The main idea of this animated feature was good--follow a Russian Jewish family from when they came to America in the 1920s up to 1981. Along the way use music of the time to move the story ahead. For example--the 1960s sequence had "Somebody to Love" and "People Are Strange"--70s had "Night Moves--80s had "Hell Is For Children" etc etc.
I saw this opening night at a huge theatre with the stereo sound cranked up full blast. I was just out of high school and interested in seeing an R rated cartoon. I was not impressed. The music was great BUT all the characters, situations and stories were clichés I've seen hundreds of times before. I was always one step ahead of the movie. The animation sucked--the characters just didn't move fluidly--very herky-jerky. Basically I was bored.
Also--THIS got an R rating? There's no nudity, minor violence and I think someone swears once. I heard it got it because of the ending--SPOILER AHEAD!!! It ends with the last member of the family being a drug dealer and, because of that, becomes a huge rock star. End of movie. END SPOILER!!!! Basically the MPAA thinks teenagers are idiots and would think that they would try to live that lifestyle. Let's ignore the fact that this is a CARTOON and "Hell Is For Children" is played during the drug dealing sequence. I was a teenager when I saw it and it didn't make me want to be a drug dealer. This is PG-13 today.
Regardless it's not a good movie. Poor animation, a by-the-numbers story, clichéd characters...only a good soundtrack. This movie was a bomb has (deservedly) disappeared. Not as bad as Bashki's "Cool World" but close. I give it a 4.
I saw this opening night at a huge theatre with the stereo sound cranked up full blast. I was just out of high school and interested in seeing an R rated cartoon. I was not impressed. The music was great BUT all the characters, situations and stories were clichés I've seen hundreds of times before. I was always one step ahead of the movie. The animation sucked--the characters just didn't move fluidly--very herky-jerky. Basically I was bored.
Also--THIS got an R rating? There's no nudity, minor violence and I think someone swears once. I heard it got it because of the ending--SPOILER AHEAD!!! It ends with the last member of the family being a drug dealer and, because of that, becomes a huge rock star. End of movie. END SPOILER!!!! Basically the MPAA thinks teenagers are idiots and would think that they would try to live that lifestyle. Let's ignore the fact that this is a CARTOON and "Hell Is For Children" is played during the drug dealing sequence. I was a teenager when I saw it and it didn't make me want to be a drug dealer. This is PG-13 today.
Regardless it's not a good movie. Poor animation, a by-the-numbers story, clichéd characters...only a good soundtrack. This movie was a bomb has (deservedly) disappeared. Not as bad as Bashki's "Cool World" but close. I give it a 4.