Review of American Pop (1981) by Allan H — 10 Dec 2007
Ralph Bakshi's American Pop uses the story of four generations of a family to chronicle the history of popular music in the U.S. Bakshi uses his usual mix of live action, still photos, drawings, and animations to create a visually incredible movie. The soundtrack, ranging from Gershwin to Heart, is perfectly matched to the animation.
Bakshi has the nearly unique ability to make you completely forget you're watching animation. Until Bakshi does something to remind you that it's all a cartoon, you don't really think about it. Bakshi's scenes are as rich in cinematography and acting as any live action movie. The characters seem as real as any live actor you'll ever see. In fact, there's a scene of a cartoon Jimi Hendrix performing "Purple Haze" that's as believable as any actual film footage of Jimi.
Aside from just being a story of music, American Pop is also the story of a family. This gives Bakshi a chance to do something he seems to enjoy--violence and war. He covers mob violence and most of the major wars of the 20th Century. He uses his common tactic of using stock footage of war as the basis for animation as effectively as ever in American Pop.
American Pop is a strange mix of grim circumstances, hope, and love of music. Some liberties are taken with actual facts about music, but they fit the movie so well that only a stickler will really mind.
This review of American Pop (1981) was written by Allan H on 10 Dec 2007.
American Pop has generally received positive reviews.
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