Fantastic Planet

I saw this movie a few years ago on the Sci-Fi channel during a movie marathon they were having. Loved it so much I bought the DVD.

Based on a brilliant piece of science fiction ("Oms En Serie" by Stefan Wul). The artwork is stunning, and the story line an original masterpiece.

The plotline of this story is simple.

You enslave a race of beings and take them for granted, one of them eventually learns your language, and unites all his fellow slaves in an organized attack.

Suddenly you've been conquered.

This story line was later ripped off by L. Ron Hubbard and his group of wackos. You might have read the book, or seen the atrocity of a film "Battlefield Earth".

A huge ball of cultural references. Greay music. And so familiar themes than it becomes less comfortable scene by scene. Because the story is just about us, like a large parable about racism, dictatorship, technology, survive, hate and contempt. I do not know than it is a beautiful film but it is a very useful one. A film about present, in precise details . Fascinating for craft and for message.

In the world of the animation business there is a recent trends towards super- realism where computer graphics are being increasingly used. Although I appreciate animations like Finding Nemo or the Incredibles for they represent a renewal of the genre (in the same way the Disney movie did in the 50's), the artistic style of La Planete Sauvage is unmistakable and accords perfectly with the dark atmosphere of the movie. This animation is based on the book Oms (a deformation of the french word homme, man) from the French SciFi writer Stephan Wul who should also be credited for being the writer of The Time Masters (another SciFi animation worth your time). Wul's real name is still a mystery. The rare things we know about his life are that he wrote his 10 (or so) only books when he was studying dentistry at the University. He apparently graduated and became too busy to continue his writing activity. What a pity. I've read most of Wul's book and they are all unique and beautiful. The animation sticks true to Wul's vision. The art by the Czech master Topor is dark and oppressing, despite the bright color of the 60-70's-influenced graphism, adding to the uncomfort of seeing human beings treated as pets or pests by giant extraterrestrials. However, the roles are interchangeable and humans do behave too often in the way the extraterrestrials do in the movie with other living creatures on Earth. Hard to find but worth the search.

What a great movie! I had completely forgotten about this film -in fact, I hadn't seen it in over 20 years. Well, I rented 'The Cell' and while I was watching the scene where Jennifer Lopez is in her house with the television on, I noticed those blue aliens and the memories came rushing back! Of course, I came to IMDB to figure out what the title of the film was (it was in the trivia section of 'The Cell' review), and I was pleasantly surprised to find the title. I went and bought the DVD, which is truly outstanding! The basic premise of the movie is that a race of aliens keeps domesticated humans as pets, while eliminating their feral brethren in the wild. The story centers around Terr, who is rescued from a pack of cruel alien children by the daughter of a high-ranking official. Eventually he runs away and ends up meeting the humans living in the wild. They become tired of the treatment they suffer at the hands of the alien race, and seek to exact revenge on their captors.

This movie was made nearly 30 years ago, so the animation is not really comparable to modern-day animation, but the story and the plot transcend time. The premise of the film is as valid today as it was in the 70s.

The DVD edition of the movie comes with three additional animated shorts by Rene Laloux, and they are just as entertaining. This is a real gem of a movie...truly beautiful. My kids love it as well. A true masterpiece.

9/10.

Having just completed watching this film, I can say it was worth the wait. It will please fans of hard-core science fiction (not fantasy), and will seduce fans of animation (not just 3D animation, animation in general terms) with its mix of Czech style animation and illustration.

It is a good movie, but not a masterpiece. The narrative treads the science fiction tropes too strictly and ends up painting characters and events predictably when the setup seems to suggest something more interesting. In fact, I was very disappointed that the most developed and interesting relationship in the whole film is traded off for a kind of boring resistance story that does its best to not let the audience make connections with the characters. It is not picked up or revisited later... and none of the subsequent character interplay is as interesting or meaningful.

Where this film excels is in its weirdness and imagination. Strange and horrible creations are brought to life and move/eat/gestate/exist in ways that will make you go 'ew' and 'wow' at the same time. This is helped by the strong European styling of the animation (mostly limited in movement) and illustration, which reminded me of studio Zagreb..

There is something so mysterious about the atmosphere of this film - it may just grab you. Definitely watch it for the disturbing and somehow touching relationship between Tiva and Terr - you'll only wish there was more of it.