Surreal and wonderful in a way not often seen from Europe.
Fantastic Planet (1973)
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Reviews Counted:21
Fresh:18
Rotten:3
Average Rating:7.1/10
Runtime: 72 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Synopsis: FANTASTIC PLANET is Rene Laloux's bizarre, enthralling adaptation of Stefan Wul's allegorical science-fiction novel. The eye-popping underground sensation was also a critical success, winning... FANTASTIC PLANET is Rene Laloux's bizarre, enthralling adaptation of Stefan Wul's allegorical science-fiction novel. The eye-popping underground sensation was also a critical success, winning awards at several prestigious film festivals (most notably, the Grand Prix in 1973 at Cannes). Set on the planet Ygam, the film depicts a world in which Draags--a gigantic race of blue alien beings--run the show. Their pets are human beings--or, as they are known in Laloux's world, Oms--who are mistreated by their devious owners. Fed up with the abuse, one Om organizes his brethren and stages a mutiny that will forever change life on Ygam. Laloux's film blends 1960s ideologies with 1970s technology to create a work that profoundly impacted animators all over the world. In creating a troubled universe dominated by the soulless, conformist Draags, FANTASTIC PLANET rejects that notion and embraces the concept of individuality. A troubled political climate forced Laloux and fellow collaborator Roland Torpor (screenwriter of Roman Polanski's 1976 thriller THE TENANT) to relocate to Paris from Prague in order to finish the film. Fortunately, they were able to do so, leaving audiences with this startling animated achievement. [More]
Director: Rene La Loux
Director: Rene La Loux
Reviews for Fantastic Planet
Roland Topor's graphics create a world reminiscent of two of the greatest artists of the fantastic, Bosch and Odilon Redon.
Period piece, polemic or tripped out hippy whimsy -- Fantastic Planet is all of these and lingers in the system long after ingestion.
A patchwork of cutouts from Soviet tech and science magazines pinned into druggy tableaux, with a genuine sense of placid terror to give teeth to its planar allegories
Thirty-five years later, Rene Laloux's surreal animated film remains a singular psychedelic experience.
The film has a flat quality that cannot entirely be overcome by the sensational animation and the obvious good intentions of its creators.
Anthropology meets surrealist art in a film about the coldly intellectual, logical Traags and the wild, passionate, heartfelt Oms. Manages to be both of our world and somehow not, shucking off any influences and finding a weird wonder all its own.
The animation is crude, but the artwork is never less than astounding.
The strange worlds elaborated by Laloux could hardly be described as utopian, but nonetheless he uses them as a staging ground from which to try to resolve his concerns about the folly and aggression to be found on our own savage planet.
For original, thoughtful, often strong (but tasteful) animation, I recommend Fantastic Planet for family viewing.
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