Tales of the Rat Fink

Well, some of the silliness of the animations was a bit over the top but I figure they didn't have enough real footage to fill out an entire movie.

It was imaginative, and to its credit, it was a primer on the tremendous impact of this forgotten artist.

Forgotten? Well, I forgot about him. Wow, my brother was really into hot rods and he had all the magazines and the CARtoon books and such and I read all of the latter and marveled at Big Daddy's creativity, even in my early teens. Everything came rushing back when I saw this movie.

Let's face it, the guy was far out, he was into his thing, and he really did provide an inspiration for the art/media/design/culture that was to come in just a few years.

Wow.

Lovers of hot rods and Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth are definitely the audience for this film, so the fact that I wasn't particularly enamored by the film is mostly because I am not a fan. Keep this in mind when reading my review--it's not for the hard-core fans but for someone who just likes to watch documentaries.

From my outsider point of view, this was a pretty weird documentary because of it's style. First, because Roth was dead by the time they made this film, John Goodman narrated the film as if he were Roth. And, other celebrities (such as the Smothers Brothers and Jay Leno) also lent their voices--so it's pretty unusual from the outset. Second, many of Roth's designs (especially his famous 60s "Rat Fink") were animated and many old clips were pieced together to make up the film--so you really didn't get much new content. Finally, the film tried very hard to be funny--with talking cars (like you'd see in "My Mother the Car") and rocking campers with personalities that DIDN'T make me laugh. Again, none of these are necessarily "bad", but a bit unusual and hard for non-fans. However, I have to give the film its due--it certainly was innovative and the sound was exceptional--with a great surround-sound quality.

Still, given my predisposition, the film didn't win me over because I just didn't get hooked by all the excitement. It wasn't me.

What A Drag! This movie is 75 minutes of after effects animations set to surf music, nothing more. If you're really interested in learning something about Ed Roth read the book HOT RODS by "BIG DADDY" Ed Roth. The book contains all of the images used in the movie, and then some, as well as a plethora of information on his designs and techniques. This film would have made for a nice short subject. The animations are really cool, but there's just too much filler and not enough meat. In total there's probably four minutes of actual "footage" and most of this is stock footage. The rest of the film is made up of still images and animation. Read the book avoid the movie!

The creator of Rat Fink was one of my graphic heroes when I was younger, I tried to emulate his style, and now, because of the movie, he still is. Rat Fink rules, and so does the director of this Documentary, Ron Mann, who has given us rockin'docs about comic books, the twist and poetry in motion. Ron is one of the rare filmmakers who manage to preserve and capture important sections of American Popular Culture. He does so with wit, incredible attention to detail, music tracks, graphic presentation and engaging editing. He also seems to capture the zeitgeist in a way that no one else does in documentaryland. Who would've guessed that a film about Rat Fink could be an artful metaphor for many of the issues that define America today? I say 10 outta 10.

This documentary is greatness. All of those who wonder where the present day hot rod culture is from need to see this film. Those of you who need to pay homage to the rodder Gods need to watch this film. Those of you who need to learn that hot rod culture is not a fashion statement need to watch this film. Thank you for letting all the punks who think that street racing is a right know that your little world isn't crap without people like American auto makers and Ed Roth. Thank you to good people like John Goodman, Jay Leno and most of all, the hard working artists and Ilene Roth who work their tails off every day to keep Big Daddy's work alive. If you think REAL Hot Rodding is dead, just take a ride up to Manti Utah and go to the Rat Fink reunion, or go to the Blackhawk Museum in California. You'll see that ALL car culture is because of people like Ed. LONG LIVE BIG DADDY!!!