| Animated Feature | MPAA:G |
There are lots of movies made from cartoons, but this one is a cartoon made from real life (sort of). Cartoons have found their way into the cabinet, Aladdin (which is truly wonderful), The Lion King (not quite as good as Aladdin as far as I'm concerned, besides, I thought the lion sex scene in the middle of a Disney flick was uncalled for)), Snow White, several cheapie tapes of old animated short subjects (i.e. Looney Tunes) and the hybrids, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Cool World (a poor Roger Rabbit rip off that probably left it's 3 principles embarrassed (Kim Basinger did this movie but wouldn't do Boxing Helena?)). But this review's subject is Yellow Submarine.
The story is quite simple. Somewhere beneath the seven seas lies a land called Pepperland (after the Seargent and his band). Peace, harmony, and music reign supreme there, until the Blue Meanies attack. Realizing the danger, the mayor sends Young Fred off in the Yellow Submarine to find help. Young Fred doesn't find help, but he does find Ringo, who rounds up the rest of the Fab Four, and off they go to help out. After crossing the Sea of Green, the Sea of Time (where they sing When I'm 64), the Sea of Monsters (where the best dialogue comes into play), the Sea of Holes (where the pick Jeremy Hillary Boob Phd. and sing Nowhere Man), and a few other seas, they reach Pepperland. There they battle a host of Blue Meanies, Apple Bonkers, and a ferocious flying Glove, and release Sgt. Pepper and his band from thier watery prison, setting things right again.
This movie is not a celebration of the Beatles, so much as a celebration of late 60's, early 70's psychedelia. The only real Beatle involvement was a brief appearance at the very end of the film. The music was taken from existing albums, with some orchestral bits written by George Martin. While the dialog is consistent with stuff from the movie Help, and various interviews they had done, the voices aren't Beatles. All the same, I have many wonderful memories of this movie. Visiting my cousin in Taylorville, and going out to the Drive In to see it is one of my earliest movie memories (the other is a trip to a different drive in and seeing Food of the Gods). Later in High School, my best friend Kevin and I recorded the audio portion of it (neither family had VCRs at the time), and learned it word for word, while riding our bicycles around the county that summer. And because of those memories, it sits in the cabinet.
This movie is really not much more than a kiddie cartoon, with music that some of us grew up on. The dialog is exceptionally silly, filled to overflowing with puns and silly phrases, and although the Fab Four said none of them, you knew they would have if they could have