Yellow Submarine

“Yellow Submarine”
George Dunning, 1968

I strongly dislike using the phrase “you need to be high in order to watch this movie,” which I commonly hear for such visually “trippy” and thematically hefty films as “2001: A Space Odyssey.” It is an unfortunate outlook that over-simplifies and dismisses whatever qualities a film may possess. That said, I will stray from my previous opinion and say that “Yellow Submarine,” a bizarre animated film that features The Beatles, would best be viewed while on some kind(s) of drug.

The premise is disposable – it concerns the hostile takeover of Pepperland, a kingdom of happy music listeners, by the “Blue Meanies,” an assortment of fuzzy, grotesque party poopers. Pepperland sends a captain in a yellow submarine for help, and The Beatles, of course, come to the rescue. “Yellow Submarine” serves as a venue for playing Beatles songs and displaying very “trippy” animation– the plot and the characters are not the focus here. But the Beatles-centric film “A Hard Day's Night” (1964) doesn't have a real plot, either. It is shot like a documentary, and it has a largely spontaneous feel that makes the chemistry amongst the band members feel all the more tangible.

“Yellow Submarine” is an experiment, and as such, it fails more often than it succeeds. There are instances of quick-witted interaction amongst the band members here, but these are mostly obscured by the silly premise and the overwhelming animation. To be fair, the backgrounds are exceptionally crafted, but the character design is atrocious, and the quality of the animation varies from scene-to-scene.

So, the collection of songs may be better, and the visuals are more daring, but the overall experience feels less than memorable. Perhaps, on a second viewing, taking a few hallucinogens would do the trick.

First Viewed: 8/25/08, on DVD - IMDb