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Asterix Conquers America

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Asterix in Amerika
VHS cover
Directed byGerhard Hahn
Written byThomas Platt and Rhett Rooster, adapted from René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
Produced byGerhard Hahn and Jürgen Wohlrabe
StarringRoger Carel (French) / Peer Augustinski (German) / Craig Charles (English)
Narrated byHarald Juhnke (German)
John Rye (English)
Music byHarold Faltermeyer
Production
company
Extrafilm Produktion GmbH
Distributed byJugendfilm (Germany)
20th Century Fox (International)
Release dates
September 29, 1994 (Germany)
April 5, 1995 (France)
August 11, 1995 (UK)
Running time
85 minutes
CountriesGermany, United States
LanguageGerman / English / French
BudgetDEM 19.000.000
Box office$768,488 (USA)

Asterix Conquers America is a 1994 animated movie produced by Jürgen Wohlrabe and Gerhard Hahn, the latter of whom also directed it. It was produced in Germany, under the title of Asterix in Amerika, and is the first Asterix film to be produced outside France, which refers to it as Astérix et les Indiens. The movie's plot is loosely adapted from the comic Asterix and the Great Crossing, with a number of changes to it. While the film was distributed in Germany by Jugendfilm, 20th Century Fox handled its distribution outside of Germany.

Plot

Upon learning that his army has once again been defeated by the one remaining village in Gaul that has yet to be conquered by the Romans, Julius Caesar, angry at how embarrassing this makes him appear before Rome's senators, begins thinking up of a new plan to defeat them once and for all. Knowing that the village's strength lies in the magic potion it uses, brewed by Druid Getafix, Caesar assigns Lucullus, a loyal patrician, to the task of capturing Getafix and throwing him off the edge of the world, in the hopes of weakening the village.

In Gaul, an accident during another fight over the state of Unhygienix's fish, leaves the village with barely enough magic potion to protect them. Realising he will need to brew more, Getafix sends Asterix and Obelix out to sea to catch fresh fish, a vital ingredient of the potion, while he and Dogmatix head out into the nearby forest to gather the necessary herbs for it. However, Lucullus takes advantage of the situation, capturing the pair and transporting them to a Roman galley bound for the "world's edge". When Asterix and Obelix spot the galley and the captured druid on it, they quickly go in pursuit, sinking a pirate ship in the process, before losing sight of the Romans when a violent storm blows them off course. However, their hope of rescuing Getafix are restored, when a dolphin appears to guide them back to the Romans, after reuniting them with Dogmatix shortly after he had been dropped overboard by Lucullus. As evening begins to approach, the galley arrives before the North American coastline which the Romans mistakenly believe to be the world's edge. Discovering that the Gauls are back on their tail, Lucullus has Getafix launched quickly by catapult towards the coast, and is amused when Asterix and Obelix wreck their boat while making landfall. Returning to Rome with the good news, Caesar quickly begins moving men to Gaul to lay siege to the village, until its remaining magic potion runs out.

Unbeknown to Caesar and Lucullus, Asterix and Obelix find themselves venturing out into North America, whereupon they begin to explore the land for Getafix. However, night soon falls, and the pair decide to make camp until the morning, whereupon Obelix manages to capture some of the indigenous turkeys (which he refers to as a "gobble-gobble"). The next morning, while Obelix is out of the camp hunting for breakfast, Asterix is captured by Native Americans and taken to their village, where he soon finds himself tied to a pole alongside Getafix and menaced by the Natives and their Medicine Man. Obelix, whose hunt saw him catching a Native American and mistakenly thinking he is a disguised Roman, quickly learns his friend is missing after finding his discarded helmet, and quickly begins searching for him with Dogmatix's help. During his search, Obelix manages to save Minihooha, the daughter of the Native American's chief, from a stampede of bison, who bring him back to her village just in the nick of time to save his friends from harm. After impressing the chief with his strength by besting his champion, Asterix and Getafix are released and the group are welcomed into the village, much to the annoyance of the Medicine Man, who is further humiliated when Getafix proves to be a superior magician. That night, after a party, the medicine man pretends to offer peace, but instead gives all three hallucinogens in a pipe, which knocks them all out.

In the morning, Asterix finds Obelix suffering from hallucinations after inhaling too much of the drug, along with discovering that Getafix was taken prisoner by the Medicine Man. In the Medicine Man's cave, Getafix refuses to hand over the recipe of the magic potion, before lying about the ingredients used in it. When the Medicine Man painfully discovers the deception, he quickly prepares to punish him, before releasing a grizzly bear against Asterix, after he had been guided to the cave by Dogmatix. Defeating the bear and its keeper, Asterix returns to the village, where Minihooha helps to cure Obelix of his condition with a huge meal. The natives soon give the group a canoe to return home, which Obelix paddles tirelessly across the ocean. Returning to Gaul, they quickly find their village devastated, and all but Cacofonix gone, the village's bard left tied up. Learning from him that Caesar has captured the villagers and plans to take them back to Rome, Asterix and Obelix — disguised as legionaries — take gourds of fresh potion to their friends imprisoned at the nearby camp of Compendium. Thus empowered, the Gauls free themselves, and begin trashing the camp. While Caesar escapes disguised as a wine barrel and returns to Rome, Lucullus is consumed alive by Caesar's pet panther. The Gauls, victorious, return to their village and soon listen to Obelix tell them of their adventures as they hold a feast to celebrate.

Cast

Original German version

French version

English version

See also

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