This film practically screams 1970s from start to finish, as it has very, very loud and brassy artwork and a style that seems strongly inspired by pop art. It was very trendy for 1974, but today it might just make your eyes bleed! I remember the 70s and this film brought back a lot of unpleasant fashion memories, but that it neither here nor there.
The film features Father (Dizzy Gillespie) and Mother (Maureen Stapleton). They are supposed to be some sort of gods and they watch and make comments on mankind. At first, people are nice and they share. However, eventually human nature takes over and people begin hoarding and putting up walls. This leads to wars and pollution and the two gods debate whether to intervene or just let the humans kill each other off once and for all. Then, towards the end, the people start reaching out to each other and perhaps there is some hope after all.
The message is nice but came off to me as a bit preachy and heavy-handed. However, idealism isn't necessarily bad and my basic distrust of mankind probably comes, in part, for my work over the years. Still, I can't help but think that it's all just a bit too optimistic for my tastes. Perhaps the Institute for World Order (an ominous sounding organization that funded this, which has sense changed its name to the less threatening World Policy Institute) is right--only time will tell.
My biggest complaint about the film is the garish artwork. The quality, like most 70s animation, is poor--with low frame-counts and simplistic drawings. Also the backgrounds and some of the animation looks like it was done with a rainbow assortment of Flair pens/markers--not a particularly pleasing effect.
The film features Father (Dizzy Gillespie) and Mother (Maureen Stapleton). They are supposed to be some sort of gods and they watch and make comments on mankind. At first, people are nice and they share. However, eventually human nature takes over and people begin hoarding and putting up walls. This leads to wars and pollution and the two gods debate whether to intervene or just let the humans kill each other off once and for all. Then, towards the end, the people start reaching out to each other and perhaps there is some hope after all.
The message is nice but came off to me as a bit preachy and heavy-handed. However, idealism isn't necessarily bad and my basic distrust of mankind probably comes, in part, for my work over the years. Still, I can't help but think that it's all just a bit too optimistic for my tastes. Perhaps the Institute for World Order (an ominous sounding organization that funded this, which has sense changed its name to the less threatening World Policy Institute) is right--only time will tell.
My biggest complaint about the film is the garish artwork. The quality, like most 70s animation, is poor--with low frame-counts and simplistic drawings. Also the backgrounds and some of the animation looks like it was done with a rainbow assortment of Flair pens/markers--not a particularly pleasing effect.
