Yellow Submarine

After learning that my girlfriend had only see Yellow Submarine while stoned, and seemed convinced that was the reason she liked it, I insisted she watch it unstoned. She still liked it, and it was every bit as good as I recalled.

The story makes no sense, as the movie struggles to turn a bunch of random songs into some sort of narrative, but that hardly matters. The pun-filled script is blithely entertaining, the scenarios are wonderfully imaginative, the songs are terrific (of course), and the visuals are beyond amazing. The animation has a lose, experimental feel that was extraordinary at the time and is even more so in the days of digital animation.

Surprisingly, the weakest aspects of the movies are the Beatles' contributions, which consists of four of their lesser songs (although I do really like Only a Northern Song even though my girlfriend points out it's quite similar to Harrison's previous If I Needed Someone). None of the new songs really helped with creating the story and thus feel a little shoehorned in.

The first time I saw this movie I was 10 years old and I loved it. Now I'm 58 and I still love it. It is a gloriously colorful display of 60s pop art that should be seen by anyone who loves animation, the Beatles, or weird psychedelic art.

'Yellow Submarine' is a visual stunner and an extremely well-scripted movie. There are lots of Beatles in jokes, George's fascination with Indian music and John's fascination with scientific theories are lampooned, the Beatles' power is joked about ("Nothing's Beatle Proof!") and poor old Ringo is just plain made fun of. The movie itself is arguably the most psychedelic ever made. The Beatles' descent into Pepperland is just one psychedelic scene after the other. The animation isn't great, but everything is just done so strange and fun that it becomes absolutely irresistible. The colors, landscapes, and creatures are just really different and vivid and vibrant. The songs are fit in very, very well (although "Nowhere Man" is undoubtedly the best sequence). Overall this works great as a musical or as an animated film, and there's definitely a lot of priceless, subtle dialog. I would name it one of the top 20 animated films of all time, really. Definitely worth watching, just because there simply isn't any movie like it.

10/10

The music of the Beatles had galvanized an army of very creative artists who have accomplished the impossible, and created the movie that parallels the elegance and beauty of the music that inspired it. Many people feel that this film is a miracle, and I have the same feeling, especially when I'm watching it breathlessly from the beginning to its end.

Similar to the way the Beatles themselves have created many of their masterpieces, this film is the result of a "controlled chaos". Lennon remarked that many of his imagery and lyrics were just conceived off the top of his head, which is precisely the thing that gives them the freshness and spontaneity we adore. Same is with the rich and fulfilling imagery of this film -- it is obviously an outcome of the 'shoot from the hip' approach. It sounds unbelievable, but the film's ending (the most brilliant piece of all), was thrown in during one hectic weekend! Knowing this, it is not surprising to learn that the principal artist who designed the look and feel of the "Yellow Submarine" movie, almost went blind after finishing it (he set a grueling schedule of sleeping only four hours every other night during the making of the film! -- it took him several years to regain his health)

On a personal level, this film works as some kind of revelation for me. It is impossible to put it into words, but the film stirs the deepest, most contradictory emotions in me. It transcends space and time, and has the ability to bring me into the state where the regular, everyday thoughts do not apply. In that respect, it is as strong as the best Beatles songs.

Many criticisms of this movie are sadly missing the point. To criticise the animation as being jerky and unrealistic amounts to criticising Picasso for not painting more photo-realistic canvases. Misses the point entirely. To criticise the understatement-laden dialogue is to miss the finer points of comedy, insisting on the Three Stooges slapstick only. To say that the story line is incoherent is to betray the sitcom-infested mind in the sad state of commercial-induced eating disorder.

I must confess that I had approached the viewing of this film with a huge dose of skepticism. I thought it's going to look and feel lame, with a dated and naive hippy/psychedelia cliches. Boy, was I in for a shock!

My rating: 11 out of 10

This could have been poorly done had it not been for a sense of quality that seemed to be a part of the Beatles and their people. This is the wonderful story of society that develops over time and come under threat. But it is not the usual "save the world" kind of thing but rather the creation of a world like we've never seen. There is a surreal being to it. It is colorful and engaging. Of course, what is most impressive is the integration of Beatles music into the plot. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a great example of psychedelic visuals. But overall, it is a movie that never bores. Its images are striking and there is an array of the most wonderful characters.

Next to FANTASIA, YELLOW SUBMARINE is one the best animated feature films ever made. We will always remember the sixties pop-art imagery along with some of the best dialog to grace cartoon-land ("I haven't had so much fun since Pompeii....""I'm a born lever puller.") not to mention some of the best music to come from the best set of musicians the 20th century has produced! This is a kid's film at heart (wild adventures in strange distant lands, weird monsters, loud over bearing villians....) My only criticism is in the re-mastering, in 1999. The song "Hey, bulldog..." is added toward the end (A scene where the fab four meet up with a bunch of the Blue Meanies' bulldogs, and defeat them with the power of music.) The scene looks hastily slapped together,like something out The Beatles cartoon series (which was hated by the real life Liverpool lads. That's why they were originally not too thrilled with the announcement of this animated film.) There is a reason why these scenes are deleted, to allow classics like this to flow so easily on the screen. Anyway, a great, great classic.