El planeta salvaje

I saw this movie a few years ago on the Sci-Fi channel during a movie marathon they were having. Loved it so much I bought the DVD.

Based on a brilliant piece of science fiction ("Oms En Serie" by Stefan Wul). The artwork is stunning, and the story line an original masterpiece.

The plotline of this story is simple.

You enslave a race of beings and take them for granted, one of them eventually learns your language, and unites all his fellow slaves in an organized attack.

Suddenly you've been conquered.

This story line was later ripped off by L. Ron Hubbard and his group of wackos. You might have read the book, or seen the atrocity of a film "Battlefield Earth".

It's like something out of a Salvador Dali painting, but on screen in a science fiction movie. A film where humans are merely pets and insects to a more advanced, giant race of alien beings. The film is pretty awe inspiring and makes one quite philosophical after watching it. It's definitely a masterpiece of its own accord, creatures of strange designs never before seen in any other film that I know of. I would definitely recommend the film to any science fiction enthusiast.

In the world of the animation business there is a recent trends towards super- realism where computer graphics are being increasingly used. Although I appreciate animations like Finding Nemo or the Incredibles for they represent a renewal of the genre (in the same way the Disney movie did in the 50's), the artistic style of La Planete Sauvage is unmistakable and accords perfectly with the dark atmosphere of the movie. This animation is based on the book Oms (a deformation of the french word homme, man) from the French SciFi writer Stephan Wul who should also be credited for being the writer of The Time Masters (another SciFi animation worth your time). Wul's real name is still a mystery. The rare things we know about his life are that he wrote his 10 (or so) only books when he was studying dentistry at the University. He apparently graduated and became too busy to continue his writing activity. What a pity. I've read most of Wul's book and they are all unique and beautiful. The animation sticks true to Wul's vision. The art by the Czech master Topor is dark and oppressing, despite the bright color of the 60-70's-influenced graphism, adding to the uncomfort of seeing human beings treated as pets or pests by giant extraterrestrials. However, the roles are interchangeable and humans do behave too often in the way the extraterrestrials do in the movie with other living creatures on Earth. Hard to find but worth the search.

What a great movie! I had completely forgotten about this film -in fact, I hadn't seen it in over 20 years. Well, I rented 'The Cell' and while I was watching the scene where Jennifer Lopez is in her house with the television on, I noticed those blue aliens and the memories came rushing back! Of course, I came to IMDB to figure out what the title of the film was (it was in the trivia section of 'The Cell' review), and I was pleasantly surprised to find the title. I went and bought the DVD, which is truly outstanding! The basic premise of the movie is that a race of aliens keeps domesticated humans as pets, while eliminating their feral brethren in the wild. The story centers around Terr, who is rescued from a pack of cruel alien children by the daughter of a high-ranking official. Eventually he runs away and ends up meeting the humans living in the wild. They become tired of the treatment they suffer at the hands of the alien race, and seek to exact revenge on their captors.

This movie was made nearly 30 years ago, so the animation is not really comparable to modern-day animation, but the story and the plot transcend time. The premise of the film is as valid today as it was in the 70s.

The DVD edition of the movie comes with three additional animated shorts by Rene Laloux, and they are just as entertaining. This is a real gem of a movie...truly beautiful. My kids love it as well. A true masterpiece.

9/10.

A delightful, original an odd French-Czechoslovakian animation movie by Rene Laloux that wan Cannes Jury's award in 1974.

The 2-D animation is something that you can expect from the seventies, but it is very original and innovative for the time. It has the detail and charm of all good illustration books, and, despite the limits in movement, the characters are very expressive and beautifully drawn, as well as the landscapes. The world and atmospheres created by Laloux are superb, both familiar and strange. The Recipe? Mix Dali surreal landscapes, Bosch architecture and fauna/flora creatures, add a hint of 19th century botanical drawings, slowly pour some Pink Floyd-ish music, and whisk all energetically with a fat-free faux-mythological metaphorical story, and you have The Savage Planet, which is the original title of the movie in French.

The story is very interesting and has many possible interpretations and readings: the role of humans in Nature, cohabitation and coexistence of different species and political systems, what makes different species superior and savage, among others. I found funny that the people in the story are called Oms (French word for people is Hommes and it sounds the same as Oms), and the main character is called Terr (the name of earth in French is Terre and sounds the same as Terr).

The main problem with the story and the characters is that they are not always engaging as they don't transmit enough emotion or feeling to the viewer. The viewer doesn't feel empathy towards the poor suffering human pets or towards the aliens, the first because they really act like a pest, and the second because they are too spiritual and developed to tolerate others than themselves. This is all intended, but still frigidly expressed. The lack of thrill is what kills the movie.

Nevertheless, this is one of those animation movies that everybody should see, full of imagination, talent, and landmarks in Animation. A cult movie that deserves the cult. Unique.