Review of Fantastic Planet (1973) by James O — 19 May 2018

If I were putting together a Cartoon Movie Top 10, this would make the cut. It's whimsical and weird. Surreal, yet coherent. It evokes a truly alien existence. Unfortunately the underdog 'how would you like it!' trope is in full force in this film which sees humans enslaved by a more powerful species. Trust me, it's been done to death. Christ, that sort of on-the-nose topsy turvy 'what if' fantasy goes back to Gulliver's Travels and was already a dead horse lain for the beating when Fritz made Metropolis. It really reeks of the sort of shallow thinking agenda pushing which was quintessential of Marxist Eurotrash all through the 60's and into the late 80's.

Alas this film is pure 70's. The good weird 70's which is still good and weird now and the anachronisms and cliches which polluted that decade's art. Yeah, yeah, the film's as thought-provoking as a lava lamp but in terms of pure charm, innovation and artistry, I would have given it 5 stars.