By today’s standards, “Yellow Submarine” might not be considered an outstanding animated movie. What it did, however, in 1968 was to inspire a new generation of interest in animation.
And seen today, now in re-release nationwide to celebrate the 50th anniversary, it still keeps its charm.
“Before “Yellow Submarine,” animation was a mild, goody-goody world of personality-free gloved mice and cartoon bears stealing picnic baskets,” wrote Josh Weinstein in the Guardian. “How the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine gave rise to modern animation,”
“Without Yellow Submarine,” he wrote, “there would never have been The Simpsons, no Futurama, no South Park, no Toy Story, no Shrek. No animated anything that enables us to laugh at ourselves while being highly entertained.”
Comedy is an important element in this movie. Unlike other animated filmsat that time, “Yellow Submarine” did not make us laugh by using exaggerated body language and slapstick, but by humorous dialogue , such as:
“Hey, I wonder what’ll happen if I pull this lever.”
“Oh, you mustn’t do that now. ”
“Can’t help it. I’m a born ‘Liverpooler.’ ”
The soundtrack contains six songs from the Beatles, and the orchestral part was written by the band’s music producer, George Martin. It forms the development of the plot (such as it is; there was never a completed script, according to the Guardian story) and succeeds at keeping the audience involved. The moment when the (real) Beatles starts to play “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” is the climax of the movie.
As an animated film, visual arts and graphic design play an integral role. The now-iconic sign of LOVE and KNOW in Pepperland showcase the artistic flair that has continued to influence designers today: the image of the characters,
Although the Beatles did not voice their own characters — the voice-over actors imitated George, Ringo, John and Paul, and the actor Paul Angelis voiced both Ringo and Chief Blue Meanie — but it works.
The film is fast-paced 90 minutes, and it was rare to see an animated film that long in the 1960s.
But it works — even today.