Yellow Submarine

When this film was being shown on the big screen for one night, I could not pass it up. I like "A Hard Day's Night" and so I wanted to see "Yellow Submarine". The filmmakers behind this movie obviously have a lot of imagination. I think it is the "Fantasia" of rock and roll music where as Disney's "Fantasia" uses classical music. Overall however, the film is a little too random, weird and psychedelic for my taste. It did wonders for audiences back in the 60's though.

The great tragedy of this movie is that the Beatles did not play themselves in the film. I can understand John Lennon turning down Disney's "The Jungle Book" but turning down this movie makes hardly any sense. I admit that using actors instead of the real musicians allows the animated versions of John, Paul, George and Ringo to fit into the surreal, colorful world but I was very disappointed nonetheless. I wish that "Help!" had been more popular because then the Beatles would have considered playing their animated selves. I would have rated this movie higher if I was hearing the actual performers. I will say that the introduction of the animated fab four in this film was a fun sequence. I remember the year that Paul McCartney turned 64 because it made the news. Other great moments in the film for me include "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" but that is mostly because I like those songs. I would have liked to have heard "With a Little Help from My Friends" a little longer. I liked many of the witty play-on-words and other jokes such as "Beatleproof". I will have to agree that "nothing is Beatleproof". Once the real Beatles showed up at the end, I could feel a sudden change in things. I think it is a testament of just how appealing and unique their personalities and music are. It is obvious that Disney’s “Fantasia” influenced “Yellow Submarine” and both that movie & this one influenced the invention of the music video. I could tell that the filmmakers wanted to do something that was very different from Hollywood animation. This film fits into the "limited animation" genre as does anime and Monty Python, which were developed in the same decade.

It would have been cool to see a remake in 3D using motion capture (and directed by Robert Zemeckis) but many people would probably view that in the same way I view using voice actors instead of the real fab four. I feel happy that I first saw this movie on the big screen. The restoration of the film and the sound was incredible. They were very clear that machines or computers did not restore this movie but rather human beings, one frame at a time. That makes their work even more impressive and shows just how beloved this movie is for some. Even though I have seen the movie only once, I can tell that it has inspired so many other films. The use of color and imagination is also noteworthy but gets a little out of hand in me book.

3 Stars