Yellow Submarine (1968) (G)

Yellow Submarine (1968) (G)
Directed by George Dunning
Starring: The Beatles

Daddy Says:

This is going to be interesting. I saw this movie when it aired on network television some 35 years ago, and hadn't seen it again until now. And good luck trying to watch it now, since it's out of print. I got lucky and found a copy at my local Blockbuster. Just one more reason to support your local video stores.

Yellow Submarine is an incredible animated testament to what great drugs people had back in the 60's. As far as plot goes, the magical land of Pepperland is being invaded by the Blue Meanies who have declared war on all that is good, especially music. At the request of an emissary from Pepperland, the fab four agree to take a ride on his yellow submarine to try and save Pepperland from the Blue Meanies. That's about it. The rest of the movie is an excuse to listen to some great Beatles music set to some of the most psychedelic animation ever seen.

The quality and variety of the animation is simply astonishing, even to this day. Some of it will blow you away, some of it will make your eyes hurt. And just about all of it will make you wonder what these people were smoking when they came up with this. The closest thing I can compare this to are Terry Gilliam's animations that he created for Monty Python. Some of his were very surreal, these take surrealism to the extreme.

I quite enjoyed the film. At 90 minutes, it's not too long. The music is fantastic. The Beatles, themselves, are as funny as ever even in animated form. And for some reason, I'm really craving White Castle burgers right now. Weird.

Rating for Yellow Submarine: ****3/4.

Daughter Says:

I really think I should have been high to watch Yellow Submarine. I'm not surprised it went out of print a long time ago.

This movie was psychedelic to the extreme. If a person had epilepsy they probably couldn't watch Yellow Submarine either, because there was so many flashing things. The best part of this film was that the real Beatles were in it. Not actors singing their songs for them. I found them really funny, and Ringo cracked really cheesy jokes.

I will give Yellow Submarine this much: it is a movie of another kind. I haven't seen a movie like this since Tommy, and he was real. These characters were all cartoons. Everyone says that Across the Universe was psychedelic too, but at least it was real people and not cartoons that kept changing size and appearance.

I don't know whether to suggest this movie or just tell you guys to stay clear of it. My brain was beyond fried by the time the movie ended. But I really enjoyed the music, and the drawings were very colorful. It also had a semi-good story line to it. I think I'll leave it up to you to decide if you want to see this fascinating movie.

Rating for Yellow Submarine: ***.