I'm a big fan of psychedelic art, especially animation, but it's very hard to find good stuff. "Fantastic Planet" is definitely the best that I've found so far. I would love to hear other's recommendations for other psychedelic films, especially older stuff from the 60s and 70s.
I've seen Laloux's other work, and it's nowhere near as cool as "Fantastic Planet".
Yellow Submarine, Time Masters (not as good as Fantastic Planet, but same creators and still a worthwhile watch), Heavy Metal, Heavy Metal 2000 (only if you're a big fan of the magazine), and grab onto some Ralph Bakshi, but proceed with caution as some of his stuff is hit-or-miss.
www.brainwashed.com/nww
maledoro
maledro - good link to nurse with wound =)
Don't forget LIGHT YEARS or Gandahar. :-)
shareHey greenie2600. I agree with you that this kind of animation kick major @ss and I'm curious myself about all of the other stuff out there that I'm missing! I recommend Fritz the Cat, first off, because...WOW! Actually that's all I can recommend because this and Fantastic Planet are the only ones I've seen that I can think of right now. Write back, maybe we can discuss some of this stuff.
shareLight Years / Gandahar
Fire and Ice
Time Masters (the dubbed version RUINS the film, go with the subtitled)
Heavy Metal
Yellow Submarine
Aeon Flux
Starchaser the Legend of Orin
Space Cruiser Yamato
Golgo 13 The Professional
Akira
Ninja Scroll
Ghost in the Shell
Vampire Hunter D
Lensman
Add to that list
Space Firebird /Phoenix 2424
Rock-n-Rule
Last Unicorn (kinda)
Cool World (kinda)
Fantasia/Fantasia 2000
Titan AE (kinda)
Robot Carnival (some sections)
Space Cruiser Yamato, Golgo 13 The Professional, Akira, Ninja Scroll, Ghost in the Shell, Vampire Hunter D, and Lensman do not really fall into this catewgory as they are more straightforward animated movies rather than "Art" or "Fantastical" movies made more for their visuals than the story.
Only Light Years comes to mind as equal or better than Fantastic Planet for its artistic and story convolutions.
Omega
Numerous others I cant think of at the moent.
If you loved Fantastic Planet but were disappointed in Laloux's other works, it could be because you in fact love the drawing style and the spirit of Roland Topor, who IMO is at least as responsible as Laloux for Fantastic Planet's success. Check out Topor's other stuff. Amongst others he was the writer of the book Polanski's "The Tenant" is based on, and created the surreal tv series "Téléchat".
shareThere is a short film called "Night of the Carrots" I saw once that was an insanely surreal animation. I don't know where to find it, but it is really good.
There is also another film I have seen parts of, but I really lament that I didn't take note of what it was called. It was shown to me by a Disney animator as an example. It is a hand-drawn animation with this part where this couple is dancing and it is taken from a film reel translated into animation through drawings of each frame. And there is also a long part where these two men are asked for directions but they end up hurting each other in the face repeatedly in a variety of wacky ways (including I think dynamite, but every time they hurt each other their faces go back to the same they were before) until one pokes the other in the eye and he burst into tears.
Maybe someone else has seen it. I really wish I knew what that movie was.
Phew! After an hour+ of blindly researching, I have finally found out what the movie is!
It is "The Tune" by Bill Plympton! Thank goodness. I ended up finding it on this page: http://shopping.animazing.com/gallery/timeline.htm <- the film was completed in '93.
I'm so glad I found it... I was really regretting not writing down the title.
If you like Bill Plympton, check out his full length R rated 'I Married a strange Person'. Its very strange and while not for everyone, it deserves being watched at least once. I caught part of it on cable one night and finally hunted it down on amazon.com about 4 years later. Does anybody remember the sketch comedy show (with Wayne Knight amongst others) on FOX in the early 90's? I think it was called EDGE TV, but anyhoo they usually showed some of Plymptons shorts every week.
Another animated gem that has haunted me since childhood is UNICO, and having just recently figured out the name of that little unicorn I need to buy the DVDs. I Think there are 2.
Fantastic Planet found me more or less, over and over again. I would come home intoxicated as a teen and find it playing on PBS late at night. I think my most common reaction was WTF?? I later saw it in 'The Cell', and a friend knew what it was called, so I went and found a copy of my own.
Ha, wow, nearly 6 years later, I now know the creator of "Night of the Carrots" - Priit Pärn.
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Just recently I purchased Fantastic Planet and the Night of the Carrots is on there as one of the extras. I agree it is very surreal. The other shorts were dealing mostly with death throughout the course of history. However, the best is a cartoon that was made by mental patients. It's about an evil dentist and some strange guardian wolf on a bike.
"Never play leapfrog with a unicorn..."
Just remembered a good one, Waking Life
"Never play leapfrog with a unicorn..."
Check out "Wizards" (1977). You'll like.
shareDefinitely Kaze no Tani no Naushika (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind) by Hayao Miyazaki: http://imdb.com/title/tt0087544/. Heavily influenced by the art style of Jean "Moebius" Girard, and considered one of Miyazaki's greatest masterworks by many (such as myself.)
share"Wizards"? Ugh! That was NOT a quality film... perhaps it could've been interesting if the animation quality was a bit higher and the message wasn't so dated (gee, nazis propaganda messages are bad? You don't say?). Also, there were way too many static images.
Titan A.E. is also a bit of a dubious choice... the animation comes close to amazing in places, and I liked the movie when I was a kid, but watching it now I just can't believe how terribly forced the storyline is. I really had to stop watching 10 minutes into it because I just couldn't stand it. :-(
Some films I'd recommend:
First of all, a lot of excellent animation today can be found right on the internet, made by independent artists. Check these links out, they're really interesting:
www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/142319
www.goober.nu
www.biteycastle.com
www.xombified.com
http://www.littleloud.com/animatedclassics/default.asp
www.minushi.com
www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/135621
As for more traditional animated films:
Triplets of Belleville
The Adventures of Prince Achmed (I have a DVD of this - it's excellent!)
Pink Floyd: The Wall
The Old Man and the Sea (trailer here: http://www.oldmansea.com/trailer/index.htm)
anything by Yuri Norstein (his 1974 film "Tale of Tales" has twice been voted as the best animated film ever made by a panel of international critics)
Fantasia 2000
Wizards is the worst animated movie ive ever seen.
shareAs far as strange film from 60s/70s goes, why not try Jodorwskys "El Topo" or even better "Holy Mountain"? OK, not animations but still... Seems like Laloux and Jodorwosky knew each other to.
A new age for experimental animation is finally dawning, all thanks to computers (and they finally manage to work them in a non cheesy way). Japan is in the lead (no surprise). Why not try out gems like “Mind Game” from Studio 4° C or “Nekojiru-So (cat soup)” or his shorts “Nekojiru Gekijou”.´
Then again, as far as French animation goes there is "Il était une fois l'homme" by Albert Barillé from 1978. That and it’s 1982 follow up “Il était une fois …l’espace” was really big in Europe but not as known in the states. Probably one of the main reasons why I’m still so much into animation. Cheers.
did anyone forget about Galaxy Express 999? FANTASTIC Movie. Very much in this style....i mean a train that goes through space? Thats awesome.
shareor better still, fando y lis
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