Yellow Submarine
Tags: good versus evil, cult, psychedelic, romantic

Plot synopsis:
Once upon a time or maybe twice there was an unearthly paradise called Pepperland, 80,000 leagues under the sea. Pepperland is inhabited by a group of music lovers who dwell in peace and harmony. The peace of Pepperland is threatened by an attack of the Blue Meanies, who hate all music and beauty. Their attack freezes the inhabitants of Pepperland and destroys all of their art and natural beauty. One inhabitant of Pepperland is the uniformed Fred, who is named Admiral by the Lord Mayor and sent off in Pepperland's Yellow Submarine to seek help in the surface world. Young Fred, as he is called by the ancient Lord Mayor, escapes just in time as the mayor is Bonked by the attacking Blue Meanies.(Song:Yellow Submarine) over creditsFred arrives in Liverpool, England and spies upon a lonely Ringo (Song: Elanor Rigby) and follows him home in the submarine. Ringo is made confused and nervous by the sneaky sub and fails to find help from a Bobby (policeman). Fred knocks on Ringo's door, explains the plight of Pepperland and asks him for help. Fred enters the cavernous, weird mansion labled The Pier then is picked up in Ringo's car. Ringo is sympathetic but wants to ask the others, so they start to look for Ringo's mates. They first meet the Frankenstein Monster who turns into John, the leader of the Beatles. They find George meditating atop a mountain in the next room, yet also driving in Ringo's car. "its all in the mind" explains George helpfully. Finally, Paul appears from one of the mansion's many doors from an adoring crowd. The Beatles decide to help Old Fred as they have christened him. They depart immediately aboard the Yellow Submarine.Non-animated montage of various scenes of London and the English countryside speed by, giving the illusion of flying as the submarine takes off. (The creshendo of music is from the song "A Day in the Life". )The Beatles learn the workings of the submarine from Old Fred (Song: All Together Now) as they go beneath the waves. They sail into the Sea of Time and become very young and then very old Senile Delinquents (Song: When Im Sixty Four). They leave the Sea of Time and enter the Sea of Science. (Song: Only a Northern Song).Finally they arrive in the Sea of Monsters, where a throng of bizarre creatures dwell, some of whom threaten the submarine. But disaster is always averted by the pressing of a random button. That is, until Ringo hits the Panic Button and is hurled onto the back of a galloping monster. The rest of the Beatles manage to rescue him, but soon after they are swallowed by the dreaded Vacuum Thrask. The Thrask then swallows the entire sea of monsters. The Thrask has nothing left to suck up until it notices its own tail. It sucks up the tail and disappears up its own existence. Luckily, this causes the Yellow Submarine to be thrown clear.The Submarine motor has malfunctioned and they come to rest in the blank nothingness that is Nowhere Land. The Beatles notice that there is an inhabitant here, the tiny, poetry spouting Nowhere Man. He introduces himself as Jeremy Hillary Boob, Phd. Jeremy fixes the motor and goes back to his meaningless activities. (Song: Nowhere Man) Ringo feels sorry for Jeremy and invites him aboard.They sail for a while, but the submarine conks out again. The Beatles and Jeremy get out to try and repair the ship. Jeremy fixes the screw with bubble gum, but this causes the Yellow Submarine to take off with Old Fred and leaves the rest stranded. They realize that they are in the Foothills of the Headlands. John questions the heads and meets a lady friend. (Song: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds). They realize that they must be near Pepperland since the ground is covered with pepper. The pepper causes the heads to sneeze, blowing our friends all the way to the Sea of Holes. They remember Old Fred told them that the way to Pepperland was via the Sea of Holes to the Sea of Green. They search the holes and Ringo puts a hole in his pocket. Jeremy is kidnapped by a lurking Blue Meanie while the others are searching for a way out. Finally, they find the Sea of Green and end up in Pepperland just as Old Fred arrives in the Yellow Submarine.Old Fred suggests that the Lord Mayor can be revived by music, and the Beatles hum a tune and the Lord Mayor is UnBonked. The mayor notices that the Beatles strongly resemble Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. He suggests that they disguise themselves as the band and rally the land to rebellion. Since their instruments were lost in the Sea of Monsters, they sneak past the sleeping Blue Meanies to the Bandstand where all of the musical instruments are being held.They find instruments, and band uniforms belonging to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. They hide until dawn and make their escape. They are almost caught when George steps on a bagpipe, but they escape and begin to rally and unfreeze the people of Pepperland. (Songs: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and part of A Little Help From My Friends).The Beatles then dispatch a group of giant Blue Meanies called Apple Bonkers by standing on each other's shoulders and bonking the giants and their Blue Meanie Sergeant with a huge Baldwin Apple.The Chief Blue Meanie and his henchman Max notice what is going on and dispatch the Dreadful Flying Glove to stop the Beatles. However, Glove is defeated by John as he sings (Song: All You Need is Love). Meanwhile, Ringo rescues Jeremy, who gets a boost to his confidence when he accidentally knocks out his guard with a falling apple.The Beatles then come across a giant Glass Globe, which encases the real Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. They were trapped at the start of the Blue Meanie attack by an Anti-Music Missile. They cannot open the globe until Ringo remembers that he has a hole in his pocket. He uses the hole to open the globe and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is released. The dopplegangers are greatly amused by their resemblance until the blue four-headed dog attacks.Our heroes confuse and defeat the dog by hiding in a player piano (Song: Hey Bulldog). <the Hey Bulldog sequence was omitted from the original theatrical release>Jeremy confronts the Chief Blue Meanie and defeats him by quoting poetry that causes the Chief to burst into bloom with pink flowers. The Blue Meanies all run away in confusion.The Beatles and Jeremy call on the Blue Meanies to change their ways and join them in the musical fun. The Chief Blue Meanie and Max have a change of heart and the Blue Meanies join and party with their new friends. (Song: Its All Too Much)The real Beatles (in a live action sequence) reprise their adventures. John then warns that there are newer and bluer meanies sighted near this theatre! So, the Beatles go out singing. (Reprise: All Together Now).

Review: In fact, you'd have to look hard to find a more colorful film ever made.The Beatles characters are fun, spouting a number of good puns and inside jokes concerning lyrics from some of their past songs.
"Yellow Submarine" works best as a series of loosely connected music videos that pre-date MTV by 12 years.If you grew up with MTV and you think that most music videos consist of 80's Hair-Metal bands "in concert" or rappers in hot tubs with women in bikinis, take a look at some of the musical numbers in "Yellow Submarine".You have "Only a Northern Song" which is presented with Andy Warhol style pop-art images.
Even "All Together Now", for which The Beatles themselves actually appear on screen, contains little camera tricks and quick cut edits that are common tools of more recent music videos.The two best segments in the movie, in my opinion, are "Eleanor Rigby" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".
"Eleanor Rigby" uses black and white still photos of what is apparently Liverpool rotoscoped with occasional splashes of color to illustrate the dreariness of the lives of "all the lonely people." The full-color rotoscoped images for "Lucy", such as the can-can dancing chorus line and the horse running in the field, are beautiful.If you are a fan of The Beatles, great animation, or music video, this film is for you..
The song "Hey, bulldog..." is added toward the end (A scene where the fab four meet up with a bunch of the Blue Meanies' bulldogs, and defeat them with the power of music.) The scene looks hastily slapped together,like something out  The Beatles cartoon series (which was hated by the real life Liverpool lads.
Knowing this, it is not surprising to learn that the principal artist who designed the look and feel of the "Yellow Submarine" movie, almost went blind after finishing it (he set a grueling schedule of sleeping only four hours every other night during the making of the film!
Yellow Submarine is 130,000 frames (90min x 60sec x 24 frames/sec) of classical, pop, tribute (to earlier animation styles), and original art from Da Vinci to Warhol to Picasso to Popeye to unbridled hallucination, drawn to a best-of-Python screenplay of non-sequiturs, puns, and pokes at institutions from cold-war antagonists to (governor) Reagan's paranoid National Guard deployment against counterculturists.It's a feast for the senses and sensibilities.
However I was not going to miss this very special moment having worked on the film at TV Cartoons in Dean Street all those years ago in the cutting rooms.The restored quality is truly brilliant, maybe almost too good, the odd bit of sparkle and film scratch combined with a little cel dust hide a multitude of slight imperfections on the original, but now the colours are really vibrant and the sound spot on.I was able to view this one day only big screen performance at the Curzon Cinema in Mayfair.
Although they do not appear -unless the three final minutes count-,this is my Beatles favorite film by far.Dunning 's dazzling work revolutionized the cartoons as Walt Disney did thirty years before with "SnowWhite" .I love everything happening in it:the musical world of the most influential group of all time -it will infuriate the Velvet Underground's fans but sorry ,the Beatles are second to none when it comes to influence the whole world- on the screen .I do not care if "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" was written for Julian Lennon's school friend,in the movie ,it is psychedelic fireworks.The Blue Meanies might be a nod to the Mouse House as they look like big Mickeys .The humor ,the puns and a sense of absurd ,of nonsense are true delight.It has often been mooted that the original songs were undistinguished:but "hey bulldog" is vintage Lennon and the two Harrisongs have madness going for them.Paul' s "all together now' is a good campfire song,it 's sometimes useful.George Martin's soundtrack -which was on side two of the original album and was replaced by songs included in the films (but which had already appeared on the Beatles albums )- was made with taste and respect for the audience.The yellow Submarine is dying to take you away!A splendid time is guaranteed for all!.
In reviewing this movie with my 8 yr old son, we concluded that the message of this movie is that the Blue Meanies, which personify evil, want to destroy all music and individuality and beauty, which the Beatles, who personify Good, bring back Freedom in Art and expression which is represented by color and music.
The animated montage shown during the "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" number was partly taken from the 1933 Hollywood musical "Dancing Lady" and in 2006 I saw this old film on Turner Classic Movies, instantly bringing back memories of "Yellow Submarine." The girl on the merry-go-round horse was none other than the leading actress Joan Crawford ....
But I'm not sure if I've watched Yellow Submarine since then, and this time, it just didn't click with me.The story, which initially grew out of the lyrics of Yellow Submarine before incorporating ideas from other Beatles songs, begins in Pepperland, which is supposedly located deep beneath the sea, even though nothing there appears wet or underwater.
Ringo recruits the rest of the Beatles, and they begin a series of misadventures as they work their way towards Pepperland in the Yellow Submarine to see what they can do.The animation is interesting conceptually.
Although the animation is nicely varied stylistically, it often resembles a cross between a Peter Max painting and Joan Miro's work from the late 1920s on, with elements of Roger Dean landscapes thrown in for good measure (the Dean element probably wasn't an influence but an example of synchrony unless Dean happened to work on the film some--he was in London, in art school, in 1967).Given those characteristics, it's no surprise that I love the conceptual basis.
But the visuals weren't executed well enough to work for me, so I mostly found myself doing three things: thinking "Hey, this stuff is simple enough that I can figure out some basic animation techniques by watching it", intermittently watching my DVD counter while I wondered how long the film would go on, and waiting for the next Beatles song.The Beatles songs in the film are great, of course.
While the Beatles didn't provide their voices for the movie (outside a brief cameo at the end), the voice actors did an excellent job imitating the groups' mannerisms.While it is said that the real journey is found in the travel, and not the destination, the actual trip to Pepperland takes up a huge majority of the story, providing a trip (in many senses of the word) that becomes less plot oriented and more of an animated musical showcase for the Beatles' music.
And Fred must get the help of The Beatles, Paul, John, George and Ringo, to stop the Blue Meanies once and for all!The story is simple, but the trip we're taken on throughout the movie is exceptionally wonderful.
The one thing I remember from the movie was the really strange, surreal story in which nothing made sense and my mind cracked a little.Now that said crack has expanded into a sizable fracture, I can tell you that Yellow Submarine is perhaps one of the greatest animated movies of all time.
Not only do we have the four, count em' FOUR original songs written for the movie, as well as Yellow Submarine and the greatest rendition of All You Need is Love ever recorded, but we also have renditions of Eleanor Rigby, When I'm Sixty-Four, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Nowhere Man, and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, though not necessarily in that order.Overall, I'd recommend getting into the spirit of the Beatles before watching this movie.
Still this is one of the best animated features of the 1960's.The style of cartooning is simple and vivid enough that children will like it immediately, but grown-ups will appreciate hearing Beatle-songs (eleven of them) they remember from their own youth, and savouring the many puns.
With it's great dialogue, colorful animation and the unique style of music the Beatles brought into the world, it has become one of my personal favorite films.
Yellow Submarine is a movie that even the Beattles themselves would describe it as Groovy.The story is 100% ficitonal with stuff you wouldn't find in any other animated film.In the land of pepperland, everything is peaceful and calm with music, colorful scenery, and crazy looking characters.One day from the other side of the land lives the Blue Meanies a group of blue and mischievous looking characters.
They dislike music and dislike anything besides the color blue, gray, and anything that's bad.A messenger from the mayor had to go to travel on the legendary Yellow Submarine to find 4 special musicians to defeat the forces of evil.Luckily the Beatles are just the right ones to restore peace in Pepperland.The animation in this movie is way ahead of it's time.
Moreover, if you recall the late 80s and early 90s commercials for Bubble Tape, Twizzlers, Carmello, or Skittles, you can see that those advertisements were influenced by the animation style of Yellow Submarine.I particularly love the Beatle's humorous dialogue, so subtle and spontaneous, which is not surprising, given the surrealistic atmosphere.
Of course, it's hard to take any movie where the bad guys are called Blue Meanies seriously, but that's a moot point.The music is just a big compiled bunch of The Beatles' hit songs, and many of them, such as `Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds', are just filler and don't really add anything else to it.
Overall, if watching an animated movie that was obviously made while people were on drugs, then Yellow Submarine is your best bet.My rating: 8/10Rated G..
The Beatles journey in the Yellow Submarine and on the way go through the Sea of Green, the Sea of Holes, and the Sea of Time, among other locations.My Critique: This and the magnificent "Sleeping Beauty" are almost dead even on my list of the greatest of all animated films.
The writing is both tremendously clever and terribly groan- inducing (there are too many puns the Fab Four crack to count), but there's never an unimaginative moment or line.Famously, the Beatles only allowed Yellow Submarine to be made to complete their three-movie contract with United Artists, not even contributing their own voices (the animated Beatles were instead voiced by Paul Angelis, John Clive, Geoff Hughes and an uncredited Peter Batten, who all do a brilliant job), only adding four new songs to the film.
I don't want to do this for the whole review anyway it's about The Beatles the 60's band making a movie the guys do imitation voice overs which to me is of no problem and the music score is better than some of the things out today like Rap (1 or 2 are good) anyway the plot is full of imagination and is not to be missed.
So Yellow Submarine is a movie worth your time (coming from a musical hater that says a lot)..
Though don't for a second think I mean that in a bad way  take 'Yellow Submarine' for example, the real animated feature of its age; cheerfully pacifist, and a glorious little flick that defines freakiness at its most dazzling and far-out.One of the hardest things about being the true-blue Beatles fan I am is admitting that 'Yellow Submarine' was undoubtedly the greatest movie ever made in their name (though 'A Hard Day's Night' makes for a close second).
Much like Disney's 'Fantasia', this is a different kind of animated feature to the ones you're probably used to  and the real asset of 'Yellow Submarine' comes in seeing just what they do with all those classic Beatles numbers on film.
And, while the mere concept of all those Blue Meanies, Apple Throwers and four-headed bulldogs may intimidate the more down-to-earth viewers, in terms of the values this movie stands up for it's hard not to leave 'Yellow Submarine' without feeling enlightened, like a part of you deep down just wants to dance around and sing 'All You Need is Love'  if everyone could feel that way at the same time then we'd have world peace for sure.So, there you have it  the greatest movie the Beatles never made (well, to be fair they do appear as themselves in a brief live action sequence, but that was obviously just tacked on).
Anyway again I  enjoyed it.For a animation that was made over 30 years ago it has definately stood the time ( most classics do ) Probably the best film the Beatles even done.( seen the rest ?
This is one of my favourite all time films, a trip into the psychedelic world of the Beatles with great music and not too bad a story line.
I believe that only persons who saw this film in 1968 or fans of The Beatles may like this psychedelic animation.
Yellow Submarine is a supremely entertaining and goofy movie that's not only an exercise of great visuals but also an excercise in vivid imagination, witty humor, and truly timeless songs (It's The Beatles!
Upon the film's release, not only was it both a big commercial hit and a critical darling, but to this day, many consider it to be one of the greatest animated films ever made, and I couldn't agree more.The basic plot summary revolves around the Blue Meanies terrorizing the peaceful Pepperland, causing a captain named Young Fred to recruit the Beatles to help save it.
If you're a huge fan of the Beatles, you're into the psychedelic age, or you just love animation and art house films, this film is a must watch for all of you, if not everyone in general.
My dad figured that I should see this for reference reasons, so he checked it out from the library.So I popped it in and it started out with Pepperland being overrun by Blue Meanies, so this guy(cant remember his name) goes off in search of help and comes upon this house that I assume was some kind of mod-apartment where he meets our musical heroes, The Beatles, and they go off to save Pepperland.I did not like this film, I did not dislike it either, It was just so strange.However there are some good scenes, like when they go to find George and you see him standing on top of that screen(?).
Intentionally marketed as a "head movie" (at the very height of the flower-power craze of the mid-1960s), Yellow Submarine is an animated offering, with songs, that probably comes across a helluva lot better if you're stoned.But, if you don't indulge in such mind-numbing, I mean, mind-altering activities as this, then you'll surely find yourself (like I did) at a disadvantage, feeling somewhat short-changed by this decidedly disappointing and over-hyped "Beatles" movie.Featuring some really terrible humor, a boring story-line, and flat, uninspired pop-art animation, I view Yellow Submarine as being something of a "message" movie.Even though this film's "message" is somewhat vague, one can clearly tell that Yellow Submarine was a movie intended to make The Beatles more money (which it did) by trying to deceive the viewer into believing that The Fab 4 actually cared about more than just money (which they probably didn't).This is one of those movies that just hasn't aged very well in the 46 years since its 1968 release.
To me, Yellow Submarine's story seems to be geared more to naive children, rather than to intelligent, thinking adults.One of this film's biggest downfalls was that a good number of The Beatles' songs that riddled the story (such as Eleanor Rigby, Nowhere Man, & When I'm 64) just didn't fit very well into its plot-line which focused on a crisis in Pepperland that was provoked by an all-out attack from the Blue Meanies..
"Psychedelic!" The performance ofclassic Beatle songs like "Eleanor Rigby," "Nowhere Man," "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," "All You Need is Love," "When I'm Sixty-Four," and "Sgt. Pepper'sLonely Hearts Club Band," as well as the famous title tune, bring this madcap journey through the subconscious to incredible life.
Ringo agrees and rounds up the rest of the Beatles to return to Pepperland and challenge the Blue Meanies with joy and music.It has been many years since I have seen this film so I decided to revisit it.
The Beatles don't so much as provide the voices for their animated counterparts, but "Yellow Submarine," like the music that inspired it, has not only endured but gained in stature.
And there's so much eye candy and overall fun that one readily goes back to watch it over and over again: "Look, a school of whales." "They look a little old for school.""Yellow Submarine" represented a great advance on several fronts, particularly animation (finding something kids and adults could both admire was supposed to be impossible, even at Disney) and the art of the music video.
In Yellow Submarine John,Paul,George,and Ringo try to save Pepperland from blue meanies.The animation is very well done and not slopped through.
It contains many Beatle's hits that makes the film even better.Yellow Submarine I think is a animation masterpiece.10\10.
I guess that everybody knows the story: after the music-hating Blue Meanies demolish Pepperland, Old Fred flees in a yellow submarine to find help, and he finds the Beatles.
When it finally comes time to battle the Blue Meanies, the Beatles dress up like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.The best part is of course the music.
So watch Yellow Submarine if you're a die-hard Beatles fan or if you have a love for all things 60s/70s, or even if you want some good fun.
"Yellow Submarine", "Hey Bulldog", "Eleanor Rigby", "All Together Now", "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", "All You Need Is Love", "When I'm Sixty-Four", "Nowhere Man", "Only a Northern Song"  just to name few of them.