In the few months or so that I have been reviewing films, I do not think I have assessed a film quite as culturally significant as this. Yellow Submarine, is the fourth film to be associated with British rock band, The Beatles, but the first to have little involvement from The Fab Four themselves. Unlike A Hard Day's Night, Help! or The Magical Mystery Tour, the mop-topped musicians only input is a live action epilogue and the contribution of five songs. In 2009, Robert Zemeckis began pre-production on a 3D, computer animated, motion-capture remake; with plans to release the film just before the 2012 London Olympics. Fortunately, previous motion-capture films such as Mars Needs Moms and A Christmas Carol had performed awfully at the box-office, causing Disney to abandon the project. How lucky we are that instead, Apple Corps (The Beatles record company) decided to remaster the film on DVD and Blu-Ray and, to add insult to injury, release it roughly only a month prior to the planned release date of Zemeckis' failed remake.
The plot, unsurprisingly, concerns The Beatles - John, Paul, George and Ringo - as they are whisked away to Pepperland, which has been taken over by the evil, "Blue Meanies". They are recruited by an escapee, who narrowly evades the Meanies, to join him on his yellow submarine, to bring joy and music back to the oppressed people, and to scare off the baddies. To get there, they must travel from Liverpool to the aforementioned Pepperland. On the way they meet several colourful characters and get into all sorts of mischief, and, of course, they make sure to play a few songs along the way. What larks!
I think what is perhaps most remarkable about Yellow Submarine, is just how little it has aged. Of course, the high-definition transfer does help, but I believe that its eccentricity and childlike quality has kept it fresh after all these years. At no point does it feel like one is watching a film which is over forty years old. It is not a perfect film by any means, but it keeps itself going with a brisk pace, a light sense of humour and plenty of witty one liners. One could imagine it would still entertain children to this day, regardless of whether they were aware of The Beatles music or not. I think what is most commendable, is that the animators and, presumably, the director, George Dunning, saw the limitations of the animation style of the time, and overcame it by making their designs imaginative and their colours bright. To elaborate, in the late sixties and early seventies, cartoons were saddled with a cheap, scratchy style of animation that lacked depth or shading, which can be seen in anything from Tom and Jerry shorts to feature films released by Disney. While Yellow Submarine does not escape this, the animators tackle this by making their designs and colour palette so alluring and wonderful that it distracts from the flat, lifeless, robotic movements of the characters and the lack of depth.
Although, the fact that The Beatles music became as iconic as it did, and changed the face of music as we know it, helps the film stay as current as it does, only five of their songs are used in the film, and they are all far from what we would call "classic" Beatles songs (except perhaps George Harrison's All too Much, which is an underrated number), but the songs, predictably, deliver. I think it would be remiss of me not to mention the voice acting, performed by Paul Angelis, John Clive, Geoffrey Hughes and Peter Battan, playing Ringo, John, Paul and George, respectively. Their voice work is not perfect, but they get the Liverpudlian accents down and their line delivery is fairly amusing, especially when performing the film's many one liners.
Unfortunately, it is not all good. While the animation is imaginative, as I have already mentioned, is good, it is still rather flat, especially when it comes to the character animation. All the human characters have a fluidity which makes their skin look like it is made out of runny egg, which I suppose adds to the psychedelic charm, but it is fairly distracting. Also, the animation of the people of Pepperland, including the Blue Meanies, look a little one-dimensional. I felt that long sections of the film dragged, especially during The Beatles trip on the yellow submarine. I also imagine that some of the references in the film may go over many younger viewer's heads today. For example, when the four Beatles meet Jeremy Hillary Boob PhD, a "nowhere man" Ringo asks whether he is "one of the angry young men", which refers to a particular type of playwright who were popular throughout the 50s and 60s; which is a reference that would be lost on the youth of today.
Fortunately, these are only mild detractions, but there are enough of them that they begin to pile up. However, the film's qualities are enough to make this an enticing experience. It is also impossible not to mention just how influential this film has been to animation, especially in Britain. Some of the more psychedelic scenes have been parodied in everything from The Simpsons to Monkey Dust, and in the years since its release, British animation began to be taken more seriously. For example, after the release of Yellow Submarine, Disney opened a studio in London, and films such as Watership Down and The Snowman have left a lasting impression in the minds of cinema goers. There were also Terry Gilliam's animated sketches in Monty Python's Flying Circus, which were heavily influenced by the film's animation style. Regardless of one's opinions on the film, its influence is undeniable.
Personally, the greatest joy in watching this, like with A Hard Day's Night and Help!, is watching The Beatles pretend to like each other. Especially since, by the time this film was released, the bickering and squabbling had become quite public. In the live action epilogue, watching the four of them recite their lines with forced smiles is a throwback to a time when people in the public eye tried twice as hard to present a united front. Perhaps that is a rather shallow thing to like about a film, but it adds some unintentional humour to the ending.
In conclusion, this is a bright, colourful, imaginatively animated film which looks surprising current, despite being almost half a century old. The music is, and will continue to be, timeless and the voice acting is excellent. There are flaws here, but they are easy to overlook, as there is so much here to appreciate.
7/10
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