Animalympics

"Animalympics" is a great parody of the Olympics. It actually combines two events into one, as both winter and summer sports are presented. The animation is okay, but not the best. However, the clever script and voices by Gilda Radner, Billy Crystal, Harry Shearer and Michael Fremer more than make up for it. The music, by Graham Gouldman of the group "10cc," is wonderful. (I was fortunate enough to find a copy of it on vinyl and I have been a happy person ever since.) Well worth watching.

A splendid satire on the Olympic industry and TV sports programmes. Plenty of recognisable types amongst the furry cast from the gushing bimbo interviewer to an intense USSR gymnast to a deadpan turtle anchorman. The animation is above average for TV but lacks the richness of Bluth or Disney. However that hardly matters because the real pleasure lies in the smart script, engaging vocal performances and first rate character design. Quite a lot of the more adult humour will sail over the heads of the young but older viewers can watch this movie again and again to pick up on the jokes they missed last time. An extremely underrated cartoon gem.

The theme song by 10CC (Graham Gouldman) "Love's not for me" from time to time rings inside my head the past twenty odd years. The melody is lovely and the lyrics is subtle.

I remember I watched this family movie with my mom, my sister and my brother in the small cinema house located inside our housing project. Of course I do remember the scenes and the story but I don't know the voices of Billy Crystal, Michael Fremer, Gilda Radner, Harry Shearer because the voice-over was done by the local professionals in Cantonese. In addition, I was about ten and still learning English, if it were in English, how could I understand it. ^_^.

Another real Olympics is right about the corner, a few good moments for reminiscence is appropriate. Looking back, the travesty is a great one for family, at least I still remember how happy we felt after having seen it two and a half decades ago.

ANIMALYMPICS is definitely one of those films that pretty much defines its time and place - it's got a soft-rock score by 10CC's Graham Gouldman, some shiny chrome-effect logos and bumpers (the titles that pop up at the start of each segment), references to late seventies pop culture including disco fever and surf bums, and it's pre-political correctness so there are plenty of stereotypes (if you're offended by the joke early on about all Asian people looking the same, represented by a herd of puffins, you'd better tune out or get a sense of humour) and, believe it or not, a lot of none-too-thinly-veiled sexuality from our anthropomorphic heroes - the animators do have a habit of going slightly over the top with any movement that involves breasts or rear ends! Whilst the animation isn't the best you'll ever see (I wasn't impressed with the high quantity of 'static' shots where there is literally NO animation at all) and there's not enough action or excitement for the little ones, ANIMALYMPICS does have a nice, dry sense of humour, several bright moments and a welcome lack of cynicism. If you want to revisit your youth or want to give your kids something different from the usual CGI mayhem, this may be worth a look.

I think the word 'cheesy' can either be an awesome thing or a painfully awful thing. In this movie, it's awesome! 'Animalympics' screams the classic cheesy-ness late '70s, complete with a mostly soft rock soundtrack (which I really love). I saw it quite a bit when it was aired on Disney Channel time and time again during the early-to-mid '90s. I haven't seen it on TV in quite a while sadly.

This movie really sparked my imagination, nearly as much as 'Yellow Submarine' did. Sure, talking animals weren't new in 1979, but I don't think they've ever had so much personality! All the characters were some of the best developed I'd ever seen in a movie.

'Animalympics' is most entertaining before the very ending (after that, it's a tad saggy as the events get less interesting). I think the summer game events are some of the best in the whole movie, and the boxing scenes with the nod to Muhammad Ali are a laugh riot. The voices are brilliant! Gilda Radner and Billy Crystal were awesome in this movie, and I would have loved to see Gilda do more voice work. She was really cut out for it.

'Animalympics' is delightful to kids and adults alike with very sharp humor and exciting events. This was one of my all time favorites as a youngun, and although it's been a while since I've seen it (it's hard to find on video. I'm wishing and hoping for a DVD release), I remember it very fondly and would give nearly anything to see it again. Even though it's a tad expensive and out of print, I think it'll be worth shelling out a bit more than you'd usually pay for a movie.