Fantastic Planet
- Jun 7
- 2 min read
“An eerie, surreal trip.” “A giddy buzz of arthouse weirdness.” “A fusion of Hieronymus Bosch and Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam.” These are just some of the press review quotes for the 1973 film Fantastic Planet. The words are certainly colorful and provocative. But for me, seeing and being immersed in the strange world of this sci-fi, animated classic is an experience far beyond any words to describe it. But since this is a review of that film, let me give it a shot anyway.
Directed by Rene Laloux, with production design by Roland Topor, the film is a stunning visual feast. Topor created the look of the film by drawing his simplistic, puppet-like characters on paper cutouts that were then animated on film, against mostly unchanging painted backgrounds. The result is a highly stylized, alien, avant-garde world, with minimalist animation that’s as anti-Disney as possible. Imagine a surreal mash up of Salvador Dali and pop-art images that never made it into the Beatles’ movie Yellow Submarine.
The story is set on a mysterious planet where wildly savage plants and animals behave like a predatory Greek chorus that comments on the action by killing and eating anything that moves. Two main species of creatures live in this violent place. There are the Draags—towering giants with red eyes, blue-skin and webbed ears. They’re an intelligent, highly evolved race with a devotion to meditation. The astral head trips that they take are accompanied by psychedelic visuals that helped make the film a cult favorite for the hash and LSD crowd.
The other species on the planet are called Ohms. They’re tiny, white-skinned humanoids, with low intellects. They’re dominated by the blue giants, who abuse them as pets or as disposable playthings. The life of an Ohm is one of degradation. That is, until one day, when one of them escapes with a precious artifact that holds all the knowledge that empowers the blue giants.
Fantastic Planet is as topically relevant today as it was in 1973.
As the fugitive Ohm becomes a rebel leader and unifies others in a fight for freedom, the blue giants retaliate with a plan to exterminate them. Obviously, there’s no shortage of allegories at work here. The fight for animal rights. The struggle against fascism, racial discrimination and ethnic cleansing. Fantastic Planet is as topically relevant today as it was in 1973.
Combine its somewhat bleak thematic narrative with the bold vision of its production design and the inventive prog rock music score by Alain Goraguer and Fantastic Planet is a one-of-a-kind artistic gem.
I give it four out of four stars. It’s a beloved film of my friend musician Frances Quinlan, who encouraged me to review it here. They count the music soundtrack as one of their all-time favorites!
