Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

Fantastic Planet Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 4, 2016

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Rene Laloux's "La planete sauvage" a.k.a. "Fantastic Planet" (1973) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; excerpt from an archival episode of the French television show Pop deux; Florence Dauman's documentary "Laloux sauvage" (2009); archival episode of the French television show Italiques; and Rene Laloux's short films "Les temps morts" (1965) and "Les escargots" (1966). The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring an essay by critic Michael Brooke. In French or English, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The gathering

Based on Stefan Wul’s novel "Oms en serie" (Oms by the dozen), Rene Laloux’s La planete sauvage (The Savage Planet) tells the story of two alien races colliding but ultimately finding a way to coexist in an unknown galaxy.

The Draags, powerful and intelligent blue giants, are the masters of Ygam, a beautiful but dangerous planet. For years they have exploited the Oms, human-like uneducated creatures, and controlled the way they populate.

An Om called Terr, who has been used for entertainment purposes, miraculously escapes the Draags and immediately begins organizing a revolt. With the assistance of a gigantic learning device, looking like a fancy bracelet, which he has stolen from the Draags, Terr educates the savage Oms and then encourages them to unite. Sensing that the Oms might be planning a revolt, the Draags dispatch big flying machines and gas them, and most of the Oms immediately die. The ones that manage to evade the flying machines hide in an industrial wasteland far away from the Draag cities. Terr is amongst them.

Soon after that the Oms decide to build rockets and fly to Ygam’s moon, called the Strange Planet, to see if they could relocate there and live in peace. The Draags attack the Oms one more time but they escape to the Strange Planet and discover a secret that allow them to be recognized. Eventually, the Draags and Oms learn to live in peace.

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973, Laloux’s La planete sauvage is a French-Czechoslovakian co-production that was five years in the making at Prague’s Jiri Trnka Studios. In the United States, La planete sauvage was distributed by Roger Corman’s company, New World, under the alternative title Fantastic Planet.

Widely regarded as a bold statement against the Soviet invasion of the former Czechoslovakia in 1968, La planete sauvage is a film filled with symbolism and metaphors about a world divided by flawed ideologies. The Draags’ attitude towards the Oms, for instance, clearly satirizes the attitude the Soviets had towards the former members of the Eastern Bloc.

Like most of Laloux’s other films, La planete sauvage is beautifully animated. Even by today’s standards, Roland Topor’s surrealist graphics look very impressive. The dangerous Yagam, for instance, is remarkably well crafted, and populated by truly fascinating and original creatures.

Alain Goraguer’s psychedelic music score is also quite extraordinary. Blending terrific rhythms and sounds, the score is an integral part of La planete sauvage, and at times even a lot more effective than the trippy visuals.

La planete sauvage easily allows for multiple, very effective interpretations. Younger viewers will be fascinated by its compelling graphics, while older viewers will be intrigued by the depth of its story, and especially its effective criticism of different social and political subjects.

***

Criterion's upcoming Blu-ray release also features two early short films by director Laloux: Les temps morts a.k.a. Dead Times (1965) about man's fascination with killing and Death, and Les escargots a.k.a. The Snails (1966) about a farmer who has a difficult time growing lettuce and gets attacked by giant snails.

Fantastic Planet Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.67:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, René Laloux's La planete sauvage arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This new 2K digital restoration was undertaken from the 35mm original camera negative at Eclair/Groupe Ymagis by Argos Films, with the support of the CNC, under the supervision of Florence Dauman and Fabrice Blin. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from 35mm magnetic tracks and restored at Eclair/Groupe Ymagis."

There are very obvious improvements in terms of depth and density. There are plenty of examples where close-ups and larger vistas also look significantly sharper. Viewers with large screens and projectors should immediately notice that fluidity is much better as well. Contrast levels remain stable, but they do not appear significantly different from the ones that are present on the old release from Eureka Entertainment. Brightness levels are better managed. Grain is better exposed and resolved, but this should not be surprising considering the fact that a new 2K master was produced. There are no traces of problematic sharpening adjustments. Colors are lusher, but on this release there are some different primaries with expanded nuances. Some are colder nuances, but there are areas where warmer nuances are also expanded. Color stability is much better (the light color pulsations from the previous release are eliminated). With the improved saturation many sequences have much better balanced appearance (compare screencapture #27 with screencapture #14 from our review of the previous release). On the old release some sequences have warmer grading -- with obvious traces of generic pink nuances that frequently appear on older masters -- that has been reversed here. My feeling is that a few nuances could have been balanced better, but I do find the overall balance more convincing (compare screencapture #24 and screencapture #5 from our review of the previous release). General image stability is excellent. Finally, there are no distracting debris, cuts, scratches, stains, or warped frames to report in our review.

The entire restoration project was supervised by Florence Dauman (Argos Films), who produced the excellent documentary Laloux sauvage (2009) about the life and legacy of dierctor René Laloux, and director/writer Fabrice Blin, whose book Les mondes fantastiques de René Laloux: Avec des témoignages de Topor, Moebius, Caza/The Fantastic Worlds of René Laloux: With Notes from Topor, Moebius, Caza (2004) also explores in great detail the work of the French director and offers more than 300 original illustrations.

(Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Fantastic Planet Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: French LPCM 1.0 and English Dolby Digital 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

Alain Goraguer's wonderful psychedelic tracks clearly benefit the most from the lossless treatment. Now fidelity and clarity are probably as good as one can expect them to be and easily alter the atmosphere of the film. The sound effects are also crisp and always easy to identify. The dialog is stable and clean. There are no pops, audio dropouts, or digital distortions to report in our review.

Fantastic Planet Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for La planete sauvage. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 1080i).

• Roland Topor - presented here is an excerpt from an archival episode of the French television show Pop deux, directed by Marianne Lamour, in which the legendary illustrator Roland Topor discusses his work and some of the absurdities of his chosen profession. The episode was broadcast on August 25, 1973. In French, with optional English subtitles. (4 min, 1080p).

• Laloux and Topor Short Films -
  
  1. Les temps morts (1965) - Dead Times is a strange and somewhat disturbing film about man's fascination with killing and Death. In French, with optional English subtitles. (10 min, 1080i).
  
  2. Les escargots (1966) - The Snails is about a farmer who has a difficult time growing lettuce and gets attacked by giant snails. Without dialog. (12 min, 1080p).

• Laloux sauvage (2009) - a documentary film by Florence Dauman (Argos Films) exploring director Laloux's life and legacy. The film features an extensive interview with the director. In French, with optional English subtitles. (27 min, 1080i).

• Italiques: "Roland Topor" - presented here is an archival episode of the French television show Italiques, directed by Roger Boussinot, which offers an in-depth look of the work and legacy of illustrator Roland Topor. The episode was broadcast on August 8, 1974. In French, with optional English subtitles. (54 min, 1080p).

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring critic Michael Brooke's essay "Gambous Amalga".

Fantastic Planet Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

René Laloux's Fantastic Planet is rightfully regarded as one of the greatest animated films ever made. There is a political message in it that should feel dated now, but with recent developments in Ukraine and elsewhere across Europe it seems just as relevant as it was during the 1960s. Criterion's upcoming Blu-ray release is sourced from a very good new 2K restoration of the film which was completed by Argos Films in France. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.