Review of Fritz the Cat (1972) by Brad C — 04 Mar 2010

Look, I get that this movie came out in a very very different time and it was allegedly groundbreaking in the animated world. It's funny that I watched it within days of watching Heavy Metal, another similar "groundbreaking" animated movie that I absolutely hated.

I'm not sure which one is worse to be honest. Fritz the Cat plays off of the laziest and most crass stereotypes in the book. Not just racial ones, but sexist ones, occupational ones, religious ones.

I'm sure there were more but I couldn't bear it past the scene in the synagogue. This is a movie where Bashki and Crumb said "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if a cartoon, usually relegated to kid's stuff, had titties and drugs and cats saying the word 'fuck?'" And then they went out and made that movie.

Heavy Metal is probably the dumber movie, but this one is lazier. Heavy Metal (and I compare them just because they are both "adult" animation and I watched them within days of each other) at least tried to come up with some interesting unique stories.

Fritz the Cat is just a trite look at what I suppose is hippie culture in the late 60s/early 70s: shitting on people different than you and seeking enlightenment through hedonism. Please. Making an "adult" movie just by shoving "fucks" and "shits" into a banal storyline does not make it mature.

If there was any semblance of a story here, I'd have watched past the first 20 minutes. I'm honestly sorry I watched even that much. Avoid at all costs except morbid curiosity.