Fantastic Animation Festival

I was twelve years old when I saw this compilation of shorts and it confirmed for me that animation could be a vehicle for both art and commentary. I had seen Lenny Bruce's "Thank You Masked Man", Bakshi's "Fritz the Cat" and "Heavy Traffic" and the classic "Savage Planet" or "La Planete sauvage" as it was originally released, so I was hungry for the proliferation of this genre beyond the mass media of Scooby-Do. Unfortunately the seventies would be the high water mark for animation, and while talented artist such as Bill Plympton and Nick Park do their best to break into the main stream, animation is still dominated by Disney and their endless string of banal feature films. Given the quality of the last non-Disney feature release Don Bluth's "Titan A.E.", we must pin all our hopes on the Cartoon Network. With any luck, the crazy vision of "Courage the Cowardly Dog", "Sponge Bob", and the often brilliant "Power Puff Girls" and "Dexter's Laboratory" will once again bring us animated features that match up to classics represented in the "Fantastic Animation Festival".

Pros: "Kick Me", "Closed Mondays", "French Windows" (mainly Pink Floyd), "Light", "Mountain Music", "Mirror People", bits of "Room and Board", already seen "Bambi Meets Godzilla", "Cat's Cradle" and "Mechanical Monsters" Cons: "A Short History of the Wheel", bits of "Cosmic Cartoon" (nudity mostly), "Oiseau de nuit"

This film was released on VHS back in 1978 by Media-Home Entertainment, Inc. I know this to be true because I have the videocassette in hand and enjoy it often. Despite what others have posted about this film never being legally released, this is an untruth. The tape/film runs for approx 91 minutes and has excellent 2 channel audio yet this release was before Dolby was used on VHS cassettes. I first saw this film at a midnight movie in downtown Minneapolis. Every time the theater ran this film it was a gigantic party. People brought their own methods of enjoyment and relaxation with them to the theater and everyone got along and enjoyed it. The good old days when people were allowed to enjoy themselves in a public forum without being hassled by others. The one film of the clay people really sticks out in my mind as well as the Closed Mondays segment. So many people want this film that I just don't understand why it has not been re-released. Perhaps there are too many artists and musicians rights involved as to work out all the legal agreements necessary to release it again.

This film had a bit of everything, a classic Max Fleischer ''Superman'' cartoon, music videos of Pink Floyd's ''One Of These Days'' and Cat Stevens ''Moonshadow'' some examples of very psychedelic advertising from the early 70's, some *great* claymation, early Bill Plympton, it was a great collection that turned a lot of Heads on back in Midnight Movie days of the late 70's. Years before ''Heavy Metal'' or ''Spike & Mike's Animation Festival'', we had this to compare with Ralph Bakshi's ''Heavy Traffic'', or Picha's ''Tarzoon'', and not a lot else, really. Independent animation was in a terrible state in the 70's. This film shows some of its' highest points.

bizarre addition--a 1940s Superman cartoon latter portion--TV animations such as Levis and 7-11

While I only give this collection of animated films a 6, I still recommend you see it--which might not make much sense. Let me explain. The quality of independent animation in the 60s and 70s was very, very poor. Much of it might have been because the great studios had either shut down (think Looney Tunes and MGM) or gone dormant (think Disney). In its place you had lots and lots of Hannah-Barbera--with offerings like "Speed Buggy", "Huckleberry Hound", "Inch High, Private Eye" and the godawful "Bionic Stooges". And, given the appalling quality of these cartoons (see them yourself now that you've grown up and you'll see what I mean), it's surprising ANY decent animations were created at this time. Now I am not saying the films are all great--several are pretty bad. But a few, such as "French Windows" and "Closed Mondays" are still marvelous to watch. And, to get a decent overview of the times, it is worth seeing.

By the way, the collection, at times, seems rather randomly tossed together. Among all these films of the 70s is a Superman cartoon from 1941 (why???) and some animated TV ads for 7-Up and Levis. Odd....