Asterix & Obelix Take on Caesar

This lavish and robust live-action chapter of the famous cartoon (dubbed for export) did exceptional business at the French box office. Thanks to a dash of romance and a new improved magic potion, the 'battle with the foregone conclusion' routine still manages to surprise. There are satisfyingly bloodthirsty fights and one or two genuinely decent thrills - the best featuring a dog and a tub of tarantulas. Gauls downing drugs prompt regular helpings of glittering visual tricks which - alongside Terry Jones' inventive English adaptation full of anachronisms, insults and knowing corn - more than amply distracts from the fact that in the English version nobody's mouth seems to be working properly.