| YELLOW SUBMARINE |
 1968
- UK
Director: George
Dunning - Reviewed by Margot  The
underlying plot of Yellow Submarine is that the Beatles have been
recruited by the bumbling Captain Fred to save Pepperland from the happiness-
and music-hating Blue Meanies, who have frozen the citizens of Pepperland in
their tracks. Animator Hans Edelmann and director George Dunning wanted to
create an odyssey in the style of Lewis Carroll’s "Alice in
Wonderland" or the Greek epics. Their tale starts with Captain Fred, lucky
enough to escape certain doom by hopping aboard the Yellow Sub. He needs help to
save Pepperland, and the intrepid Beatles are more than willing to oblige. The movie continues through the adventurous journey of Fred as he
rounds up the fellows and then they make their way back to Pepperland in the
famed Sub.
But enough about that! About 15 minutes into the film, you realize that you don’t even care what the plot is (if you can even remember it), because the journey itself is so much fun. Basically the movie is really a showcase for the Beatles’ music (much of which is from the "Sgt. Pepper’s" album, with sound digitally re-mastered and presented in the Dolby digital format) and the amazingly imaginative and fantastical animation designed by Edelmann. This is no Disney movie, kids. This is like watching an animated dream sequence—swirling colors, crazy antics, hilarious puns and non sequiturs, and optical illusions galore. The film has been restored to its original eye-poppingly bright psychedelic colors and the print is flawless. Favorite scenes include the surreal scene of Ringo being followed by the Sub, hilarious “Hey Bulldog”, and of course “When I’m 64”, with its animated ticking-off of 64 seconds. Who else but the Beatles could carry the weight of such an unusual and status-quo smashing project? Presented in letterbox format at 1.66:1 aspect ratio on DVD, Yellow Submarine uses some distinct types of animation: the majority of the movie employs the typical hand-drawn and colored cell animation in conjunction with colored “xerox-art” style prints. There is also a brilliant example of rotoscoping in the “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” scene, which is painted in a much looser and more fluid style than the rest of the film. Many of the backgrounds appear to be painted with dazzling watercolor—fluid color transitions and deep hues, sometimes you can even see the grain of the paper! This movie is really an artist’s dream-come-true. You know it’s going to be a great experience when the DVD box itself is bright yellow plastic! The DVD comes with a Yellow Submarine trivia booklet, and the navigation screens are cleverly animated with sounds and characters from the movie (namely Jeremy and the Yellow Sub itself). Navigation to and through the storyboards and photo shoot is slightly less-than-intuitive, and didn’t seem to work quite right on my player, but once I got there they were worth the effort. The re-release of Yellow Submarine, on VHS, DVD, and as a CD soundtrack, will introduce a whole new generation of people to the changing state-of-affairs in 1968. The celebration of imagination and nonsense (oh, and who can forget psychedelic drugs) is brilliantly showcased through both the music and animation of Yellow Submarine. It’s an enlightening look at the late 60s and a fun way to spend a couple of hours, no matter if you’re 6 years old or 64! |
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