The most expensive film to be made in France was unleashed across the Continent yesterday in the widest ever release of a European film. But critics told the audience to stay at home.

A chorus of jeers greeted the extra-vagant launch of Astérix at the Olympic Games, a €78 million (£58 million) comedy that was de-Gallicised to appeal to the widest European audience. “Anaemic, tepid with no ideas ... you will be disappointed,” said the tabloid Parisien. France Soir called it “a classic turkey”. The highbrow Le Monde dismissed it as a “vacuous gigantic stewpot.”

Stars and guests, ranging from Alain Delon and Gérard Depardieu to Michael Schumacher and Zinédine Zidane, play in this third feature film from the cartoon adventures of the plucky Gaullish villager. It was released in 6,000 European cinemas, from Moscow to Madrid, with €20 million of marketing, including promotions in 6,000 branches of McDonald's in 43 countries. The main exception is Britain, which has so far resisted the film exploits of Astérix, Obélix, his sidekick, and Idée Fixe, their dog.

Lamenting the weary gags and dreary chariot chases, the French critics accused the producers of dumbing down the franchise since Mission Cleopatra, which sold 15 million tickets in 2002. The film, the second Astérix, directed by Alain Chabat, a television comedian, was as full of in-jokes and turned the Gauls-versus-Romans theme into a satire of modern France.

The chief charge is that Thomas Langman, the young producer and codirector, has neutered the subversive spirit of French comedy and crafted a product for the common Eurodenominator. “A not very Gallic potion,” said Le Figaro. “Astérix and Obélix have been reduced to bit parts.”

Langman, who is the son of Claude Berri, the venerable producer of the first two films, has been defending himself. “I love the humour of Chabat, but his film did not work abroad,” he said. “Either you talk to 60 million people in France or to a 300 million potential audience in Europe. I chose the second option. That's why we included parodies of Russell Crowe's Troy and of Star Wars in the script.”

To add appeal in each market Langman cast stars from Astérix-loving countries from Belgium to Slovenia. He enlisted the Spaniard Santiago Segura, Michael “Bully” Herbig, a German comedy actor-director, and the Italian comics Paolo Kessisoglu and Luca Bizzarri. Astérix is played for the first time by Clovis Cornillac, a popular French actor, while Depardieu plays his third Obélix.

Trying to explain why test audiences did not laugh much, Mr Langman said that his film was aimed at children and family entertainment.

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