Eight of Ten: The Fantastic Planet

When I was a little girl, I used to disrupt ants by drawing circles around them with chalk. They would try to walk around the chalk, but because it was a circle it was never ending. It would take them a very long time to finally escape, and by then they either realized the chalk was harmless or they were so desperate to survive that they didn't have a single choice but to walk over it. I also once killed a bee with a cigarette, but that's a different story.

Yes, boys, her boobs are showing.

     La Planete Sauvage is a political tale of two sentient beings learning to coexist. The two beings are Draags, who are the massive blue humanoids who live on a strange planet (but not the Fantastic one), and Oms, as in hommes, French for "man". Oms are people. We are Oms. Oms fit into the palms of Draags, as seen in the poster to the left, and are treated as bugs that children bring home. In fact, that's exactly the life of our main human, Terr, as in terre, French for "earth." Terr will be our narrator throughout the film.
     The movie opens up with Tiva, a young Draag, who is outside playing with a female Om that she found on the ground. The Om is carrying her child. The Om is terrified, running for her life, and yet Tiva continues to push her fragile little body around, uncaring, or simply unknowing, that she is with child. Keep my story in mind, when you think about Tiva's actions. When the female Om dies, Tiva scoops up the baby and takes it home, naming him Terr. Her father tells her the same thing my mother said to me when I brought up animals: they belong outside, in the wild, but I guess we can take care of it. Like every animal I tried to save, it died over night (save for one cardinal that I raised until adulthood).
     Tiva is a lot better at caring for creatures than I was, and she raises Terr into his adult life. During this time, we learn that Oms are creatures that were found on some desolate planet that was in a pretty post-apocalyptic state, and now they are pests that must be routinely eliminated from the city borders. This is where the whole plot comes in. Terr earns his ranks amongst savage Oms, leaving Tiva behind, and the two races must learn to peacefully co-exist.

Is this how I look to wild animals?

     But where does the Fantastic Planet exist in all this? Watch to find out.
     It's very hard not to just post a bunch of pictures from this movie. I really like the animation style, for it is not bright and vibrant, but it is dull and at times, ugly. It's also a bit on the low-budget end (I mean, the movie came out in 1973) with the animation filled with seams and sharp cuts, but don't let that discourage you. On that note:

Grown-up stuff. Duh.

    I FORGOT TO MENTION SOMETHING: This movie is being remade next year. See it now, tell your friends the original was better. Your friends will think you're soooo cool.