Fantastic Planet (1973)

Two Geeks and a GIT Classic Movie Reviews

We begin our "Psychedelic 70s Animation" pairing with a film from 1973, started in Czechoslovakia and completed in France, a film that took five years to finish, and which won the audience award at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival. Directed by Rene Laloux, with a score written by Alain Goraguer, this film tells the story of a planet of human-like creature known only as the Oms, who are either pets or vermin to the ruling species, the Draags. The story follows an Om named Terr (voiced by Barry Bostwick), orphaned through the unintentional cruelty of a group of adolescent Draags, who is adopted as a pet by the Draag female Tiwa (voiced by Jennifer Drake) and raised to adulthood. Terr learns the same knowledge that Tiwa is absorbing and leads a revolt amongst the Oms to try to save their species. Beautiful animation and a quality score, nevertheless not all three of the hosts were as enamoured as some, resultinng in a rather spirited discussion and some... unique comparisons!