews a very noxious potion whose vapours engulf the village, driving off the Romans who had quickly moved in, but also convincing them that the soothsayer had real abilities since the smell matched his prediction of pestilence. However when Getafix accidentally tastes some he regains his memories and sanity (despite Obelix's attempt to treat his condition with a second tap from a menhir). Getafix soon brews the magic potion and convinces the villagers to test the soothsayer's reliability by having them attack the Roman camp. The soothsayer is quickly "menhired" when he is found to be a fraud, while the centurion is demoted to the ranks for his failure, as the village goes back to normal.

Additional Voices

 * United Kingdom: Sean Barret, Kathryn Hurlbutt, Geoffrey Mathews, Elizabeth Proud, Kerry Shale, Ian Thompson
 * United States: Sherry Lynn, Phil Proctor, Jim Ward

Release notes
The first English dub of Asterix and the Big Fight featured Bill Oddie, Bernard Bresslaw, Peter Hawkins, Brian Blessed, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Andrew Sachs, and Ron Moody, amongst others, and was widely seen in the UK. For the UK DVD Box Set release, rather than using the British dub, an American produced dub was included, featuring the voices of Henry Winkler as Asterix, Rosey Grier as Obelix and Lucille Bliss as Bonnemine. This dub was commissioned by Disney/Touchstone Pictures for a planned US release in 1990, but never materialized and was shelved until French distributor Gaumont acquired the rights and included it on the DVD. The American dub is considered inferior by fans of the original due to it changing parts of the script as well as character names (Getafix is changed to "Vitamix", Vitalstatistix to "Bombastix", Cacofonix to "Franksinatrix," Impedimenta to "Bonnemine" (her actual French name), and Unhygienix to "Fishstix"), and general dumbing-down for an audience assumed to be unfamiliar with the characters. The American dub assigns stereotypical Italian comedy accents to the Roman characters, features a narrator (Tony Jay) explaining the plot to the audience, and makes changes to the terminology of the original story, substituting "wizard" for druid, "fortuneteller" for soothsayer, "rockets" for menhirs, and "vitamin potion" for the magic potion.

Historical inaccuracies
The optio wears a standard legionary's helmet in the film. In his rank, his helmet would actually have had plumes of horse hair or feathers on either side of his helmet that could be accompanied by a helmet crest. He would also carry the hastile, a special staff roughly his own size.