TV Review: Asterix & Obelix: The Big Fight (2025)

Asterix & Obelix: The Big Fight (2025) created by Alain Chabat based on the comics by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo

This CGI-animated short series (5 episodes that are 30-40 minutes each) tells the tale of another attempt by Caesar's Romans to take over the last independent village in Gaul. The Romans haven't conquered it because the village druid, Panoramix, has invented a potion that temporarily gives the villagers superhuman strength. One villager, Obelix, fell into a pot of potion as a child and permanently has super-strength. He's a menhir merchant, selling large stones (like the ones at Stonehenge). The villagers are tough and regularly beat any legion that comes to conquer.

The Roman plan is two-fold. First, they kidnap Panoramix so the villagers won't have the potion. Second, they get one of the other Gaulish chiefs to challenge village chief Vitalstatistix. The Gauls have an ancient law that one chief can challenge another to combat and whoever is victorious becomes chief of both villages (the titular Big Fight). Without the potion, Vitalstatistix (a chubby little fellow) is sure to lose. Caesar himself comes from Rome to witness the ultimate triumph of the Romans.

The story is based on one of the original comics by Goscinny and Uderzo, but this version throws in a lot of other stuff. The flashback story of Obelix's accident is shown. The big fight at the end has the Romans building an arena and fun fair for the event, enabling them to make fun of sports commentators and Disneyland. The creators of the show throw in some new characters with punny names, like Tenmillionclix (whose name gets changed to Tenmillionviyus to be more Roman), Annabarbera, and Fastanefurius. The usual puns and comic interactions work really well with the animated style. This series captures the fun and entertaining spirit of the original comics.

The series was made in French and I watched with subtitles but there is an English-dubbed version. As I write (June 2025), this is only available streaming on Netflix.

Recommended, highly for Asterix fans.