Costumes are tops, from Numerobis’ ancient sneakers to Cleopatra’s low-cut haute couture. Production design by At Hoang (“The Lover,” “Seven Years in Tibet”), working in Malta, Morocco and studios, is terrific, with Cleopatra’s throne room impressive and a construction scene with 2,000 extras a knockout. When it looks as if Cleopatra will win the bet, Caesar begins to play dirty. Script gets in some funny riffs about contemporary labor relations and France’s 35-hour work week as the slaves negotiate for better working conditions. Jokes about contractors and construction delays will amuse anybody who has ever undertaken even minor home improvements. They meet pirates along the way and have to deflect all manner of sabotage and subterfuge once they arrive.

Panoramix won’t sell the potion but, eager to do some research at the swell library in Alexandria, agrees to go to Egypt with Asterix, Obelix and the dog in tow, to see if they can help speed up construction. Also, Obelix is always hungry and never travels without his smart dog, Idefix. While short, feisty Asterix (Christian Clavier) requires the elixir to punch out Roman soldiers, sweet-as-a-pussycat and wide-as-a-house Obelix (Gerard Depardieu) is permanently superstrong because he fell in a vat of it as a baby. The basics of the comic book are recapped for novices: Just one sip of the potion, produced exclusively by the druid Panoramix (Claude Rich, delightful), confers superhuman strength.

Since the strict three-month deadline is unrealistic even with bountiful slave labor, Numerobis treks to France in hopes of buying some of the magic potion that has enabled the village in Brittany where Asterix and Obelix live to remain the lone holdout against the detested Roman empire that has overrun Gaul. The fly in the unguent is the queen’s official architect, Amonbofis (Gerard Darmon, hissingly right on), who resents Cleo’s decision to forego his “too classic” style for something young and trendy. If the deadline is not met, Numerobis will be fed to the crocodiles. If she succeeds, Caesar must announce publicly that Egypt is the greatest civilization around. Fed up with Caesar’s taunts that Egypt ain’t what it used to be and Alexandria is no more than “a suburb of Rome,” Cleopatra (Bellucci, imperious and sexy) bets Julius that her workers can build him a desert palace (yep, “Caesar’s Palace”) in three months flat. The cast brims with comic talents that are household names in Gaul, starting with Jamel Debbouze - the sweet delivery boy who works with the nasty grocer in “Amelie” - as Numerobis, a young architect drafted to help Cleopatra win her bet with Caesar (Chabat), which is pic’s raison d’etre.

Asterix and obelix: mission cleopatra