American Pop - Movie Review

Columbia Pictures - 1981

Rotoscope is rotodope!

I'mma be real with you. I didn't have the best experience with Ralph Bakshi's films at first. I was prepared to bash Baskhi for the entirety of July, starting the day after Independence Day. Here's the thing, Ralph Baskhi tells stories in animation that you don't get anymore. Adult animated films aren't really things anymore unless you count Sausage Party, and that's a flick not really worth your time, because it's more or less some stupid stoner comedy barfed out by Seth Rogan. And hey, the movie I'm talking about today didn't treat its animators like crap.

Heu heu heu heu... What if we had a movie where food smoked weed, too?

American Pop is the story of an immigrant, his life story, and the life stories of his descendants. Through 4 generations of entertainers, we get to see how music, culture, and the American life evolves. Really, if you ask me, is there anything more American than an immigrant? I don't mean to get political in this movie review, but... If you're not a Native American, and you're complaining about immigrants, you're a piece of crap.

The movie, like some other of Bakshi's films, uses rotoscope animation. Basically, you trace over live actors to get more realistic movement in animation. In some scenes, it can get a little creepy, but for the most part, it's fine. I guess. Rotoscoping isn't used too frequently, but if you ask me, it looks way better than what Cartoon Network uses to animate their shows today. I'd say the names of specific shows, but I don't want death threats sent to me.

At its heart, American Pop is a period piece, or rather several period pieces in one movie, bridged by a character aging and moving onto the next time period. The 20th century saw some of the most influential changes in American history; The Great Depression, The World Wars, jazz, rock n' roll, and so much more are shown in their appropriate times, and serve as set-pieces and plot points.

Speaking of jazz and rock n' roll, the movie uses period-appropriate music in certain scenes, and it does show how much entertainment changed over the decades, but to some hilarious results. The last main character, Pete, claims to have wrote the song Night Moves. Bob Seger's gonna cut a fool once he finds out that a heartland rock Yoshikage Kira stole his song and made money off of it.

Still, this movie is worth your time. It's got sex, it's got violence, and it's got heart. I can't really think of any other movie quite like it. It's no masterpiece, but if you ask me, it's one of Bakshi's best films. I thought I would be spending this month bashing Bakshi, but at random, I guess I picked one of the best animated movies I've seen in years.

I rate American Pop as a 7.5/10

My Final Thought: I'm gonna need to pick out something offensive and/or awful for the next review.