Heavy Metal (1981)

[Starbeast]

 

[Dave]

I'd say nice soundtrack, pity about the animation.

 

[Starbeast]

I'd say nice soundtrack, pity about the animation.

I really like the different animation styles from all of the artists involved, it was a combination of early computer graphics and hand drawn images. The artwork and stories were taken right out of the magazine Heavy Metal, the same artists collaborated to make the film.

The voice actors: Richard Romanus, (the late great) John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Don Francks, Eugene Levy, Harold Ramis & (the late great) John Vernon​

HEAVY METAL is still my favorite soundtrack​

 

[Mladen]

This movie should have been a LOT better considering the source material. Instead of cheeky and satirical, it came across as puerile and cheap.

never saw the sequel, but wasn't there talks of a third animated film recently? With some high-profile animation directors attached?

And yes, that soundtrack is EPIC. I cherish my vinyl copy

 

[BAYLOR]

This film really hasn't aged all that well. The animation which was state of the art in 1981 , looks very dated. However , I still like the Taarna sequence.

The Sequel film had good animation , but the story was not that great.

 

[Ignited Moth]

This film really hasn't aged all that well. The animation which was state of the art in 1981 , looks very dated. However , I still like the Taarna sequence.

The Sequel film had good animation , but the story was not that great.

I think I'll always enjoy this film. I'm sure good ol' nostalgia has something to do with it since I watched this right along with The Lion King and All Dogs Go to Heaven as a kid. (Yeahhh, my parents were never really big on censorship.)
The WWII bomber part always used to really creep me out. I thought Taarna and her winged companion were awesome.
As for the sequel, I agree 100% about the story not being that great.

 

[Frost Giant]

This is an old favorite of mine as well. Music was great and the animation was probably as good as it got for 1981. The sequel from 2000 was disappointing. That being said, I wouldn't be opposed to a remake (with the original soundtrack) provided they used animators like Genndy Tartakovsky or Peter Chung.

 

[BAYLOR]

I think I'll always enjoy this film. I'm sure good ol' nostalgia has something to do with it since I watched this right along with The Lion King and All Dogs Go to Heaven as a kid. (Yeahhh, my parents were never really big on censorship.)
The WWII bomber part always used to really creep me out. I thought Taarna and her winged companion were awesome.
As for the sequel, I agree 100% about the story not being that great.

Two films you might find of Interest

They recently did a Captain Harlock CGI feature film Space Pirate Captain Harlock It out on DVD and its a superb film .

Also

War of The Worlds Goliath This film is a steampunk sequel to H G Wells novel. Its about 15 years after Martians lost. Mn like Dr Nicola Tesla have reverse engineered Martian Technology so now the world military has walker battle machines with Heatrays and Giant super Air battleships and fleet of air planes armed with heat rays. The Martiand have come back to have another go at earth this time our bacteria no longer affect them and thye

 

[Ignited Moth]

Two films you might find of Interest

They recently did a Captain Harlock CGI feature film Space Pirate Captain Harlock It out on DVD and its a superb film .

Also

War of The Worlds Goliath This film is a steampunk sequel to H G Wells novel. Its about 15 years after Martians lost. Mn like Dr Nicola Tesla have reverse engineered Martian Technology so now the world military has walker battle machines with Heatrays and Giant super Air battleships and fleet of air planes armed with heat rays. The Martiand have come back to have another go at earth this time our bacteria no longer affect them and thye

Oh, cool! Thanks a lot for the recommendations. Both seem like they would be interesting.

 

[RX-79G]

It appears they used a fairly low frame rate, which is part of why the animation looks choppy and poor. 1978 Watership Down is much better animation, so I wouldn't call it state of the art.

 

[BAYLOR]

Now that I think about it , one could also make the argument that Japanese Anime was the state of the art in that era and still it . In terms animation and overall story telling they've done things that put many live action films to shame.

 

[RX-79G]

Now that I think about it , one could also make the argument that Japanese Anime was the state of the art in that era and still it . In terms animation and overall story telling they've done things that put many live action films to shame.

You could, but anime of that era still wasn't the smoothest, most pleasant animation to come along. Disney, Warner Bros, the Hobbit, Watership Down and other features were smooth, elegant and still look great today. Anime with traditional cell animation didn't really peak until the mid to late '80s. But there definitely is some anime contemporaneous to Heavy Metal that was nicer.

 

[Galactic Journey]

Macross set the animation bar in 1982.

I always liked Heavy Metal and couldn't understand everyone being so down on the animation. My daughter, who is a Gen Z'er, likes it a lot, too, so it's definitely not lost to the ages.