Metamorphoses

This film/feature length music video before the days of music videos is a defiant gem! The music and lyrics, written & performed by disco producer/artist Alec R. Costandinos (Of "Romeo & Juliet", "Thank God It's Friday" & "I Found Love Now That I Found You" fame) fit every image in this great film. They are several short stories in great Japanese animation told about Greek myths..all with a point behind them to make you think. I would say this is a great film for the wide minded ages 13 - Adult. The narration helps along the story with the music. To give a good comparing, it's kinda like how Pink Floyd's "The Wall" tells its story through the music and video. This is a must have for any Alec R Costandinos fan or any Japanese animation collector. Unfortunately, like every other decent piece of film or music, the film and its album that went with it are long out of print. Used VHS copies can be found around the net sometimes as well as vinyl copies of the album.

The film was first released and exhibited theatrically in the USA in 1976 under the METAMORPHOSIS title.

Although the animation was impressive (especially a scene obviously inspired by animator Bill Tytla's work of the huge demon in the "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence of Disney's FANTASIA), there originally was no narration or dialog to explain any of the film's story, nor was Ovid mentioned in any of the advertising for the film, and so bewildered audiences had no idea what was going on in the film plot-wise.

The original soundtrack was also odd in that it had a pop-rock score compiled from unreleased throw-away tracks from such artists as the Pointer Sisters and even The Rolling Stones, which made no sense to the film's story, either, and was merely trying to capitalize on the musical artist's names to hype the film.

After the film failed to find its audience from its first American release, a whole new soundtrack was created with new music, Peter Ustinov's narration, an explanatory opening credit about Ovid, and the WINDS OF CHANGE title change to try and save the film, which still did not do well in its second American theatrical release in 1978.

Even now, the film is sometimes hard to follow, and seeing the film is still helped if you're made familiar with the details of the original Ovid stories ahead of time.

Sold to American cable TV in 1979, and randomly cable-cast for the next few years, the film started to find its cult audience, which grew when the film was released to VHS video a few years later, but has yet to see any official release on non-bootleg DVD or Blu-Ray.

When I was a child, there were two animated films that came out within the same basic time period which I had to wait over a decade to finally see: HEAVY METAL and this film. I finally saw HEAVY METAL in 1990 at a convention. This one I finally saw during the fall of 1998, and it was far, far, FAR harder to track down than HEAVY METAL was (to date, I've only seen two different video stores in two different states that carried it).

Both have funky then-contemporary soundtracks, and both are deemed rebellious moves against the American trend of seeing cartoons for children during the 70s and 80s--they are rated R and PG, respectively. Both are also "anthologies"--that is, containing several stories within one movie. However, there is all the difference in the world between HEAVY METAL and WINDS OF CHANGE, the lesser being that the former has spawned a huge cult following, while this one seems to have been completely forgotten...one gets the impression that it played very briefly in empty theatres. While the former has disappointed many animation film fans like myself who waited all this time to FINALLY see it due to its pessimistic (and not to mention chauvinistic) attitude and ugliness, WINDS OF CHANGE is a much lighter piece of work.

Produced by Sanrio, I'm not quite sure how it was assembled... I almost get the impression that it was originally a series of shorts which were stitched together for this release, but that's only a guess. It has no voices at all, only the narration of Peter Ustinov narrarating and providing ALL the voices here, and the whole thing is set to a HOT, REALLY cool pop/disco soundtrack that was once published by none other than Casablanca Records (not surprisingly). Ok, ok, maybe so far it doesn't sound too hot to you, but I liked watching it all the same.

There is no story here, just a series of Greek myths retold using a character called Dreammaker, or something like that, cast in the role of the various heroes/antiheroes (when I was young, I was so SURE he was an elf--as he looks now, his rounded ears make him look something like a smurf, but nevermind). For some curious reason, though, a similar-looking Peter-Pan-resembling character posing as Dreammaker--who appeared in the first story as someone else entirely--appears later on the film, and we are asked to believe he's the same character. But who cares? The animation is very smooth, and although the stories don't really have happy endings except maybe one, plus the fact that your own fantasies may leap to suspicious attention when you see Pegasus presented here with a snake's head, it is actually a nice, fun film for popcorn fun on a Saturday night.

One of the things that really makes the film the most delightful is Ustinov's deliberately tounge-in-cheek narraration. When he tries to do the voice of a goddess in a bad falsetto, you may chortle more than just a little bit. An excellent example of his vocals here, to give you an idea, comes at a scene in which a goddess is absolutely enraged. Her face is a mask of outrage, her actions fierce as she causes a tempest to swirl about her dramatically, her long hair blowing wildly. And yet... Ustinov's voice says smirkingly in a deliberately normal tone, "I...am MAD. REAL mad. I mean, I am really, REALLY mad. You have not SEEN mad until you've seen ME mad." And when she throws up her arms in a dramatic gesture to make everything stop in order to inflict a curse, he says, "Ok, that's enough, shut up. I have an important announcement to make."

Don't expect a huge grand finale ending either--its end is abrupt and to the point. It's also just as goofy as the rest of the film. WINDS OF CHANGE as a whole is light and fluffy, sure, but it's sort of nice to sit there and let it wash over you mindlessly with its images and music--I think the main reason why I ended up liking this film is that, in its own way, it's so unpretentious. It's not trying to sell toys, isn't trying to wow you with anything, it isn't calculated to any audience in particular, but rather seems to point back to a happier time when movies weren't so commercialized and when more directors made films not to make money or gain prestige, but simply to have a nice time making a movie--just because they WANTED to make it--and sharing it with others. Due to this honesty, WINDS OF CHANGE, while not spectacular, ends up besting practically everything introduced on American Saturday mornings during the 80s alone. Give it a try, you might be pleasantly surprised. It's certainly not up there as a star glittering with the best animated motion pictures of all time, and I'm certainly not suggesting that it represents some vastly important landmark in animation history, but I'm happy I saw it all the same.

I've seen this movie in 1980 and knew that the original title was "Metamorphoses". It is a favorite of mine. I love the look of the design and just the whole take by the Japanese. I especially love the way Pegasus was designed! Reptillian like. I really, really, love this animated movie!!!! I favor this over Disney's style 'Hercules'! What the Japanese do as far as the visual look, it always seems to have a futuristic look about them! That's not even really what I meant. But, anyway, I just love there design sense. Very exciting and refreshing!! I am so glad that this is available for purchase. Although, it is 25 years ago, even now it holds up and inspires me. I have looked for this film for a long time, now.

I actualy discovered this movie because of one of my favorite music artists Alec R Costandinos. Crazy tracking this movie down. I have the album and also I am a DJ who spins retro underground disco and the 18 min "Winds Of Change" instrumental track is the track to put in the mix from this LP. When I found the video and got it I was amazed by the way Costandinos' tracks were put to this animated music video. Also, some of the animation resembles alot of Alec's LP cover photos. I can see why Costandinos got involved with this project. If you are not a Costandinos fan or a lover of 70's underground disco music, this film may still be enjoyable to you if you are into animation and myths. I just think that this film should be released again and mixed into stereo. Another film I yet to track down is "Trocadero Bleu Citron" which is another Costandinos music film that I have the LP for. Anyway, thats a bit off the subject. To me, this is an Alec R Costandinos animated music video, solid and recomended if you can track it down, the LP is more rough to track down.

DJ Jimmy M