Tales of the Rat Fink

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.

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!

Ed "Big Daddy" Roth must have been a kick to be around and this documentary does a good job highlighting his many artistic and mechanical triumphs. The one minor downfall of the film involves having a little too much animation which made me feel like I had actually lost equilibrium at times with colors and objects crashing onto the screen. All in all I would say it's a fun watch with many actors having a blast voicing Ed's cars. Motorheads will especially enjoy Tales of Rat Fink with all the cool old custom Hot Rods.

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.

As a member of Rat Finks of America, I have a very high standard for all that is Fink, and Ron Mann's "Tales of a Rat Fink" did not disappoint. This jacked-up semi-animated documentary of the hotrod culture's greatest patriarch, Ed "Big Daddy" Roth is a film that entertains and teaches us how and why we are obsessed with customizing cars. Roth was an enigmatic soul, a freethinker and rule breaker, and Mann has captured his essence with original film making and stylized story telling. Though he was an iconoclast, Roth wanted his work to appeal to all audiences--kids and adults, and this film follows in that image. There is so much detail and substance here, yet the film speeds by and changes lanes as necessary without refueling. It was a joy to watch and will serve generations to come. Long live Rat Fink!!