Review of Fritz the Cat (1972) by Shane S — 05 Nov 2010

It...lives up to its name. It's the first animated movie for adults.

It's a pretty decent satire about the fallacies of trying to become somebody you're not - a story about why revolutions aren't the greatest thing in the world. The comedy, while dated, is kinda funny and the film isn't as racist as much as it's supposed to insult everybody in the world. Props on the Jewish lions, though. I laughed pretty good at that. There's also a great juxtaposition between action and words, the words not exactly matching up with actions.

The only fault is that it does not live up to the expectations of what I thought it would be. I can see why R. Crumb loathes this movie - it did not do Fritz good justice. And also, some of the juxtaposition between action and word is a little rigid and actually stupid.

But the animation screams out experimentation. While some of it does represent a smaller budget, it somehow lampoons limited animation - and at points, the animation is so smooth that it resembles "American Pop" if done correctly.

I still need to give Bakshi another try. If "Heavy Traffic" was too cartoonish to be a drama and "American Pop" too ugly to be animation and "Cool World" not all that hot, then should I go to "Coonskin" and "Wizards"?

I wouldn't recommend this film to anybody under the age of 17. Animal boobs, non-graphic sex, some language, and pretty disturbing acts of violence galore. Don't look at me if you think a movie about a cat trying to discover himself in a world full of bigotry and elitism is for kids - if you, go rent "Felidae".