Heavy Metal (1981)

I saw the film yesterday, and I think that it was a great film! What do you think about this film and why? Discuss the film and related stuff.

My dad showed me, my brother, and two of his friends this movie a few months ago. I wasn't sure how to feel.

It was totally a film alright.

That's a cool dad.

It has not aged well in the wake of the otaku culture letting us see things far more violent and more perverted AND more mature at the same time. Hell, Bakshi did a few films before this one that were more violent and more mature, and that was like 5 years prior to this one. The only really likable character is Taarna, the animation goes from decent to downright laughable, the few adaptations it does have kinda bastardize Metal Hurlant's original versions, and the sex often feels tacked on just to show how "mature" and "edgy" the movie is.

To be fair, in the case of Captain Sternn, he had to be unlikable. That was the whole point with him.

I'm with Nostalgia Critic on this one, only the Harry Canyon segment with the taxi was remotely not wtf stuff.

I just don't understand the rest of Heavy Metal

(Necro'ing this thread because I just noticed it)

El Rey Network showed this movie a few months ago. I thought it was...interesting at the very least. Interesting in how it tried to break down the Animation Age Ghetto, and it had some great bits, and some of the segments were good, but other times it just felt like try-hard teen/frat boy stuff. I do think that it's at least worth a watch if you're an animation fan, HM has a good concept, and it would've been amazing if it became a series of animated anthology movies featuring stories from animators and writers both old and new.

Oh, and it goes without saying that the soundtrack kicks ass. Easily the best thing about the movie, and one of the best movie soundtracks ever. Definitely worth listening to.

^ Agreed. I have the movie on DVD and the soundtrack on CD. The magazine is a kind of showcase of illustrator talent, pooling sci-fi writers and headbending artists onto their pages. The film runs on the same concept: several separate studios were each given a central premise, and tasked with putting together about fifteen minutes' worth of material around it. The segments would then be stitched together into a roughly cohesive overarching storyline. It all orbits around that Loc-Nar, a kind of genie-in-the-bottle that can grant your fondest wish, but also realize your worst nightmare. The special features section on the DVD details how creative some of the studios got with their productions. If nothing else, Heavy Metal is one Troperrific animated feature.

The one thing I thought was really clever was that the Loc-Nar did himself in by existing at all points in time and space and forgetting that that means he'd also exist at the point where he was destroyed, and then he blew up in a Puff of Logic.