Pros: Mostly the animation and music; glad I saw this curiosity
Cons: It is just plain weird
5 Reviews
Plain Weird
sramsdell30009 May 2019
The title stays true
jacob-pruitt12 August 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Rock Odyssey cannot be read into anything but what it is, an odyssey in rock. We follow a supernatural woman named Laura, a powerful being who has fallen from the stars to the middle of the United States during the mid fifties. There, she meets Billy, a greaser type character. They fall in love, run into complications, and eventually break up before marriage. We watch this story through a series of scenes synced to music from the era, in a psychedelic mess of memories and dreamlike sequences. We do this over and over again, to the 60s, to the 70s, and ending in the 80s. The film goes over ideas of the draft for Vietnam, PTSD, drug abuse, the loss of a loved one, and finding a job, in the most unique and insane way possible. It's hard to tell what Hanna Barbera had planned for this film, it doesn't fit anything they produced before, during, or after. But be that as it may, I feel though it may be hokey and just a complete mess to watch, it get's a lot more hate than it deserves. Laura's life through the latter half of the 20th century is reflected in the world changing around her while she herself doesn't age. Her love interests disappear, die, or fade away entirely. Yet somehow, even when she returns home, she's able to be with them anyway. With this morph between the souls. It's odd, and I still don't know what audience this was really aimed for. It doesn't match the feel or any Saturday morning cartoon or Ralph Bakshi film of the era, it's something completely different. In short, watch it if you enjoy the weird and the forgotten. Don't expect to be blown away, but give it a chance.
Was This a Movie or a Drug Trip?!
geatornez8210 July 2010
Warning: Spoilers
I was curious to find out more information about this movie after I had bought a video tape on Ebay titled "HBTV" (which was a compilation of Hanna-Barbera cartoon scenes set to popular music, much like the Disney Channel's DTV's of the 1980's). It was during their take on the song "Somebody's Watching Me" where I saw a clip that I didn't recognize, and my sister found out the clip was from the movie, "Rock Odyssey" (where she managed to find out, I'll never know, but I digress).
I learned this movie was never released in the United States because of graphic imagery, especially during a segment involving the Vietnam War and the sixties. I wanted to see this movie to see if it really *was* that graphic, or if it would be considered tame by today's standards (the movie was originally made in between 1981 and 1982). Well, I finally got to see the movie, and I can tell you, I wasted seventy-two minutes of my time with it (that's how long it was).
This movie was REALLY hard to follow. The basic gist of the show is a mysterious woman named Laura goes on a search through four decades to find her true love. Sounds simple enough, but really, it isn't. There's no dialog, except for these little bits introducing a decade by a talking jukebox (voiced by Scatman Crothers). The rest of the movie was just set to re-recordings of rock and roll songs. The movie is very surreal. There's a scene during the 1950's segment where the needle on a record player turns into a monster, and some pink liquid spilling out the windows morphs into snakes. I swear, the more I watched, the more I was thinking, "ok, what the HECK is going on here?!" It was easy to get lost in this plot.
I also have to nitpick over the addition the producers made when getting this thing set for a 1987 release. They added a "Character Parade" set to "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" in order to bring the movie up to date. I read the "parade" was to feature some of HB's characters like Yogi Bear, the Flintstones, the Jetsons, etc. I was expecting something like that to be at the very end of the film, just before or during ending credits or something. And new footage. What we got was an HBTV video. Clips of pre-existing footage set to the song. The clips were from the movies "A Man Called Flintstone" and "Hey There It's Yogi Bear," an episode of the Jetsons "My Date with Jet Screamer," and footage of a lesser known cartoon called "The Cattanooga Cats" (how that happened, I'll never know). And they just stuck it in after "Laura" pushed a button on some computer or another.
As for the graphic imagery regarding the 1960's segment, I found it wasn't as bad as I thought. It was just . . . . . trippy (then again, this *was* the 60's . . . . .) Really, it was way weird. Cops had flashing siren lights for heads, "Laura" turned into a mermaid briefly, her 60's love had a fish for a head at one point, and suddenly, they just popped back to normal. There were points where it looked like her boyfriend was losing his mind after this stern looking guy bangs on the door (and when the door opens, he's a skeleton) and hands the guy a piece of paper. It said "Death Certificate," but my guess is it was a draft notice, and it would appear that the guy went crazy. He started imagining everything was turning into guns, and at one point "Laura" hopped on a bus, ate a donut, and her hand turned into a rabbit, and flew out of her arm, then a plane flew out of her arm before her hand returned.
The whole movie looked like one serious drug trip in my opinion.
I learned this movie was never released in the United States because of graphic imagery, especially during a segment involving the Vietnam War and the sixties. I wanted to see this movie to see if it really *was* that graphic, or if it would be considered tame by today's standards (the movie was originally made in between 1981 and 1982). Well, I finally got to see the movie, and I can tell you, I wasted seventy-two minutes of my time with it (that's how long it was).
This movie was REALLY hard to follow. The basic gist of the show is a mysterious woman named Laura goes on a search through four decades to find her true love. Sounds simple enough, but really, it isn't. There's no dialog, except for these little bits introducing a decade by a talking jukebox (voiced by Scatman Crothers). The rest of the movie was just set to re-recordings of rock and roll songs. The movie is very surreal. There's a scene during the 1950's segment where the needle on a record player turns into a monster, and some pink liquid spilling out the windows morphs into snakes. I swear, the more I watched, the more I was thinking, "ok, what the HECK is going on here?!" It was easy to get lost in this plot.
I also have to nitpick over the addition the producers made when getting this thing set for a 1987 release. They added a "Character Parade" set to "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" in order to bring the movie up to date. I read the "parade" was to feature some of HB's characters like Yogi Bear, the Flintstones, the Jetsons, etc. I was expecting something like that to be at the very end of the film, just before or during ending credits or something. And new footage. What we got was an HBTV video. Clips of pre-existing footage set to the song. The clips were from the movies "A Man Called Flintstone" and "Hey There It's Yogi Bear," an episode of the Jetsons "My Date with Jet Screamer," and footage of a lesser known cartoon called "The Cattanooga Cats" (how that happened, I'll never know). And they just stuck it in after "Laura" pushed a button on some computer or another.
As for the graphic imagery regarding the 1960's segment, I found it wasn't as bad as I thought. It was just . . . . . trippy (then again, this *was* the 60's . . . . .) Really, it was way weird. Cops had flashing siren lights for heads, "Laura" turned into a mermaid briefly, her 60's love had a fish for a head at one point, and suddenly, they just popped back to normal. There were points where it looked like her boyfriend was losing his mind after this stern looking guy bangs on the door (and when the door opens, he's a skeleton) and hands the guy a piece of paper. It said "Death Certificate," but my guess is it was a draft notice, and it would appear that the guy went crazy. He started imagining everything was turning into guns, and at one point "Laura" hopped on a bus, ate a donut, and her hand turned into a rabbit, and flew out of her arm, then a plane flew out of her arm before her hand returned.
The whole movie looked like one serious drug trip in my opinion.
I got a headache after watching this
john_gormican10 October 2009
This is quite easy to review. If you‘ve ever see Josie & the Pussycats (cartoons) where in the middle of the story there’s a musical montage, usually involving a chase, then think of that for about the duration of the movie & viola that’s it.
At the end you even get to see a parade of characters such as Fred Flintstone Yogi Bear George Jetson & so on. guess this was the re-tooled version I saw.
It's supposed to be a musical story, starting from the 50s, there’s a reference to Elvis then some songs, these are not the original recordings, rather someone else’s interpretations. most of the animation involves a guy & girl running away from sth, or perhaps it’s a comment on what you should do if you ever see a copy of this movie. There are some attempts to generalize drug use that seem childish & trite & some more running away.
There are some truly bizarre moments in the movie, especially to the Beatles "yesterday". (WOW! The storyboard to this must have been crazy) & soon after that a lobster tries, & fails to repair an outboard engine (never let a lobster near an engine, it will always end badly) avoid this one at all costs. plz
At the end you even get to see a parade of characters such as Fred Flintstone Yogi Bear George Jetson & so on. guess this was the re-tooled version I saw.
It's supposed to be a musical story, starting from the 50s, there’s a reference to Elvis then some songs, these are not the original recordings, rather someone else’s interpretations. most of the animation involves a guy & girl running away from sth, or perhaps it’s a comment on what you should do if you ever see a copy of this movie. There are some attempts to generalize drug use that seem childish & trite & some more running away.
There are some truly bizarre moments in the movie, especially to the Beatles "yesterday". (WOW! The storyboard to this must have been crazy) & soon after that a lobster tries, & fails to repair an outboard engine (never let a lobster near an engine, it will always end badly) avoid this one at all costs. plz
Watch it for once the art. Watch it twice for the plot
davsherm9 May 2024
Warning: Spoilers
For anyone who wants to begin to understand this ambitious animation project, I recommend you first watch the movie "Heavy Metal" (1981). Rock Odyssey follows a similar theme, and is presented similar.
Rock Odyssey is not a straightforward narrative but instead a series of four vignettes, with a rather contrived framing story.
The four vignettes feature the four decades of Rock music since its inception: 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, 1980's.
Each vignette shares the zeitgeist of that decade.
Analysis:
This movie is definitely front loaded, and runs out of steam as it goes on.
Its plain to see that, in production, the Rock music songs were chosen first, and then the vignette narrative storyboarded around, inspired by the lyrics.
This is not the first time such an ambitious idea has been produced in film. Walt Disney's Fantasia endeavored similarly to take existing music and animate a narrative to it. And it also failed at the box office. In comparison "Heavy Metal" (1980) has also 4 vignettes + framing device (similar to this movie Rock Odyssey) but it's obvious in that case the narratives were storyboarded first, and then Rock Music added. Both these do it better than Rock Odyssey.
This movie appears to have been produced in filming order.
The first Vignette, 1950s seems to have the most storyboarding and is the most fleshed out. If you've seen George Lucas' "American Graffiti," and "Grease" you will appreciate the Hot Rods, Car Hops, Girls, and Drive In Movies celebrated here. The final bit features a 1950's prom, which you will appreciate if you've seen "Back to the Future." All the music choices are solid, if you like any of the aforementioned movies or 1950's in general.
The second Vignette, 1960's San Francisco, presents the themes expected. But Forest Gump did this decade better, and with better music choices. The narrative is looser, and here we see the first bit of "throw it in," with the "healthy tooth" bit, which looks like a leftover from an unaired school special. It has nothing to do with anything. Its a "throw it in" The vignette decays into a chase scene that goes on too long due to the length of a buffalo springfield song. The last bit quickly visualized "The Electric Cool Aid Acid Test" complete with bus "Further" but with a bad Jimi Hendrix cover.
At this point (42:00/1:26:00) I was an exhausted viewer. You may feel similar fatigue. This is also the part, where the wheels begin to fall off.
The third vignette, 1970's is dull and tells a timeless tale that really doesnt have anything to do with the 1970s: A sailor and his love. This is couched in a "Greenpeace, save the Whales", framing device, that is dispensed with quickly in this vignette. Indeed, most of the animation is a character sitting in a life raft, not doing too much, as mostly unknown 1970s music plays on. In consideration of the one hit wonders on the recently released "Guardians of the Galaxy" albums, this is was an opportunity lost to the producers. At the very least, they should featured "Brandy" by Elliot Lurie, for its nautical theme.
The fourth vignette, 1980's is a homage to the movie "9 to 5" (1980) with a character similar to Jane Fonda's stumbling around a "modern" office. This vignette is celebrating the women liberation movement and entry into the professional office workforce. But again, "9 to 5" presents this topic better. This vignette is also thematically weakened, as a related bit on the women's liberation movement is featured at the end of the 1970s vignette. Which, of course has nothing to do with its other nautical theme. The narrative would be stronger if they put both women's stories together. They didn't, and the movie suffers as a result. The music choices? I cant even remember. Certainly unremarkable. Another opportunity lost for Rock Odessy.
Finally, the movie has a contrived ending fitting the contrived framing story of love, similar again to "Heavy Metal" (1980). They could have left it off honestly. I give the producers credit for wrapping up the loose ends.
The Rundown:
Pros: The animation is quite good and some of the special effects are quite advanced for the early 80s. The foreground character art is nicely detailed, the secondary characters animated more simply (ala Disney) and the backgrounds in some places are quite detailed. If you watch this movie for its animation and watch it carefully, you will see and appreciate the art.
Cons: The Music choices get less fun as the movie goes on. All are cover bands, and as expected, the first vignette 1950s has the best music.
The story vignettes get looser and more off topic compared to the songs and lyrics as they progress.
Feel free to turn off the movie when you've enjoyed enough music and art. It does NOT get better as run time progresses. It just declines until it fizzles out.
In Summary: Watch only for the Art, or as a curiosity. Enjoy the music as an afterthought. "Heavy Metal" (1980) is a superior choice in the genre.
Overall Recommendation; 4/10.
Rock Odyssey is not a straightforward narrative but instead a series of four vignettes, with a rather contrived framing story.
The four vignettes feature the four decades of Rock music since its inception: 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, 1980's.
Each vignette shares the zeitgeist of that decade.
Analysis:
This movie is definitely front loaded, and runs out of steam as it goes on.
Its plain to see that, in production, the Rock music songs were chosen first, and then the vignette narrative storyboarded around, inspired by the lyrics.
This is not the first time such an ambitious idea has been produced in film. Walt Disney's Fantasia endeavored similarly to take existing music and animate a narrative to it. And it also failed at the box office. In comparison "Heavy Metal" (1980) has also 4 vignettes + framing device (similar to this movie Rock Odyssey) but it's obvious in that case the narratives were storyboarded first, and then Rock Music added. Both these do it better than Rock Odyssey.
This movie appears to have been produced in filming order.
The first Vignette, 1950s seems to have the most storyboarding and is the most fleshed out. If you've seen George Lucas' "American Graffiti," and "Grease" you will appreciate the Hot Rods, Car Hops, Girls, and Drive In Movies celebrated here. The final bit features a 1950's prom, which you will appreciate if you've seen "Back to the Future." All the music choices are solid, if you like any of the aforementioned movies or 1950's in general.
The second Vignette, 1960's San Francisco, presents the themes expected. But Forest Gump did this decade better, and with better music choices. The narrative is looser, and here we see the first bit of "throw it in," with the "healthy tooth" bit, which looks like a leftover from an unaired school special. It has nothing to do with anything. Its a "throw it in" The vignette decays into a chase scene that goes on too long due to the length of a buffalo springfield song. The last bit quickly visualized "The Electric Cool Aid Acid Test" complete with bus "Further" but with a bad Jimi Hendrix cover.
At this point (42:00/1:26:00) I was an exhausted viewer. You may feel similar fatigue. This is also the part, where the wheels begin to fall off.
The third vignette, 1970's is dull and tells a timeless tale that really doesnt have anything to do with the 1970s: A sailor and his love. This is couched in a "Greenpeace, save the Whales", framing device, that is dispensed with quickly in this vignette. Indeed, most of the animation is a character sitting in a life raft, not doing too much, as mostly unknown 1970s music plays on. In consideration of the one hit wonders on the recently released "Guardians of the Galaxy" albums, this is was an opportunity lost to the producers. At the very least, they should featured "Brandy" by Elliot Lurie, for its nautical theme.
The fourth vignette, 1980's is a homage to the movie "9 to 5" (1980) with a character similar to Jane Fonda's stumbling around a "modern" office. This vignette is celebrating the women liberation movement and entry into the professional office workforce. But again, "9 to 5" presents this topic better. This vignette is also thematically weakened, as a related bit on the women's liberation movement is featured at the end of the 1970s vignette. Which, of course has nothing to do with its other nautical theme. The narrative would be stronger if they put both women's stories together. They didn't, and the movie suffers as a result. The music choices? I cant even remember. Certainly unremarkable. Another opportunity lost for Rock Odessy.
Finally, the movie has a contrived ending fitting the contrived framing story of love, similar again to "Heavy Metal" (1980). They could have left it off honestly. I give the producers credit for wrapping up the loose ends.
The Rundown:
Pros: The animation is quite good and some of the special effects are quite advanced for the early 80s. The foreground character art is nicely detailed, the secondary characters animated more simply (ala Disney) and the backgrounds in some places are quite detailed. If you watch this movie for its animation and watch it carefully, you will see and appreciate the art.
Cons: The Music choices get less fun as the movie goes on. All are cover bands, and as expected, the first vignette 1950s has the best music.
The story vignettes get looser and more off topic compared to the songs and lyrics as they progress.
Feel free to turn off the movie when you've enjoyed enough music and art. It does NOT get better as run time progresses. It just declines until it fizzles out.
In Summary: Watch only for the Art, or as a curiosity. Enjoy the music as an afterthought. "Heavy Metal" (1980) is a superior choice in the genre.
Overall Recommendation; 4/10.
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