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Yellow Submarine

Plot

Yellow Submarine is an animated meandering journey filled with puns and dry British humor, where psychedelic music videos take precedent over any linear story. What little there is of a plot, however, concerns a vibrantly colored place called Pepperland that resembles the album cover for Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band come to life. The swirling animation is a mixture of pop-culture images and modern artistic styles brought loosely together with a naïve antiwar message and some clever political commentary. The Blue Meanies take over Pepperland, draining it of all its color and music, firing anti-music missiles, bonking people with green apples, and turning the inhabitants to stone by way of the pointed finger of a giant white glove. As the only survivor, the Lord Admiral escapes in the yellow submarine and goes to London to enlist the help of the Beatles (voiced by actors). The charming and innocent boys travel through strange worlds and meet bizarre characters, including the tagalong Nowhere Man. Several blissed-filled musical sequences and drug references later, the Beatles drive out the Blue Meanies and restore Pepperland to tranquility armed with only music, love, and witty remarks. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Review

An animated musical-epic, Yellow Submarine is a head movie for the whole family to enjoy. Made as the Beatles were close to breaking up, and agreed upon as a way to get out of the United Artists' three-picture deal after Hard Day's Night and Help!, the bandmembers had minimal input on the film. They didn't even provide voice-overs and only appeared in a short live-action scene. Yet, Yellow Submarine stands as evidence of what the band symbolized to fans by portraying the Beatles saving the world with love and music. Visually, it is a kaleidoscopic lesson in art history, with director George Dunning fusing together pop art, op art, surrealism, and general weirdness. The swirling colors and dazzling movement set the standard for British psychedelia of the time, as well as proving influential for experimental animation styles to come. The story is numbingly simple, interspersed with cultural references and the spontaneous banter common to the other Beatles movies, but that is secondary to the excellent musical score, including "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," "Eleanor Rigby," and "All You Need Is Love." Yellow Submarine remains an animated classic that captures the charming fantasy of the late-'60s psychedelic phenomena. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Cast

Paul Angelis - Ringo/Chief Blue Meanie; Peter Batten - George; The Beatles; John Clive - John; Geoffrey Hughes - Paul; Lance Percival - Old Fred; Dick Emery - Nowhere Man

Credit

Heinz Edelmann - Art Director, Diane Jackson - Animator, Jack Stokes - Animator, Dick Horn - Animator, John Challis - Animator, Jim Hiltz - Animator, George Dunning - Director, Dick Emery - Director, Brian J. Bishop - Editor, Alan Kozlowski - Executive Producer, The Beatles - Composer (Music Score), George Harrison - Composer (Music Score), John Lennon - Composer (Music Score), George Martin - Composer (Music Score), George Martin - Musical Direction/Supervision, John Williams - Cinematographer, Al Brodax - Producer, Erich Segal - Screenwriter, Jack Mendelsohn - Screenwriter, Lee Minoff - Screenwriter, Al Brodax - Screenwriter

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