Fantastic Planet has about a hundredth of the technical proficiency- or just money- that any given Pixar film might have in just its first couple of reels. But there's probably just as much invention and eye-popping mind-blowing madness, if not exponentially more-so, than any recent CGI film. It's, well, art. Yes, to throw a word as big and all-encompassing like that is tricky, Fantastic Planet qualifies as some kind of weird artistic feat of surrealism and pure science fiction. And by sci-fi I mean the cream of the crop in storytelling and ideas: it's about the impact of images in a strange land being somehow completely relatable, if only in social construct or satirical forms, as though we were witnessing Gullivers Travels mixed around with Dune and then filtered through some renegade animator that got through the gates at a studio and churned something out fast. It's like a strange revelation that won't leave your mind.
And yes, leave no mistake, it also works very well as a "stoner movie", one of those ridiculously warped visions that goes into the world of the imagination so heavily, with tangential moments in scenes (the 'blending' of the Draags in one scene, the constant flow of various monsters, the 'mating' ritual, the de-Oming), with a soundtrack that's like a outstanding, unlikely collaboration between Isaac Hayes and Pink Floyd (you don't know whether it'll split into Dark Side or Shaft). Premise is simple: a little oprhaned Om named Terr is taken in as a 'pet' of Tiwa, and is half tortured half loved by her. But, as case happens, she outgrows him, and he runs away after being filled with knowledge by some machine. Then he gets sucked into the underground world of the Oms, where there's lots of mating and other activities, such as fights (wacko scene with those teeth-filled monsters strapped on like Gonzo gladiators). But their civilization is in peril, and it's time to fight back!
Lots of classic myths pumped in, but at times you almost forget there's story, which might be half the point. The director Rene Laloux, along with collaborators like Roland Topor, creates a world unequivocally unto itself, where there are real strokes with pencils and colors and inks, where it seems very much like a collection of pictures from some obscure European fable book for kids, only loaded with some kind of life-force that moves like no other animated film (maybe it's slightest, closest-distant relative is Yellow Submarine, which is still a stretch). Characters move in and out occasionally like a Terry Gilliam short- giant hand and other objects placed in almost jokingly, which makes it a lot of fun at times- and there's something eerie in Laloux's dedication to pushing the expectation-level, mainly because, as noted, we haven't seen this style before. It's a quiet form of sensationalism, where it sneaks up on the viewer, and then takes over a scene, growing little by little, like some weird plant.
In short, he does his job as a genre director, probably on par with the great visionaries, while using some primitive methods of animation. But through imperfections there's more expressive tendencies, moments of chance and random visions like a monster springing organically about to eat another, or to go through bizarre mating rituals as Venus de Milo statues with blue heads. Or, in other words, as my long-winded adulation goes to say, a superb "stoner movie". Not that being sober will make you absorbed any less; it's a compliment, in a sense, that in its glory of its time it reaches a true cult impulse, where children can enjoy its wonderful glimpses of the "fantastic", and adults can have another more mature, thought-provoking input in its implications on power and human nature.
And yes, leave no mistake, it also works very well as a "stoner movie", one of those ridiculously warped visions that goes into the world of the imagination so heavily, with tangential moments in scenes (the 'blending' of the Draags in one scene, the constant flow of various monsters, the 'mating' ritual, the de-Oming), with a soundtrack that's like a outstanding, unlikely collaboration between Isaac Hayes and Pink Floyd (you don't know whether it'll split into Dark Side or Shaft). Premise is simple: a little oprhaned Om named Terr is taken in as a 'pet' of Tiwa, and is half tortured half loved by her. But, as case happens, she outgrows him, and he runs away after being filled with knowledge by some machine. Then he gets sucked into the underground world of the Oms, where there's lots of mating and other activities, such as fights (wacko scene with those teeth-filled monsters strapped on like Gonzo gladiators). But their civilization is in peril, and it's time to fight back!
Lots of classic myths pumped in, but at times you almost forget there's story, which might be half the point. The director Rene Laloux, along with collaborators like Roland Topor, creates a world unequivocally unto itself, where there are real strokes with pencils and colors and inks, where it seems very much like a collection of pictures from some obscure European fable book for kids, only loaded with some kind of life-force that moves like no other animated film (maybe it's slightest, closest-distant relative is Yellow Submarine, which is still a stretch). Characters move in and out occasionally like a Terry Gilliam short- giant hand and other objects placed in almost jokingly, which makes it a lot of fun at times- and there's something eerie in Laloux's dedication to pushing the expectation-level, mainly because, as noted, we haven't seen this style before. It's a quiet form of sensationalism, where it sneaks up on the viewer, and then takes over a scene, growing little by little, like some weird plant.
In short, he does his job as a genre director, probably on par with the great visionaries, while using some primitive methods of animation. But through imperfections there's more expressive tendencies, moments of chance and random visions like a monster springing organically about to eat another, or to go through bizarre mating rituals as Venus de Milo statues with blue heads. Or, in other words, as my long-winded adulation goes to say, a superb "stoner movie". Not that being sober will make you absorbed any less; it's a compliment, in a sense, that in its glory of its time it reaches a true cult impulse, where children can enjoy its wonderful glimpses of the "fantastic", and adults can have another more mature, thought-provoking input in its implications on power and human nature.