“Yellow Submarine”
Year: 1968
Director: George Dunning
Stars: The Beatles, Paul Angelis, and John Clive
Studio: EMI Music / Apple Films
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 90 Mins.
Plot Synopsis:
“Yellow Submarine” is based on a Beatles song that was released in 1966. Two years later, the song would be the basis of a feature film. Forty Six years later, the film is digitally re-mastered and making its DVD re-release.
The film follows The Beatles, as they journey to the land called Pepperland. It’s a place, where music and happiness that is spread across the land. Everything is threatened there, when the Blue Meanies sends an army that is bent on destroying everything that is good. This enters John, Paul, George and Ringo to save Pepperland from theses menaces. Armed with their humor, songs and the yellow submarine, they tackle the evil force and try to save Pepperland from impending doom.
Film Review:
I was kind of surprised that I enjoyed “Yellow Submarine”, considering that I’m not a big fan of The Beatles. One of the reasons that I enjoyed it, the direction was very good. Director George Dunning does a very good job with the way that he handles the direction of the animation. The animation looks very good for a film that was released in the 1960’s. He and his animators did a very good job making the images feel magical. Maybe it was the fact that everything was digital restored. Even with that, the animation looks better from other cartoons that came out during that time period. The other thing that I liked about Dunning’s direction, he does a very good job getting all the vocal performance to fit the film. He does a very good job getting his performances to bring a certain kind of tone to the characters. It makes the characters likable and you’re caught up in this fantasy world.
The screenplay written by Lee Minoff, Al Brodax, Jack Mendelsohn, and Erich Segal does a very good job making the story work with the music. What I liked about the screenplay, you didn’t needed to be a fan of The Beatles to enjoy this film. The writers do a very good creating a story that is magical that all ages would enjoy. To me, the film needed to have that sort of charm for it to work for me. They did that successfully. The other thing they did well, they placed the music to fit with the film’s story. When you’re using a rock bands album, the placement of the songs is important to the film’s success. The writers do a very good job placing the songs at the right moment to fit with the film’s story. It helps enhance the scenes and the song. That’s what you want, when you’re watching a musical.
DVD Extras:
The first featurette on the DVD is the audio commentary track with production supervisor John Coates and art director Heinz Edelmann. More the most part, this was a good track. I liked how, they were able to talk about the production of the film. From the music to the animation, they go into great detail about how the film was made. The only drawback on this track was there were some dead spots, where the talking stops and you just hear the music. Still, the track is worth a listen.
Next on the DVD, “The Beatles: Mod Odyssey”. This short documentary was created in 1968. It goes into the creation of the film and its characters. Not a bad nostalgic featurette, as it goes into the basis of the film and the behind the scenes of it.
The next featurette was the interviews, which was divided into five chapters without a play all option. It features interviews from Paul Angelis (voice of Ringo and Chief Blue Meanie), John Clive (voice of John), David Livesey (key animator), Millicent McMillan (Heinz Edelmann’s assistant), Jack Stokes (animation director), and Erich Segal (co-writer). Not much information here, as the interviews felt too short and not that interesting. It would have been nice to have a documentary on the film, instead of having five short interviews.
The disc wraps up with storyboard sequences, original pencil drawings, behind the scenes photos and the film’s original trailer.
Final Summary:
I was very surprised, that I had a very good time with this film considering that I’m not a fan of The Beatles. “Yellow Submarine” is filled with great animation and a story that makes sense with music.
Review Rating: Four Stars
DVD Extras: Three Stars.
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