Fantastic Planet

Despite dramatic inroads in technique and production, contemporary animation is frequently devoid of philosophical, political, or metaphysical content -- precisely the manner of material so effectively exalted by this malleable medium. But in 1973, in Prague, before cartoons sold fast food and action figures, René Laloux made Fantastic Planet (Planète sauvage), winning the Special Grand Prize at Cannes and achieving instant cult status with students, stoners, and sci-fi fans. The story, multi-layered and allegory-laden, is of a race of huge blue-skinned, red-eyed beings (Draags) who have domesticated a race of tiny, pink-skinned beings (Oms). The Oms (humans, naturally) are like pets, by turns loved, tolerated, and abused by their keepers. The Draags' primary activity is meditation, and they have sex via astral projection. The Oms reproduce rapidly and are frightened of "the headphone of knowledge" the Draags use to educate their young.

Trippy, sensual, and provocative, this utopian tale is Watership Down by way of Swift and Orwell -- colored by Salvador Dalí, Jacek Yerka, and Peter Max. The flora and fauna of Laloux's world are the stuff of fevered dreams. And in a stunning new 35mm print, the film's charm and impact are far from retro -- indeed, it presages a future civilization ridiculously dependent upon technology and tragically distanced from its environment. Fantastic Planet is a surrealist dose of reality for those who have given up hallucinogens.

-- Peg Aloi