T.W.
Siebert
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As much a fascinating historical artifact as an
entertaining animated musical, The Beatles?delightful Yellow
Submarine comes to video supplemented and enhanced, like it
popped out of a time capsule after 30 years spent lifting weights.
With remixed musical tracks and one "new" song (the rocking "Hey
Bulldog" got pulled from the film at the last minute, to speed its
final reel), this unique cartoon captures the best parts of the
flower-power, love-is-all-you-need 1960s in idealized but
invigorating fashion. Though the animation quality will look
rudimentary to those used to cutting-edge Disney technique, the
visual style ?heavily influenced by the period art of Peter Max --
remains singular and endlessly ingenious.
The thin plot begins in Pepperland, a joyous domain until it is
overrun by the evil Blue Meanies, who hate music and color. One
elderly gent escapes in the title craft, and makes it to a
surprisingly gray and hardly swingin?London, where he enlists our
fab foursome. After a series of side adventures in the sea, they
finally make it back to Pepperland and save the day.
The Beatles?voices are actually done by four no-name actors. It
doesn’t matter. The script (credited to four writers, including "Love
Story" author Eric Segal) captures their most popular personas as
cheerful, pun-loving, anti-authority figures who flout convention to
make the world a better place. There are so many gags, often tossed
off in passing, that repeated viewings guarantee new laughs.
Repeated viewings will also bring a new appreciation for the
animated film as art form as opposed to populist product. Though
technically Yellow Submarine is closer to what you’d find on
Saturday morning TV than in the modern multiplex, its use of color
and the endless array of absurdist characters and settings prove you
can always push the envelope with new technology, but you can rip it
open with boundless imagination. Some of the most so-called
"primitive" animation segments of Yellow Submarine ?the
counting sequence during "When I’m 64," for example ?are also the
most creative.
Finally, the soundtrack is classic. "Eleanor Rigby," "Nowhere
Man," "All Together Now," "Sgt. Pepper," "All You Need is Love" and
the title track are only some of the timeless tunes. The melodies
are as hooky and hummable as they ever were, and a new mix brings
fresh clarity to the vocals and harmonies that is so clear and good
and pure that it will hopefully inspire the remaining Beatles to
re-examine their refusal to remix their old masters.
Mixing visual and aural images distinct to its generation,
Yellow Submarine may ultimately prove to be the perfect
one-shot summation of the Arts in the 1960s. Only time will tell,
but 30 years down the line, it’s looking like a mighty smart bet.
From
Well
Rounded Entertainment
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