Many of the credits of the film Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, currently being shown at Embassy Cinemas, are local names.

The comedy, directed by Alain Chabat and starring Gérard Depardieu and stunning Italian actress Monica Bellucci, was partly filmed in Malta at the Rinella water tanks over a period of 10 days in 2000. The bulk of it was shot in Morocco.

About 25 per cent of the film's crew was Maltese, its production manager was Malcolm Scerri Ferrante and many of the pirates in the movie were Maltese.

Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra was the second film Depardieu shot in Malta, following the TV mini series The Count of Monte Cristo in 1997.

In the movie, popular cartoon characters Asterix & Obelix go to Egypt to help architect Numerobis, who is building a palace for Cleopatra.

According to critics, Chabat, who also acts as Ceasar, has managed to capture the essence of the Adventures of Asterix - the French comic books it is based on - and to "create a fantastically modern and intelligent comedy, which also pays homage to the world of animated films".

The only drawback, the critics say, is that a non-French speaking audience may not get all the private jokes - there are so many dialogues that are impossible to translate and many situations that are directly related to the comic books, or to the French way of life.