ASTERIX AND CLEOPATRA is the proof that clever writing can overcome rather second-rate animation. There are so many gags in this movie that make you just burst out with laughter even though the movie's animation quality can't stand anything that comes from Disney or Ghibli. But it has a very good screenplay which injects a great deal of enjoyment into this piece of work. Plus, it's a colossal improvement over the first Asterix-movie.

Okay, first the negatives: carried over from the first Asterix movie are the limited animation, the rather intrusive background music, the misjudged slapstick fight scenes, the lapses in timing and the muffled English dubbing. But these problems either come in smaller quantities or are simply easier to forgive, given that the film is just so much better overall than the first one. The wit - from the souvenir stalls around the Sphinx (the proprieters of which chisel the noses off the models on sale when the Sphinx loses its own), to the gags about Cleopatra's pretty nose (in reference to Blaise Pascal's phrenological quip "had Cleopatra's nose been shorter, the whole face of the world would have changed") - is sharper, the pacing is less clumsy and even the knockabout fights - still the weakest part - are less tedious. Heck, bits of them are actually kind of entertaining this time round.

The film makes the most of its limited animation using some inventive camera angles, and some simple-but-likable character animation. Caesar's spy, who is completely covered by a cloak that somehow changes colour and pattern between scenes to match his surroundings, is an inspired piece of design. There are definitely low points too, though; the portrayal of the black slaves, with their dopey eyes, massive lips and shuffling gaits, is the kind of racial blunder that was already badly dated by about thirty years.

The film is perhaps a little overlong for its story (and at 72 minutes, that's saying something); but the visual gags and a number of witty moments carry it through. Things only begin to go flat during the climax, which falls back on the same old slapstick fighting. If there's anything really wrong with Asterix and Cleopatra, though, it's that the film's simply not as good as the comic. A lot was lost in the transition; as with the other "Asterix" films, the source material has more wit, energy and overall solidity than the movie. Easier to find, too.

A year after their debut movie, Asterix and Obelix are back for an Egyptian adventure. Edifis, an Egyptian architect friend of Getafix's and possibly the worst architect in Alexandria, is charged with building a giant palace for Cleopatra in record time, so she can win a bet with Caeser. The only hope he has of achieving this is to run off to Gaul and recruit some allies in the form of the Gauls and their magic strength-giving potion . Still, the gang are being sabotaged at every turn by Edifis's rival, Artifis - and by Caeser himself, so things aren't going to be straightforward.

The previous, rather dismal debut Asterix film was made without the knowledge, let alone the participation of writer Rene Goscinny, but for this second feature, he and artist Albert Uderzo were co-directors (though, oddly, Goscinny was apparently content to let three others writers do the screenplay of his own story. You'd think if he was up to directing, he'd be up to adapting his own book.) In any case 'Asterix and Cleopatra' is a very different movie - though sadly, still not a particularly good one.

The animation and general production values improved dramatically in the space of just one year between this and 'Asterix the Gaul' in 1967. This film could have been good, and has its moments, but you get the sense that Goscinny hadn't really got the hang of directing yet. The thing suffers from some really pointless and sometimes plain bad songs as well as slapstick that is just tedious. Some of the gags that worked so well in the books (the running joke with the pirates for instance) are just embarrassing here.

Still there are moments of greatness. The best of the lot comes right at the beginning, and is quintessential Rene Goscinny. The narrator begins by explaining that 2000 years ago Egyptians used to speak "like this" (an Egyptian proceeds to speak in heiroglyphics - i.e. an image forms over his head accompanied by a sound effect), but since this would be impossible to understand, they've decided to dub the film from heiroglyphics into English. Unfortunately they're not very good at this either, and the viewer is warned about possible lip-synch problems. The film is then introduced by the same Egyptian speaking in Arab-inflected English, with mouth movements that have nothing at all to do with what he's saying. At this point I cracked up and was ready to believe that the movie was going to be a classic, but sadly this was about the only real moment of Goscinny magic in the whole thing. There are some other amusing moments - the ticking sundial, the two Egyptian labourers who are trying to haul a huge pyramid stone by themselves because they're getting in some overtime, and I liked the chamelon Roman spy who could camouflage himself as everything from murals to stone blocks, to vegetables, to the sky.

It's a shame, though. The film showed promise, and obviously had a much larger budget, but if the first movie was slavishly faithful to the book, with no imagination on the part of its screenwriters, at least it told a coherent story. This time Goscinny and Uderzo show a lot more creativity, but unfortunately the movie alternately lurches and meanders, and you sense they weren't ready for the director's role yet.

An improvement over the characterless 'Asterix the Gaul', but not by a lot. After this one, Goscinny and Uderzo would stick to writing the books for the next eight years, which is probably a good thing, considering how excellant they were.

It's not a dreadful film. Asterix fans will probably enjoy it, but it's hard to imagine anybody else being very entertained by it.

(my next project is to re-watch 'The Twelve Tasks of Asterix' for the first time in 15 years, and see if it improves on this any, so check my review of that in a couple of days for an update)