Fantastic Planet
La Planete Savage (known as Fantastic Planet translated into English) is a French animated sci-fi film released in 1973 and directed by Rene Laloux.
The film is about an alien race known as the Draags taking control of humanity (referred to as the “Om” in the movie) and treating them as animals, being viewed as either pets or vermin. An Om named Terr is captured by a young Draag and is kept as her pet until he flees, joining a group of rebel humans, planning to fight the Draag through stealing their technology and starting an uprising.
The animation of Fantastic Planet, like the content of the film itself, is unique. The animation of the movie looks like it was done through paper cutouts (like the animations Terry Gilliam would produce for Monty Python. The animation was done with both cutout animation and traditional full animation. The cutout parts are apparent in shots where it shows the characters talking with heads of the characters changing with everytime they open their mouths and their bodies remain stagnant. The full animation occurs when the characters are doing actions such as running or fighting. The film’s soundtrack is integral to the animation, as the movie utilizes “Mickey Mousing”, with the animation moving along with the animation. An example of which would be at the start when an Om runs up a hill and gets pushed down by a Draag’s finger, with the music escalating when the Om is running up the hill and deescalating when she gets pushed down.
The aesthetic of the film looks like it was rendered with pen and watercolor. The line art shows this using hatching for the shading on the characters and backgrounds.
The film’s setting is that of an alien planet so it shows off a bizarre world through it’s landscapes, creatures and the Draag’s culture.
