From his directing Tom 7 Jerry cartoons (some of the oddest most memorable ones as well), to Wizards, to Lord Of The Rings, to American Pop, the guy developed a heck of a diverse resume' fro himself.
Reading the reviews here I think a lot of people are misguided as to how the animation in this film was done. This film was 99% rotoscoped (sans the backgrounds, still background characters and various environments).
While it does look really good rotscoping involves artists basically tracing over acted out sequences. Think "A Scanner Darkly", if you want to get a more modern grasp on it. So yeah, the animation is clean and smooth, but it's not necessarily "pure" animation, like a Pixar film or a Bugs Bunny cartoon. The designs of the characters, their movement and their behavior is so life-like because, well it was performed by actual people. So knowing that maybe some views you read on the animation and how perfect it is can be looked at with a grain of salt.
Anyway, the movie is entertaining and at times hypnotizing to watch. It's a great study in the era of film making and art it was done in. Films like this wouldn't be accepted by today's audiences and it's kind of a shame.
The story is entertaining enough, though for em the incredibly heavy East coast accents could have been toned down some. After an hour of it, it can become a bit of an endurance contest, and at the least distracting.
If nothing else, it's recommended viewing for the animation fan, for those who want to see the art of rotoscoping and for fans of Bakshi and his gritty form of storytelling.
Reading the reviews here I think a lot of people are misguided as to how the animation in this film was done. This film was 99% rotoscoped (sans the backgrounds, still background characters and various environments).
While it does look really good rotscoping involves artists basically tracing over acted out sequences. Think "A Scanner Darkly", if you want to get a more modern grasp on it. So yeah, the animation is clean and smooth, but it's not necessarily "pure" animation, like a Pixar film or a Bugs Bunny cartoon. The designs of the characters, their movement and their behavior is so life-like because, well it was performed by actual people. So knowing that maybe some views you read on the animation and how perfect it is can be looked at with a grain of salt.
Anyway, the movie is entertaining and at times hypnotizing to watch. It's a great study in the era of film making and art it was done in. Films like this wouldn't be accepted by today's audiences and it's kind of a shame.
The story is entertaining enough, though for em the incredibly heavy East coast accents could have been toned down some. After an hour of it, it can become a bit of an endurance contest, and at the least distracting.
If nothing else, it's recommended viewing for the animation fan, for those who want to see the art of rotoscoping and for fans of Bakshi and his gritty form of storytelling.