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Based on French science fiction novelist Stefan Wul's Oms en Serie ("Oms by the Dozen"), René Laloux's La PlanèteSauvage (its title changed to Fantastic Planet for the U.S. release) paints an animated tale of humans kept as domesticated pets by an alien race of blue humanoid giants called Traags. The story takes place on the Traags' planet Ygam, where we follow our narrator, an Om called Terr, from infancy to adulthood, when he escapes his subjugation with a Traag learning device with which to educate the savage Oms and incite them to revolt.As a French-Czech coproduction, this story had much resonance for its makers as an allegory of Czechoslovakia's invasion by Soviet troops in the late '60s, and had to be completed in Paris due to political pressure.While the story does not distinguish itself in the annals of science fiction, the imagination invested in the surreal backdrops, with its eerie creatures and landscapes, does.The animation technique--moving paper cutouts across backgrounds--contributes to the overall feeling of other-worldliness. Fantastic Planet won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973.Included on the DVD are three early short subjects by Laloux showing his evolution toward Fantastic Planet. You have your choice of audio: French with English subtitles, or English with English subtitles. But choose the latter so you can see how much the subtitles are cheating you.--Jim Gay ... Read more

Reviews (52)

Strange but Good
Fantastic Planet is a movie that anyone can love and enjoy. The movie is a true spectacle of filmmking.

Of course, it has its share of problems (ending is extremely rushed, characters lack personality, dubbing is so bad, its not even funny) but if you just sit back and look at this movie/DVD as a whole, you get something very good. Its so good, it merits itself to be a mandatory part of any eccentric person's DVD collection. (It was actually the 1st DVD I'd ever owned.)

The plot follows the story of one "om" (human) who is kept as a little palm-sized pet for the gigantic, blue skinned traags. He escapes with a traag learning device and uses it along with other wild oms to rebel against the traags.

An interesting aspect of the movie, is that it does almost nothing to make you know the main character. He is an incredibly ambiguous being devoid of any real personality, and if memory serves, he doesn't even have a name.

The animation looks like they made thin outlines and filled them with color-pencils. This creates an effect that totally mistifies the viewer. The beautiful and vid landscapes come alive along side imaginatively drawn characters and various monsters.

Ultimately the movie is great, and any problems in the movies are made up for by the fact that there ARE other short films on the DVD.

Finally, the subtitles are much better than the dub; use them.

EDIT: Now that I've finally gotten to watch the magnificent short films included on the DVD, I can say, they're the most freakish, disturbed, and wonderful pieces of short animation ever.

The best one features a sad farmer whose crops don't grow. So he cries on them and they become huge. So snails eat them and then they become huge, adn start terrorizing the city. The farmer is sad again and this time, he grows gargantuan carrots and the short closes with a hilarious shot of some rabbits eyeing the food expectantly.

Don't get the version by United American
Fantastic Planet is by far one of the more unusual animated I have ever seen. Truly unusual and surrealistic scenes, and that funky Pink Floyd meets "Shaft"-style soundtrack by Alain Goraguer gives the movie that truly '70s look and feel. But I warn you to stay away from the earlier VHS edition from United American Video Corps. While the newer dubbed-in-English VHS from Anchor Bay has the problem of forgetting to remove the subtitles, the United American Video Corps. version suffers from poor picture quality, and several missing scenes, not to mention a lot of the animation seems rather choppy. Anchor Bay fixed that problem with better picture quality, and all the scenes intact, and without that choppy animation in certain places. The only advantage United American version has is no subtitles, but since it's not widescreen, you won't be able to see everything. Despite the drawback of subtitles on the Anchor Bay version, if you want the dubbed-in-English version of this European sci-fi masterpiece, go for the Anchor Bay version and avoid the earlier United American edition.

Mind Blowing
I didn't expect much from the story. I bought it because I love this style of animation. Some of the scenes were very psychedelic, almost like an acid trip. It turns out that the story was actually the most entertaining part of the movie for me. It definitely gives you a different perspective of human life.

The DVD included four interesting shorts put out by the creator. Most of them included live action as well as animation. The only reason I can't give a full 5 stars is because the subtitles are HORRIBLE. Among the worst i've ever seen. There's little contrast between the background and the text, so about 75% of the words are legible. I really don't understand why the publishers thought this would be acceptable. I took French for several years, but I can imagine how frustrating it would be for someone trying to read that text.

More Whining About Subtitles!
YOU CAN'T TURN THEM OFF, PEOPLE!!! AND they run right over the picture, not even in the black letterboxed space beneath! AND (and even if you could forgive not being able to turn them off, this next one is really too, too much to take) MORE THAN HALF THE TIME THEY DON'T MATCH THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION!!!! This last bit takes it from annoying to insufferable. I love Fantastic Planet, and I hate, hate, hate this DVD.

Please read MY review FIRST...
I've noticed that TOO MANY people have ruined many products on Amazon before they're even sold with their uptight fierce complaints disguised as 'reviews'!
That unfortunately has happened also with THIS DVD! All I can say is BUY IT! IT'S GREAT! No complaints!....
Now, the reason I am so "FOR" this release is I've had a VHS copy of this film for years [on the 'Embassy Home Video' label] and it was fine. It had the english dubbed-in voices & NO 'subtitles'. I got THAT copy after FIRST seeing it on the SCI-FI channel in 1995, [although I've heard of this movie ever since I can remember!] and later bought a "Video YesterYear" release that had faded colour & a whole scene cut out! Like most of us movie & TV on home video fans, I've been looking for a 'DVD' release....and THIS is IT!!
Sure everyone whines about the infamous 'subtitles', but criminey! HOW many other 'foreign' [YES! 'FOREIGN'] films out there have them?? The soundtrack of this DVD version has the beautiful original French dialogue & music - OR -the option of the English dubbed version, which sounds like it's coming over the telephone for some strange reason[?] So, I recommend watching it with the original 'French' and THEN the non-removable subtitles work PERFECTLY! You'll be GLAD they ARE there!
The BEST part of this DVD version is the inclusion of the earlier 3 Rene Laloux films 'Monkeys Teeth' 'Dead Times' & 'The Snails'! That's the MAIN reason I BOUGHT this! Then again, I'm into obscure foreign animation from the past and don't go berserk if there are 'subtitles'... Yes, they COULD have issued the DVD with 'Closed Captioning', THEN you could remove the subtitles if you want, but they didn't, so there.
Anyone out there seen the "Masters of Russian Animation" series on DVD? Well, THEY have non-removable subtitles too, but if you like the animation for it's own sake, you'll enjoy the films but if you're bothered by mere 'subtitles', then you're MISSING alot of great examples of animation.
Also, anyone who likes the Alain Gorageur soundtrack for FANTASTIC PLANET will ALSO like the 1960s/70s music of composer/arranger "David Axelrod". Very similiar.
What I'm doing here is 'RECOMMENDING' items friends, [like the folks at Amazon suggest], NOT 'tearing things down'. If I believed ALL the negative reviews people have put on this site, I'd NEVER buy ANYTHING! Glad I trust my own instincts & hope you do too. If you can't say something nice don't say anything, I always thought.... OK, I'll shut-up now [:-)] ... Read more

Reviews (32)

A decent Alice...sadly, a little known one.
This is doubtlessly the most bizarre film I have ever seen. Since it is a version of ALICE, that's okay. It holds a sort of hallucinatory shadow over the story from which it was inspired: it is a frightening look into the very desolation that comes with age. Alice herself is lost in Wonderland, perhaps an embodiment of the corruption and decay that follows the subversion of childhood. The characters of the book have been reduced to dead, mindless things here: the White Rabbit is a taxidermist's expirament; the Mad Hatter is a marionette; the March Hare is a stuffed animal. These characters, void of life and thought, seem to represent the dull world of adulthood, where the repetitive events of every day are hammered out endlessly, and seen without the color or whimsy they hold when seen through the eyes of a child. The movie is doubtlessly symbolic of many things, however they are so cryptically presented that I cannot figure any of them out for myself. The movie itself is not fun to watch, it is rather tedious, in fact: but it holds a subconscious power over the viewer, he sees with astonished eyes Alice moving through the doorways and drawerways of the decaying realm. The viewer becomes part of a different sphere of consciousness: he lingers with Alice in a perpetual dream-state, or, a nightmare from which he cannot awake, until the last scant bit of dilogue is recited, and the final credits roll. Svankmajere (or however you spell it) has a fine taste for the macabre, and by moving as far from Carroll's story as possible, he does it ironic justice. By moulding the plot to form his own tightly-knit fantasy, he does not sabotage the feel of the book, but intensifies it. For this he deserves praise. With Alice we feel every bit of menace and curiosity, a trait rarely found in films. This one touches profoundly and unexplainably with the child inside us, and for the lapse of its running time we become part of another world, one which we are anxious to escape while we linger in it, but feel obsessively drawn back to after the return to our conscious states.

Svankmajer's hugely influential chef d'oeuvre
The influence of Jan Svankmajer's 1988 ALICE on the art and film and deisgn of the 1990s and beyond is enormous: you can see it almost evidently in the films of the Brothers Quay and David Fincher as well as in every beautifully designed magazine you open today. Svankmajer took the Lewis Carroll story and transposed it to a world which seems totalitarian in nature, and beautifully shabby and eroded in look, where everything is chappied and falling to pieces. The white rabbit is a terrifying taxidermic model, with huge teeth and glass eyes; it pulls itself from its mounting pins and bleeds sawdust when opened. The fall down the rabbit hole is a dark descent by elevator down through what seems to be a beautifully decrepit storage warehouse: the small animals Alice encounters are skull-headed toys.

All this is beautiful, and creates a stunningly original aesthetic. It's also sometimes a bit creepy, and (worse) at times exceptionally tedious. (You think if you get one more extreme close-up of Alice's lips telling the tale you'll scream.) It's something to pore over shot by shot or sequence by sequence, but it's not particularly entertaining by any means. But it is something that still deserves to be seen again and again.

"Said the Queen of Hearts"
There are only two negatives to this film that I felt were mostly unnecessary elements. One was the frequent edit to a close-up of Alice's, excuse me "Alenka's," tiny mouth and stained yellow teeth saying things like "Said the White Rabbit" or "Said the Queen of Hearts." By the time this monotony reached the double-digits I was getting annoyed. I knew which character said what, and I didn't need a constant reminder. The other negative, and this is up for debate, is that I don't like foreign films that are dubbed in English. Call me crazy, but I prefer subtitles. There is always something lost in the translation. Well, enough of my negativity. There is plenty here worth seeing, and if you are a genuine nut-case for stop-motion filmmaking than you should thoroughly enjoy this movie. This is not a children's film! There are way too many unnerving and nightmarish sequences. In fact, this film feels like a surreal nightmare! There's a slab of meat that squirms into a pot, there are little rat skulls breaking out of egg shells, and my favorite moment of the film comes when Alice is being chased by the White Rabbit and his grotesque friends. Alice slams the door and bars the smaller door at the base. Suddenly, an axe-head bursts through the tiny door repeatedly until it is completely splintered. The axe withdraws and the head of the White Rabbit(a stuffed rabbit with sawdust for entrails) pokes through and he seems to stare at Alice with an evil glare from his glassy white eyes. I expected him to say "Heeeere's Thumper!" That was the creepiest moment for me, but there are others. There are also some wrenching sound effects that add some excellent flavor to the nightmarish proceedings. If it wasn't for the extremely annoying and frequent cutaways to Alice's slimy mouth I may have given this film a higher rating. That, and she has a gross habit of puting everything she finds into her mouth. One thing she tries is a key she finds inside a sardine tin filled with oil. Instead of wiping the key clean on her dress she gives it one good, long slurp. Yuck! Even she grimaced, much to my delight. "Overall, this is a good movie with plenty of jarring scenes and dream-like sequences that are haunting me to this day," said the Amazon.com reviewer. There is also a short stop-motion film on this DVD that is "definitely" not for children, but it does have some humorous moments. Take it easy.

very drugged
While I have never been on acid, I believe that watching this movie is a lot like taking some sort of hallucinogen. It's tweak.

Probably Svankmajer's best movie
If you are unfamiliar with Svankmajer, it may be best to start with Alice. It is his most stylish and least morbid and grotesque long feature.

Sounds appealing? Actually it is a masterpiece. Like his other movies it is not for everyone, but it promises a unique movie experience. ... Read more

Description

In a riot of color and music, master animator Bruno Bozzetto offers his irreverent tribute to Disney’s Fantasia.Transcending parody, this erotic, satiric, and delirious animated feature represents Bozzetto’s vision of the world.In six distinct episodes, fantastic cartoon creatures march, slither, and bounce to the classical rhythms of Debussy, Dvorak, Ravel, Sibelius, Vivaldi, and Stravinsky.Perhaps most entrancing is the visualization of Ravel’s "Bolero," in which the dregs of a Coke® bottle set forth a frenzied animal evolution across a surreal landscape.Maurizio Nichetti (The Icicle Thief, Volere Volare) stars in the equally wild live-action sequences that introduce each piece.For many critics, Allegro non troppo matches or surpasses the imagination and technique of Disney’s masterpiece. ... Read more

Reviews (22)

Finally,..to be released on DVD
I have the laserdisc of Allegro Non Troppo, and it's good to see that it's finally going to be released on DVD. As most readers of this already know, ANT is Bruno Bozzetto's Fantasia-styled movie. ANT has a beautiful sense of humor that no Disney animated movie has had. Some of the animation in some of the scenes is "primitive" compared to Fantasia, but the simple animation works very well with the humorous scenes. My favorite animated scenes? Slavonic Dance and the Finale. Very funny stuff (and very simply drawn, too.) This is a great movie and I hope it gets proper treatment for DVD. One thing that appears to be missing from the DVD is the English-dubbed track for the live-action scenes between the animated scenes. It will be nice to hear the original Italian dialog, but I will not be able to understand it and have to rely on the subtitles. It's sad that the English dubbing has not been included. (Why hasn't it been included?) Especially in comedies like ANT, dubbing into other languages can be used for comedic effect. (An extreme example of this is What's Up, Tiger Lily?) For this reason, I'm giving 4 stars for the DVD. Despite the lack of the English track, I'm eagerly awaiting the DVD's release...but I will still hang on to my laserdisc.

Brilliant animation, pretty good satire
It's okay to like Fantasia and Allegro non troppo too. But they're not the same, which makes the satire of Disney so funny, especially after 20 years of massive Disney expansionism.

Animating music, which is inherently abstract, is always a risk. However, if you aren't too worried about everything being pretty (like in Fantasia), this film will work for you. How can you tell? If you're still dry-eyed after watching the Sibelius Walse triste sequence, there's something wrong with you.

Highly Entertaining
I'd seen this in college (about 1979?) as required for a music course. There were no Italian translations, and I mostly found it confusing. The DVD release has subtitles, and is most enjoyable. I especially found the "Best of" additional short works funny and mildly political (love/peace/green earth hippie ideals of the 1960's and 1970's). There's enough sexual content and mild nudity that I'd would suggest not for younger than 10 year olds.

Superb!
This really is a wonder to behold. The animation is breath taking and the stories are straight from the heart. Much better than Fantasia. Also, the bonus footage on the DVD is wonderful. Buy this DVD!

Video for Music Class
Allegro Non Troppo is the best animated feature I have ever seen. All the humor and pathos of music are creatively expressed in each segment. I saw this feature in college and have never forgotten it. My favorite part is the "Sad Waltz" (Valse Triste) by Sibelius. ABSOLUTELY STUNNING! I will be using parts of the movie in my music classes. The kids need something new and fresh. ... Read more

Description

For the past forty years, Jan Svankmajer (Alice, Little Otik) has been hailed as one of cinema's most consistently surprising, wildly imaginative and remarkable surrealists of our time. Utilizing a delirious combination of puppets, humans, stop-motion animation and live action, Svankmajer's films conjure up a dreamlike universe that is at once dark, macabre, witty and perversely visceral. This collection of remarkable short works pays tribute to an artist that has mesmerized audiences the world over, inspiring filmmakers from the Brothers Quay to Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam. Volume 2 includes: "Dimensions of Dialogue," "Down to the Cellar," "The Pendlum, the Pit and Hope," "Meat Love," "Flora," "The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia," "Food," BBC Documentary: "Animator of Prague", Selected Svankmajer Poems. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Interesting surreal shorts.
This is a good, but somewhat short collection at 76 min. Having seen Dimensions of Dialogue years ago on PBS I had some idea of what I was getting. Much of it is weird and some are rather difficult to understand, but still good to watch. The style of the stop-motion is unique and is even used with people. I didn't find any of the shorts to be bad and would recommend it to those who are open-minded (these certainly aren't for everyone) and have an interest in stop-motion animation. Unfortunately, a good number of shorts by Svankmajer are not included on either DVD and Image Entertainment is not planning to release them.

A great collection of incrediable films!
I've been waiting for years to get a copy of one of my favaorite Svankmajer films DOWN TO THE CELLAR. This precusor to his acclaimed Little Otik is exquisitely funny and creepy. This is a must collection for fans of both SVANKMAJER and surrealist cinema in general. The presentation of the films is excellent and the dvd is fitted with some nice extras - artwork, poems, a doc to help you get a fuller sense of SVANKMAJER as not just as an extraordinary film maker but as an artist as well. DON'T MISS THIS ONE! ... Read more

Description

Jan Svankmajer's long awaited follow up to his acclaimed "Alice" is an equally astounding version of the myth of Dr. Faustus. Merging live action with stop motion and claymation, Svankmajer has created an unsettling universe presided over by diabolic life size marionettes and haunted by skulking human messengers from hell. ... Read more

Reviews (23)

A fantasy to dream with again and again.
Wonderful blend of real-time and stop-motion storytelling by a master of the surreal. An apparently ordinary everyman is led by curiousity into a dilapidated building which turns out to be a strange cross of theatre, a puppeteer's workshop, and an alchemical laboratory. Suddenly, he finds himself becoming the legendary character Dr. Faust, selling his soul to the devil to gain magical powers.
Jan Svankmajer is the real sorcerer here and blends stage sets with real settings, seven foot puppets with live actors, and makes magic of it all.
The film has been dubbed for English audiences, but I have never seen a less obtrusive film dub. The voice performances are excellent and actually add to the surreal quality of the film.
Just one caution: This is not a "family" film. There is some adult material, so don't confuse this with Bass and Rankin style claymation.

Brilliant Avante Garde portrayal of Chris Marlowe's Faust
I have fond memories of this film in my ealier adult years, being very ripped on 'mood altering substances' and having a good ole kick back and watch of this film! It really used to bend my head! These days although making more sense in regards to a linear plot, I was somewhat dissapointed with the fact that this DVD does not offer the film in it's orginal language (Czech). Having seen the film in it's original language with English subtitles, I must say that the poorly dubbed voices, although bearing close resemblance to the original film do not give it the ambience it remember, however I'm sure than anyone watching this film for the first time in this dubbed format will throughly enjoy it!
Definately one to kick back with a Philly and a Guiness and enjoy!

jan's best!
I have yet to see jan's "lil otik" but out of all his others "faust" is by far the best of his vivid,imaginative works.new fans will want to see "alice"(his stop-motion take on alice in wonderland)first to get a real feel for his stuff.then buy "faust" if you like alice.the story is actually based off of a play,and includes live actors,string puppets,claymation,and such awesome scenery!fans of david lynch's "eraserhead" should not miss this.

pay attention...it's worth it!
This was simply the most visually and conceptually mesmerizing film I've seen in many years. It seamlessly melds the classic "Faust" story (a man selling his soul to the devil for a lifetime of earthly powers but who desperately regrets it at the end of his days) with modern-day capitalist society seen from the arresting perspective of Prague, The Czech Republic---where communism fell only recently, in 1989, and where people are still adjusting to the monumental cultural shift therein.

Even though the film is mostly silent, it's hard to take your eyes off the screen. Svankmejer is almost never predictable, and the surrealism and magic realism he infuses the film with keeps you constantly guessing what's coming next, and usually finding yourself unable to do so correctly. Much of it reminds me of "Alice in Wonderland"---you are transported into a parallel universe where all sorts of bizarre inexplicable things keep happening, it all makes no sense yet it does make sense. Of course, Svankmejer's famoust clay-mation plays a HUGE part in creating this surreal otherworld (he did the clay-mation for a couple of Peter Gabriel's videos, most famously "Sledgehamer"). After a while you simply give up and just sit back and just EXPERIENCE the film without trying to put it into any sort of predictable logical structure---which is exactly how you later start to see one emerging.

Truly, cinematic artistry of the highest order.

trip for two,please!
this movie is perfect for a big dube on a cold -20 winter night!strangely enough,I thought the "depth and pace"of this film were kind of like the big lebowski or the last tv episode of twin peaks!and as the green burns down,you'll find that you may have opened a virtual treasure chest of trippiness for all your buddies to behold!buy this movie just for the trippy factor alone. ... Read more

Description

Films included in this volume:Seasons (I. Ivanov-Vano, 1969), Ballerina on a Boat (L. Atamanov, 1969), Armoire (A. Khrjanovsky, 1970), Battle of Kerjenets (I. Ivanov-Vano and Yuri Norstein, 1971), Butterfly (A. Khrjanovsky, 1972), Island (F. Khitruk, 1973), Fox and Rabbit (Y. Norstein, 1973), Heron and Crane (Y. Norstein, 1974), Hedgehog in the Fog (Y. Norstein, 1975), Crane's Feathers (I. Garanina, 1977), Firing Range (A. Petrov, 1975), Contact (Vladimir Tarasov, 1978). ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Yup, that's Russian Animation alright.
It's Russian. It's animation. It's Russian animation!

I have no idea why I like this stuff so much, it's not the best animation I've ever seen, even considering its age. There is something different and seductive about it, though.

I think that part of the appeal is imagining a great Soviet Military/Animation complex filled with thousands of animators who 'draw or die' for Mother Russia. Complete the image with one Kommisar for each animator and you really begin to appreciate these guys!

Or maybe these were underground animators, condemmed by the state and forced to live each day in fear for their right to animate!

Either way, I like it!

My favorite segment is one called Seasons. Imagine a painfully beautiful RANKIN/BASS flick portraying all of two seasons. Two! I wait for the day I find the other 2 seasons as well because fall and winter are just gorgeous. Maybe Russia only has fall and winter.

The rest of the animation is pretty good. I recommend this if you like alternative animation or fancy yourself to be a tortured artist. If you are the latter, grab a beret, pull up an uncomfortable stool and enjoy!

"Hedgehog" will incite your IMAGINATION
If you have any love of animation at all - the artistry, the depth, the impact - the Masters of Russian Animation volumes are a MUST OWN. In this edition, Norstein's "Hedgehog in the Fog" will tickle and please your visual imagination like NOTHING else! I presented this short film to an American suburban community center audience and they were SPELLBOUND! I've owned a lot of films on DVD (and sold a lot - crazy recession), but I'll never relinquish any of the four volumes in this series. NEVER! Enjoy, with my regards. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Exquisite cacophony of images
Jan Svankmajer, whose name is almost always mentioned in the same breath as the Brothers Quay, is an animator with a deeply philosophical, psychological bent whose mode de employ is the infinite variety of the grotesque. If you appreciate Joel-Peter Whitkin's stills, you will love Svankmajers films. Objects animated are people, tubers, taxidermilogical failures, etc. Svankmayer takes a thousand separate, shocking little pieces and combines them into a sublimely shocking whole. The end product is always bafflingly surreal and so over the top as to be beatific. His filmography is made up mostly of shorts, and two other feature length films, Alice (1988) and Faust (1996), all would be worth some footwork to catch a glimpse of his intricately wrought madness.

Conspirators is a cohesive series of vignettes about obsessive-compulsive fetishists whose paths cross, in so doing sparking a series of respective erotic destinies that are fulfilled via a spiraling puzzle like path. The movie itself defines fetishism, turning the everyday object or occurrence into a meaning laden ritual; in these cases lives are compelled by a collection of huge fetish projects: the porno stand engineer who is so in love with images that he constructs a television that can be made to love him back; the mail carrier who maniacally turns loaves of bread into compact little balls that she delivers to the news anchor who feeds them to carp who live in a bucket under her desk and get her off on camera (as part of the engineer's project); her husband who hears symphonies in pursuit of junk he later constructs tools that de Sade would have cried over; and a pair of neighbors who obsess over each other's murders, whose will finds a magical way. This film is a must-see just for the exquisite detail with which the nameless protagonist constructs the piece de triumph of all fetish objects- it cannot be hinted at in less than a volume. These frames speak volumes, a wordless cacophony. Conspirators could be seen as a sort of "The Making Of" a Jan Svankmajer animation- the sympathetic voodoo magic worked by a team of discreet players so intense that genius is sparked and makes vital and gorgeous the previously inert and obscene. I'd give this film one star for each story's achievement, plus one for the opening sequence of *truly* bizarre 17th Century porno woodcuts. A must see.

Two reviewers jointly favor Czech animator.
Conspirators was spectacular in weaving its characters and their strangeness together. I couldn't wait to see what happened next. American film keeps us sadly stuck in the 1980s, bullied into accepting only computer animation because it is easy, unsupportably expensive and you can do it with a pull-down menu. Jan Svankmajer's animation is hands-on, time-intensive studio work and palpably realistic. It challenges the limitations of that generation whose imaginations were teethed on music video. Svankmajer is comical, insightful and grotesque as a children's folk tale. He is a singularly visual storyteller. If you want a taste of Svankmajer and aren't ready for an adult theme, start with Alice.

good for begginers
this one from Jan was cool,but just not quite as trippy as Faust or his collection of short film dvds,I thought.I did think it was funny though!I liked the short film "food"(included w/ the dvd)better than "conspirators of pleasure",actually-and you can get that short w/ the jan collected shorts vol. 2 dvd.I couldn't see paying $26 for this dvd, though.get alice,collected shorts 1+2,or faust before this one.those are actually more worth the money as far as I'm concerned.

Utterly brilliant . . .
This was my introduction to Svankmajer -- and I am floored, even more so because his short "Food" is on this DVD as well. Many folks assume that they have a taste for underground cinema because they (rightly) prefer "Withnail & I" to the latest Queen Latifa/Steve Martin muck, and they've seen "Man Bites Dog" a couple of times . . . but this is REALLY underground cinema. It doesn't jiggle the camera or have a shallow visual gimmick like "Waking Life" -- it is hard to exactly give the flavor of this film. None of the audio is live, it seems -- and the exaggerated foley work of hands squishing clay and rolling little balls of bread with spit and even squeezing a tube of glue all becomes decadently marvelous. As these various folk pursue their, um, completely non-traditional fetishes, no explanations are given, and no ultimate conclusion to anything. But each individual minute is precious. This isn't a film where you can say to those who dislike it, "You didn't get it." There is nothing to "get" in that sense -- but how much tactile strangeness can you delight in? I think it is a masterpiece. Give it a try. Let the rest of the public go on thinking that insipid fluff like "Lost in Translation" is independently-minded cinema. THIS is the authentic underground.

"Fringe" doesn't even begin to describe it
This movie is so weird that I don't even know what to think of it. I question whether it is a truly Surrealist film - it's certainly a very _strange_ film, but "surreal" does not mean "strange", and it's time we buried that misconception once and for all - but it will likely appeal to fans of Surrealism and other avant-garde art.

The film follows about half a dozen characters through the machinations of their utterly bizarre fetishes - a woman who gets off by stuffing bread balls up her nose, a man who delights in the texture of live fish, and - well, I'm not even going to try to describe the chicken guy. Though the characters don't always realize it, their secret pursuits are linked by a web of tangents and coincidence.

Though the characters are ostensibly pursuing _sexual_ fetishes, there is very little about this movie that seems sexual. Real fetishes usually involve playing with power or social roles, but these people just like really specific (and really strange) inanimate objects. Their perversions seem to be more about the ritual than anything else.

Though the movie is mostly live-action, there are some of Svankmajer's trademark stop-motion sequences, such as the chicken man's rampage through the forest. Also, there is zero dialogue throughout the entire film, which actually works quite well, forcing the viewer to engage the unfolding events more directly, and contributing to the overall feeling of "what the [heck]are they doing?!"

Maybe this film is just the product of sheer self-indulgence on the part of Svankmajer, but it will certainly challenge you to think. I'm giving it the median rating of 3 stars not because it's a bad film (or because it's a _good_ film), but because it doesn't even exist on that continuum. It is what it is. You'll have to see it for yourself. ... Read more

Description

An extraordinary collection of Russias most important animated short films by Russias world renowned directors and artists.Winners of the top prizes at Annecy , Cannes, Colombo, Delhi, Espinho, Grijon, Hiroshima, Huesca, Kiev, Krakow Lille, London, Mamaia, Melbourne, Moscow New York, Oberhausen, Odense, Ottawa, Stuttgart, Sydney, Tampere, Tours, Venice, and Zagreb.Presented in anthology format for the first time.As seen on Bravo and the Independent Film Channel.This DVD covers the years 1962-1968.

Fyodor Khitruk Story of One Crime 1962 20 min
Fyodor Khitruk Man in A Frame 1966 10 min
Vadim Kurchevsky My Green Crocodile 1966 10 min
Andrei Khrjanovsky There Lived Kozyavin 1966 7 min
Rasa Strautmane Mountain of Dinosaurs 1967 10 min
Yefem Gamburg Passions of Spies 1967 20 min
Andrei Khrjanovsky Glass Harmonica 1968 20 min
Nikolai Serebryakov Ball of Yarn 1968 10 min
Anatoly Petrov Singing Teacher 1968 3 min
Fyodor Khitruk Film Film Film 1968 20 min ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A forgotten era
I really enjoyed these old Soviet-era shorts. People who don't understand the millieu will probably scratch their heads and not follow a few stories too well. (Even my fourty-something wife needed a brief explanation of the mindset behind the first one.) Russian humour is also somewhat different than our Western humour.

The animation styles aren't much to get excited about. They are all some fourty years old from a studio that wasn't on the cutting edge of animation technology. However, I found a lot of artistic appeal in the simple techniqes.

While I can't give it a perfect score, I found a lot of charm and enjoyment in these shorts from a bygone culture... with a small disturbing twinge with regard to how much the shorts reflect our own modern society's attitudes and direction.

Rather inconsequential...
This release did nothing at all for me. The storylines are weak and the art is dated and mediocre. These shorts strike me as the Soviet equivalent of those crufty, ephemeral 8mm films you find at flea markets and in the storerooms of elementary school libraries. Masterworks these are not.

Da, Da, Russia!
A great anthology of animated films from a country with a rich (yet often hidden) sense of humour. The films range from the Soviet system bashing of "Man in the Frame" & "There Lived Kozyavin" to morality plays such as "Ball of Wool" and "Glass Harmonica" to the delightful silliness of "Film, Film, Film" & "The Passion of Spies". These films provide a rare glimpse into the REAL world of the Soviet Union of the sixties. A rich compilation certain to please anyone who appreciates wit & wisdom in animation. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Mother love.
'Little Otik' tells its story from two female perspectives. The first is that of a young wife who, infertile like her husband, is depressed because she is childless. Buying a rural allotment to take their minds off their plight, the husband, in a moment of apocalyptic stupidity, digs up an old root and jokingly carves it into the shape of a baby. The mother, far from laughing, transfers all her pent-up maternal feelings onto the stump, even going so far as faking a pregnancy for the neighbours, wearing specially sized cushions each month. Mrs Horakova is an adult who regresses into childhood, who replaces the intolerableness of reality with fantasy and play, make-believing motherhood just as a child plays with its dolls.

The other primary viewpoint in the film belongs to Alzbetha, whose family lives facing the Horaks in a glum Prague tenement. Her development is in the opposite direction, from child to adult. A sturdy eleven-year-old, she is becoming a sexual creature, regularly ogled by the paedophile janitor, hiding sex-education books in a volume of fairy tales, dodging the blows of a comically brutal dad who freaks out every time his little girl declaims something 'adult'. Where Mrs. Horakova tries to hide reality, Alzbetha attempts to discover knowledge - she is a detective figure reading the clues of weirdness and death being left by her neighbours. It is almost as if knowledge is too much for women to bear, though, because discovery causes her moment of regress, and she replaces Mrs. Horakova as the wood's mother, resorting to increasingly desperate tactics to feed it. Because by this atage Otik has become an enormous, insatiable child, feeding on humans to sustain itself.

Facing each other like mirror reflections, these two households offer bizarre distortions on the idea of the family unit. 'Little Otik' is filmed with an austere but grotesque realism, with a shabby, small-minded Czech milieu not so different from the dank settings of Svankmajer's Communist-era films. Huge close-ups focus in on faces expresing (usually gross) appetite, whether for food, drink, sex, reassurance, family, knowledge or love. Equal prominence is given to things, especially food, whose sticky, lumpy liquidity becomes a uteral/infant displacement in a series of provocative visual puns. There are fantasies at the beginning of the film - such as when Mr. Horak sees babies everywhere, being sold like fish at a street market, or enwombed in a watermelon - but they are clearly signalled as such, as unreal as the violently unsubtle advertising that Alzbetha's couch potato father watches, usually for products that require no human input. Svankmajer's trademark puppetry is kept to a minimum, and, except in one case, is used to express character subjectivity (the girl eyeing the bulging trousers of the paedophile; her father witnessing live nails in his soup).

That one exception is little Otik himself, who is given life by the sheer force of his mother's desire, and is sustained by the collusion of the little girl. He is created by the father, and the film adds Frankenstein/Golem/Genesis resonances to its Kafka and fairy tale structure - but it is lifeless until the mother succours it. It is the two women who make it real, who displace drab and unjust reality with an all-consuming, murderous fantasy (it is significant that 'truth' is uncovered by reference to a folk tale). Fertility distorted devours all that surrounds it. The void of denial is filled by a monster who, through appetite, literally creates absence (appropriately, his victims represent authority, bureaucratic, generational and filial). I'm sure this is an allegory of some sort for modern Czech consumerism - as in Haneke's 'The Seventh Continent', a family unit is driven to ruthless besiege isself - but the relentless allusions to the director's previous film, the dark fairy tale mirror-worlds of 'Alice' and 'Down In The Cellar' expecially, suggest that the director is once more interested in burrowing the unexplored recesses of the mind, body and imagination. The result is his most uncomfortable and funny film in years.

The Svankmajer Touch
Master Czech animator Jan Svankmajer's latest film, Little Otik, is, among other things, a continuation of his fascination with surrealism and food (read: consumption). A 30s-ish woman's complete barrenness makes her extremely despondent until one day, her husband, as a bizarre joke, uproots a tree stump, trims and shapes it to resemble something vaguely human and presents it to her. Immediately identifying it as the baby she can never really have, she takes to it at once, dressing it, talking to it and lavishing so much attention on it that eventually it responds by springing to life.

The woman's fanatic obsession with the stump--now called Otanesk (Little Otik)--is so complete that she dedicates all her time to it, at first nursing it and later, realizing that "milk and carrot soup are not enough", spending enormously to buy vast quantities of food to satiate its voracious appetite. Alas, pork, porridge, and other comestibles themselves are still not enough. The mailman disappears. A social worker suffers the same fate. What to do?

The wily next door neighbor's daughter (a precocious 11-year old) befriends the by-now gigantic stump and cares for it feeding it what it most craves until--. Well, that's enough of the plot for now. Svankmajer even creates a fairy tale to explain Little Otik's history, illustrated in the flat colorful animation characteristic of the work of early animators from long ago. But aside from these short, intermittent segments and Otanesk's thrashing, the tremendously inventive Svankmajer's forte is not much on display.

In addition, at just under a full two hours, the film is somewhat overlong, definitely in need of editing. Yet the trademark Svankmajer focus on the aforementioned food/consumption (see Conspirators of Pleasure, as well as several early short films) is here for sure, as is his obvious delight in surreal images.

This is a work for Svankmajer fans as well as those who love the surreal (with more than a dose of the grotesque). For those who prefer more conventional fare, stay clear!

Suspension of Reality
This film suspended reality for me - I was entranced - the stop-motion technique alone lends to the eery feeling little Otesanek brings to the screen. I began to understand this woman's obsession with having a child - and how she would covet this tree trunk... am I mad??? Fabulous recreation of a disturbing fairy tale.

No spoilers here...
Anyone familiar with Jan Svanky's work already knows they'll love this from the box art alone. For those who are not, however, this is the perfect entry-level Svank film; this is rather tame compared to his other works, which is the only reason I give it 4 out of 5 stars. I like my Svank on far side of surreal.
It is a modern retelling of a classic Czech folk tale, and, like many such old stories, is quite disturbing on many levels. We in the west have fallen victim to disneyfication with most of our legends, a process through whcih most of them have lost much of their meaning, and all of their flavor.
Svankmeier has recognized this unpleasant trend, and subsequently has dedicated much of his recent films towards rekindling the surreal embers of our oral memories. Though you may not be familiar with the tale of little Otik, the journey of discovering who, or what, he is and what he represents to humanity is a genuine trip, one that should not be missed. If you maintain your sanity after viewing this, then get ready because the ride has just begun. I recommend moving on to Jan's other retellings, notably Alice and Faust.

Original, witty and horrific
"Once upon a time there lived a woodcutter and his wife who longed for a little baby..." That's how so many fairytales start and in this extraordinary, disturbing and witty film the fairytale is brought to life not in some suitably fairy-tale setting (as was the case in e.g. Cocteau's "La Belle et La Bete" or Jordan's "Company of Wolves") but in a dingy block of urban flats in central Europe. Here we find the childless, no longer so young, Bozena and Karel who are both hopelessly infertile and wholly in despair. But Karel digs up an old tree stump which looks a bit like a baby, cuts it up a bit to make the resemblance closer and gives it to his wife as a rather sick joke. Immediately, to his horror, she sets about loving it. She even sets up an elaborate fake pregnancy for herself so she can present it in public as her baby - though she soon learns that, given its appearance, she can't very easily do any such thing. Then after she has "given birth", Karel returns home to find the tree stump, named Otik, has somehow become alive and is hungrily suckling at his wife's breast. He wants to cut it to pieces with an axe but she desperately prevents him and they continue to feed it. It grows rapidly bigger and bigger and hungrier and hungrier. In a wonderfully horrible scene it attacks Bozena by grabbing her hair in its teeth. Then it eats their cat. Then it eats the postman. A social worker is sent round and asks to see the baby. "Don't be afraid, I'm not going to eat him", she says. Indeed, au contraire...

The dramatic centre of the film is not any of the characters so far mentioned so much as it is Alzbetka, the little girl next door, beautifully played by Kristina Adamcova. She has a precociously strong interest in everything to do with reproduction and motherhood and assiduously reads books on sex and obstetrics hidden inside the covers of fairy tale collections to evade the notice of her stuffy and anxious father. No one is quite as interested as Alzbetka in the parental lives of Karel and Bozena and soon she is the only person really alive to what is happening next door. But rather than being afraid of the monster she now has for a neighbour her attitude to it becomes maternal and protective...

If you like monster movies and fancy checking out something a bit different this is a good place to come. Indeed it is so enormously different that it is worth checking out if you ordinarily hate monster movies but are open to anything remarkable and imaginative. It's an excellent movie, though perhaps a little bit too long for so simple a tale and the end is a little slow coming. But the first half in particular, charting the surreal nightmare of Bozena's growing madness and then the horror of the suddenly living and feeding Otik is marvellous. Svankmajer doesn't have a monster-sized Hollywood special effects budget to create Otik but he does have a distinguished history as an animator and uses animation techniques to make something magnificantly creepy and horrible. Sometimes one is reminded of the hideous infant from Lynch's "Eraserhead" but really Svankmajer's Otik is like nothing else, a hideous confusion of roots and teeth. It might give you nightmares. ... Read more

Description

Time Masters (Les Maitres du Temps) is a dazzling animated space epic from the director of the cult classic "Fantastic Planet" and the celebrated graphic artist Moebius, best known for his work on Heavy Metal magazine. Jaffar, a hero for hire, finds himself on the adventure of a lifetime as he races across the galaxy to save a young boy from a menacing evil. Can he stop the heartless Masters of Time from turning back the clock and stealing his home planet? ... Read more

Amazon.com

The 12 shorts in this collection were made at the Soyuzmultfilm Studioduring the late '80s, shortly before the collapse of the Soviet regime ended the subsidies that had financed the studio's output since its establishment in 1936. Nina Shorina's mordant stop-motion film "Door" (1986) probably ranks as the best known work in the anthology. The outré inhabitants of a crumbling apartment house go to enormous trouble getting in and out of the building without using the front door--even after a boy demonstrates that it's unlocked. "Door" satirizes the mismanaged life Soviet citizens endured for decades, but the rest of the films draw primarily on non-Russian sources for inspiration. Natasha Golovanova's charming "Boy Is a Boy" (1986) reflects the influence of British illustrator Ronald Searle; "Liberated Don Quixote" (1987) by Vadim Kurchevsky offers backgrounds that evoke the paintings of El Greco; Mikhail Aldashin and Peep Pedmanson borrowed heavily from the Hubley Studio films "Keke" (1988). While Shorina's "Alter Ego" (1989) resembles a watered-down version of the work of Czech surrealist animator Jan Svankmajer. Although many of the films are interesting and entertaining, the studio was clearly past its prime. The viewer looks in vain for the compelling personal visions of Yuri Norstein and Fyodor Khitruk, who dominated Soyuzmultfilm during its most creative period. Complete contents: 1. "Door," 2. "Boy Is a Boy," 3. "Liberated Don Quixote," 4. "Martinko," 5. "Big Underground Ball," 6."Cat and Clown," 7. "Dream," 8. "Kele," 9. "Alter Ego," 10. "Girlfriend," 11."Croak x Croak," 12. "Cat and Company." Unrated, it is suitable for ages 10 andolder for minor cartoon violence, grotesque imagery, and difficult themes. -- Charles Solomon ... Read more

Description

In four decades, Zagreb Film of Yugoslavia produced 600 animated films, winning more than 400 international awards. The studio quickly became famous for a unique animation style that became known as "the Zagreb school." One of the pioneering distinctions was that its filmmakers wrote, designed, and directed their own films, resulting in boldly entertaining cartoons unified in design, tone and message. This volume includes Be Careful What You Wish For, fourteen stories of irony, double cross, and mystery. Some are hilarious, some poignant, all memorable. The Classic Collection includes seven animated films representative of Zagreb's most unique offerings. ... Read more

Description

For the past forty years, Jan Svankmajer (Alice, Little Otik) has been hailed as one of cinema's most consistently surprising, wildly imaginative and remarkable surrealists of our time. Utilizing a delirious combination of puppets, humans, stop-motion animation and live action, Svankmajer's films conjure up a dreamlike universe that is at once dark, macabre, witty and perversely visceral. This collection of remarkable short works pays tribute to an artist that has mesmerized audiences the world over, inspiring filmmakers from the Brothers Quay to Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam. Volume 1 includes: "The Fall of the House of Usher," "A Game with Stones," "Et cetera," "Punch and July," "The Flat," "Picnic with Weissmann," "A Quiet Week in the House." ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Indispensable but uneven -- and FAR from complete
Jan Svankmajer's creepy, surreal films are unique. Though rarely gory in the usual sense, these movies have been known to disturb even the most jaded viewers, thanks largely to the disquieting use of stop-motion animation. These shorts make an excellent introduction -- or postlude -- to Svankmajer's dark feature films such as "Alice" and "Little Otik."

Svankmajer is at his best when focusing on nightmarish dream worlds: the malevolent apartment in "The Flat" or the subterranean horrors of "Down to the Cellar." When Svankmajer slips into political commentary, he becomes preachy and repetitive. "The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia" is already stale, and the dreadful "Et Cetera" is an exercise in aren't-we-clever monotony. Luckily, the lesser films don't detract from the remarkable experience of the greater ones.

One major drawback: although this pair of DVDs (sold separately) call themselves "The Collected Shorts," they are very far from complete. Favorites such as Jabberwocky and Darkness-Light-Darkness are nowhere to be found (though D-L-D is included on the DVD of "Alice"). Other works such as The Last Trick, Virile Games, The Ossuary, Leonardo's Diary, and J.S. Bach: Fantasia in G Minor have previously appeared on VHS in the US or UK, but are mysteriously absent from these DVDs. Several other missing shorts have never even had a VHS release: Historia naturae, The Garden, Don Juan, The Castle of Otranto, and Another Kind of Love. Given that these two DVDs are called "The Early Years" and "The Later Years," it does not appear that a third disc is planned -- though we can hope for "Vol. 3 - All the Other Films Not Previously Included." ... Read more

Description

An extraordinary collection of award-winning animated short films by Russia's world-renowned directors and artists. Digitally restored from 35mm materials newly printed by the National Film Archive of Russia, these are the highly personal animated short films from the Soyuzmultfilm Studio. Produced from 1979 through 1985, this volume of films, many of which received highest honors at international film festivals, are each unique, crafted artistically and intellectually. Includes: Tale of Tales, Hunt, Cabaret, Last Hunt, There Was a Dog, Travels of an Ant, Lion and Bull, Wolf and Calf, Old Stair, King's Sandwich, About Sidorov Vova.

Color - Russian - Mono - Sub: English ... Read more

Reviews (1)

GREAT WORLD OF RUSSION ANIMATION
THIS DVD CONTEINS SEVERAL FILMS THAT REPRISENTS PUSSIAN ANIMATORS. ITS VERY INTERESTING COLLECTION THAT BRINGS TO VIEWERS ALL THE SPECIFIC TEXNIKS ABILITIS AND UNIC POINT OF VIEW OF RUSSIAN ANIMATORS. ... Read more

Description

In four decades, Zagreb Film of Yugoslavia produced 600 animated films, winning more than 400 international awards. The studio quickly became famous for a unique animation style that became known as "the Zagreb school." One of the pioneering distinctions was that its filmmakers wrote, designed, and directed their own films, resulting in boldly entertaining cartoons unified in design, tone and message. "Laugh at Your Own Risk" - The Tower of Babel, Exciting Love Story, The Devil's Work, Of Holes and Corks, Learning to Walk, Home is the Best, Largo, Maxicat in Tennis/Maxicat in Rope/Maxicat in Door. "For Children Only" - Cow on the Moon, Strange Bird, Octave of Fear, Little and Big, Anna Goes to Buy Some Bread, Well Done Job, Krek, Maxicat in Ball of Yarn/Maxicat in Door/Maxicat in Fishing. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A rarely seen treat in the US is now available
I grew up watching "Pinwheel" on Nickelodeon and was thus exposed to wonderful foreign animation such as Zagreb's own "Professor Balthazar." While I don't explicitly remember any of these cartoons appearing on that show--although I think Maxicat's adventures may have--this was still a wise purchase. It is utterly fabulous to see the oft-neglected animation of Zagreb Film's talented stable of artists. I have always been amazed at how much these animators conveyed without dialogue; without language, these cartoons could find a home more easily in a multilingual world. The innovation in technique, storytelling, and themes should be required viewing for all students of animation, especially those who only have seen Hanna-Barbara and anime. A personal favorite of mine is Zlato Grgic's "Krek," a charming tale of the powerful bond between a man and his frog (think Michigan J. Frog without the singing) in the face of military oppression. A quick note to parents: just as standards of moral conduct vary from home to home, so do they from country to country. While I know some parents won't mind the very brief --only about two seconds--animated nudity, I know there are some who would and feel they should be alerted. ... Read more

Description

Fascinating, innovative animation from Eastern Europe. Like Zagreb, the Sofia Animation Studio carved its own unique niche with an original graphic style, quirky storytelling, and dark comedy. The studio's films have won many awards and prizes, and its biannual World Animation Film Festival in Varna solidified Bulgaria as an international animation center. Rembrandt Films is offering these films, all of which are appropriate for children, on video for the first time. A choice experience for the entire family. Included in this collection: The Intelligent Village, Baby Dreams at the Airport, Baby Dreams at the Automobile Factory, De Facto, Three Fools and the Automobile, Beach, Caw!, Left Right. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Take this, Rugrats!
This collection of Bulgarian animation is amusing and appropriate for kids, whichis not what can be said about most of what's on television these days.
But what does that have to do with Nickelodeon's beloved "Rugrats"? The cartoons "Baby Dreams at the Airport" and "Baby Dreams at the Automobile Factory" are wilder and funnier than what Tommy's gang gets involved with and there's no annoying Angelica to frustrate the babies' attempts to explore their world.
There's other good 'toons on this dvd - they have a group that's a cross between the 3 Stooges and the guys in "Dumb and Dumber" and that's funny. And "The Intelligent Villiage" reminds me of the old children's song "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly..." and all the humor that extends from that set-up.
So try something a little different, expand your cultural horizons and watch this - you'll find that Bulgaria has a lot to offer the world of animation.

Poor representation of Bulgarian Animation
Don't waste your time or money. Silly translation of sounds explained in English. I love "Three fools" but this was nothing that I wanted to see. It is amaizing how poor publishing and editing can trash talant. Sorry, I had my hopes too. ... Read more

Description

In four decades, Zagreb Film of Yugoslavia produced 600 animated films, winning more than 400 international awards. The studio quickly became famous for a unique animation style that became known as "the Zagreb school." One of the pioneering distinctions was that its filmmakers wrote, designed, and directed their own films, resulting in boldly entertaining cartoons unified in design, tone and message. The seven films included in this volume explore imagery and the human condition with equal parts beauty and outrageousness. Includes: Way to Your Neighbor, Satiemania, Album, Plop, The Match, Dream Doll, Mouseferatu. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

just The Best Animation I've Ever Seen
being VJ/videoartist and looking mostly for really unusual stuff, I was enormously excited by this collection volume. two films are so visually and dramatically intense, you may just get drowned in them. yet another one is _very_ funny story. and all the others will not disappoint you as well (unless of course you prefer simple linear-minded stupid cartoons)

amongst couple of dozens animation collections i have and use, this one is rated The Second (The First is french issue Animation 2000).

A great disappointment
I had high expectations for this collection, but was greatly disappointed. I am a fan of the Simpsons, Courage: The Cowardly Dog, Futurama, King of the Hill, Dexter and Doraemon. If you share my taste in animation, you might be compelled to do what I did... I got bored, had to fast foward the tape - to see if it got to something that I cared for -, couldn't finish it and when I ejected it from the VHS, it went directly to my file 13 (the garbage can). Sorry for the "artists" of Zagreb, but this collection won my "all thumbs down" award.

Excellent animation from Croatia
This video is great, if you like animation. The shorts are funny, serious, and thought provoking. Alot of the animation is superb, but alot of it is also kind of cheesy, but you get used to it. Having grown up with these movies, I am pleased to see that someone has finally released them to DVD and video. If you are really into the animation scene, or of Croatian heritage, you must definately check this out. Others, beware, it may not be your cup of tea.

Cheers. ... Read more