Netflix's Most Exciting Animated Movies Are Classics From The Past [Annecy]

The Annecy Animation Festival is a special place where the majority of attendees are animation students and young folks just getting their start in the industry. There is a palpable excitement and genuine desire to know how these projects are made that is simply not present at any other festival or convention. But, much like Comic-Con, the studio presence is increasing with every year and trying to overwhelm attendees' attention with flashy titles, known IP, and big name talent. Sometimes it works great, though, like in 2022 when Netflix gave a bunch of auteurs the space to realize their passion projects and showcased movies such as "Wendell & Wild" and Guillermo del Toro's "Pinocchio."

This year, Netflix returned to Annecy with another big presentation showcasing some of its upcoming titles, including Zack Snyder's animated show "Twilight of the Gods" and the many other titles it has coming out in the next year or so. But even if the streamer wanted audiences to be excited about potential new franchises and major IP, the biggest reactions by far were for the two oldest sets of characters.

That's right. Forget Zack Snyder. Forget Roald Dahl adaptations. What people really want to see is the return of Feathers McGraw and also Astérix and Obelix.

Feathers is making his triumphant return in "Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl," the first major Wallace & Gromit film since 2005. Original creator Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham took the stage to introduce the film and the first footage of it, showing three clips from the movie that received big cheers. The story follows Wallace as he invents a smart gnome that gains sentience and wreaks havoc. It looks just as stunning, funny, and heartwarming as you'd expect from Aardman, with a particularly great sequence being a short clip of Feathers pumping iron and doing pull-ups in prison.

The absolute biggest reaction — the one title that got resounding, thunderous applause — was a home-grown franchise: "Astéerix & Obelix." Created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo as a comic book series about two Gaulish warriors fighting the misfortunes of the Roman Republic in the time of Caesar (with the help of a magic potion), Asterix and Obelix are two of the most iconic characters in French popular culture. It is the best-selling comic book series in history after "One Piece," while Astéerix & Obelix themselves have been around in some form since 1959. Based on the reaction during the Netflix presentation at Annecy, the franchise's popularity hasn't wavered.

Directed by Alain Chabat (no stranger to the characters, having directed "Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra") and Fabrice Joubert (the Oscar-nominated short film "French Roast"), "Asterix & Obelix: The Big Fight" shares a title with the seventh comic book in the series, in which the Romans suggest ending their humiliation by the Gauls with a final showdown between the chief of the Gallo-Romans and the chief of Asterix's tribe. The footage looks just like a comic book brought to life, filled with gags, action, and onscreen onomatopoeia, which reflects the zaniness of the source material.

The versatility of the comic and the characters, combined with the unique setting and sense of humor, makes "Asterix and Obelix" a timeless franchise, but having Alain Chabat on board certainly helps to keep the essence of the characters intact. Even for those unfamiliar with the franchise, the footage looks like a fun, action-packed adventure armed with beautiful animation and a great sense of humor. In an era of IP and franchises, two of the most exciting movies coming out have been around for decades, and they never really left.