Fantastic Planet Imagery

Have you ever wanted to see a film where the main character is human living in a strange primitive almost alien planet, where humans live in captivity only to be occasionally hunted down for sport? I know what you’re thinking but no we aren’t talking about Charlton Hesston and a planet full of angry primates. Instead we are talking about the French animated film Fantastic Planet. Produced in 1973 by French director René Laloux who would later become the President of Frances national film school. The film is based on the novel “Oms en série” and the film itself was given a limited release mostly appearing at film festivals at the time, and had received serval awards even the grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Our first scene we see a mother

The landscapes and the character design is extremely imaginative even to the most minor of characters the imagery is so creative. To most people who watch this they might think their watching a 1970s surrealist arthouse film that was inspired heavily on drugs. And in a way their right, the music composed by Alain Goraguer is a bit dated at times, and the artwork designed by Roland Topor is almost so surrealistic it’s hard to think of where the artist came up with some of these designs. However if you look past the imagery there is a real and compelling story to be told in this film. It’s a story about how we as humans treat each other as we can see in the extermination scene, how certain classes treat others thinking they are less human than they are and that it is alright to kill those who are less than human. It’s also an allegory for the treatment of animals as pets, as well can clearly see by the relationship of Terr and Tiwa. Themes that were very prominent through the world particularly at the time of the cold war. Would I recommend this film? Perhaps not for everyone but if you are looking for a creative artistic and thought provoking film. Then I would try The Fantastic