Asterix: the Mansions of the Gods

This feature outing for the iconic French cartoon characters sees Caesar trying a new, more subtle tack in his attempts to subdue those uppity and indomitable Gauls. Fed up with their magical strength potion turning force into farce, he tries Romanisation instead, ordering a Roman supercity to be built near the Gallic village, and encouraging both Romans and Gauls to co-exist in it. It's a cunning plan of seduction and absorption by civilisation. Can Asterix, Obelix and co thwart it? It's a little odd hearing the overdubbed voices of well-known British comics emanating from such intrinsically Gallic characters. And its not-so horrible history probably won't teach kids too many truths about the Gallo-Romano wars, though the Romans did prefer absorption to conquest where possible. But, despite some languid stretches, it's genial knockabout stuff for slightly older kids that, like Caesar, comes, sees and kind of conquers.