Heavy Metal (1981)

I had wanted to see Heavy Metal for years because of a South Park episode that parodies this film.

Like all SP episodes, delightfully over-the-top and absurd, so I had high hopes that this film would be cut from the same cloth. Unfortunately, that is not the case. In fact, it is yet another cartoon labeled "for adults" thanks to a little bit of nudity, but otherwise just as childish as, say, GI Joe or The Ninja Turtles from the same era.

A few stories are quite nice, like the taxi driver and the nerd who gets turned into a musclebound guy, but that's about it. After about an hour, I started yawning quite a bit. The animations are dated, although they look very beautiful in places. A nice dark atmosphere at times, which even reminded me a bit of Angel's Egg. Very distantly, that is.

2.5* for the occasionally brilliantly wacky animation and the rock-solid soundtrack.

Translated from Dutch · View original

Didn't expect much from it.

With a title like Heavy Metal and a poster that looks like something Conan-esque, I wasn't actually all that excited about this. It was a bit surprising, then, that it starts as a sort of Blade Runner avant-la-lettre. I really hadn't counted on that.

It is perhaps a bit of a shame that it ultimately turns out to be a sort of anthology project, where certainly not all the clips are equally good. The second clip is immediately the Conan stuff I had feared. Furthermore, the main storyline (Loc-Nar) isn't all that interesting; he doesn't really manage to accomplish much.

After that, it gets a bit better again; the segment with the pilots and the final cutscene, in particular, still manage to be quite convincing. Visually, it is quite dated, but the animation is still pretty interesting, and due to that rather distinctive style, it remains interesting to watch. The soundtrack is sometimes decent, but it just contains a few more pop-like tracks that are absolutely too cheesy.

It is all quite entertaining. It doesn't last long, there is enough variety, and the animation is actually pretty good. The setup could probably have been a bit better and some parts are really not good, but fortunately it never takes very long before you are watching something else again.

3.0*

Translated from Dutch · View original

Watched it again after a very long time, and it was quite fun to see again. The animation is obviously very outdated, but I like that better than those new animated films. The voice cast, the music in particular, and the short stories are well done; certainly nice to see again after years.

Translated from Dutch · View original