Submarino Amarelo

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.

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

I consider myself fortunate to have seen "Yellow Submarine" in London right after its world premiere in July 1968. I was a young teenager at the time, and my father had brought my sister, brother, and me to Europe for our first visit. The picture was showing at a large cinema called the London Pavilion in the heart of Piccadilly Circus, and The Beatles themselves had attended the opening just a few days before. It was great to see this movie on a big screen with a good sound system. We loved the music and vivid colors. When we saw it again in Boston a few months later, we were angry that the "Hey Bulldog" number and a few other bits had been cut to reduce viewing time. I think the "Eleanor Rigby" number is best. The animated montage shown during the "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" number was partly taken from the 1933 Hollywood musical "Dancing Lady" and in 2006 I saw this old film on Turner Classic Movies, instantly bringing back memories of "Yellow Submarine." The girl on the merry-go-round horse was none other than the leading actress Joan Crawford .... who was beautiful indeed in 1933, despite becoming a horror much later. No wonder John Lennon's character in the cartoon liked her so much in his psychedelic dream!

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.

I will readily admit that I don't watch too many movies,unless I have heard good reviews about them or if it is an art film. While perusing the movies at the local library, I was attracted to the bright yellow case this movie was in. (I didn't know what it was at the moment.) Being a Beatles aficionado(sp?), I checked it out and brought it home. My husband was thrilled as he saw it when he was 5! Oh man. Get ready for a visual feast of color and sound.(and humor!) I was literally glued to the screen for the duration of the film. I mean, if you take your eyes off of it for just a second you will miss something. I love bright vivid contrasting colors so this was great, but it may hurt your eyes if you're into earthtones. I found it a great escape from reality and very light hearted. The art is fabulous. FABULOUS!!! I have seen a great many things in my life but NOTHING like this. Truly unique. Thanks for reading.