6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
FRITZ THE CAT is an exceptionally imaginative, X-rated animated feature film, loosely based on R. Crumb's underground comic character. It's a world where black people are crows, cops are pigs, rabbis are lions, and cats--like New York University student Fritz are substituted for guilt-ridden white guys who want to be poets but mainly smoke pot and engage in group sex. After a drug bust by a couple of bumbling pigs makes him an outlaw, Fritz sets fire to his NYU dorm and hits the road in search of self-discovery. The crazy cat steals a car, starts a race riot in Harlem, and ends up stuck outside San Francisco with a group of sadistic revolutionaries led by a junkie biker rabbit. Throughout these adventures, Fritz's pot-addled self-righteousness gradually gives way to a deeper understanding of life, but perhaps too late to extract himself from a terrorist plot.
Starring: Rosetta LeNoire, John McCurry, Skip Hinnant, Ralph BakshiAnimation | 100% |
Dark humor | 2% |
Comic book | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
“Fritz the Cat” was originally created by Robert Crumb in 1965, serving as a way for the artist to release some creative wiggles with decidedly raunchy work that couldn’t find a place in the mainstream. For the 1972 film adaptation, Crumb’s vision finds a proper guardian in director Ralph Bakshi, another artist interested in challenging audiences, using Crumb’s universe to launch what would become an interestingly unwieldy directorial career. With “Fritz the Cat,” Bakshi searches for a way to bring adult activities to animation, looking to shake the kiddie reputation of the medium with an X- rated adventure around New York City, following the eponymous feline as he indulges his obsessions with sex, drugs, and troublemaking during the counterculture years of the 1960s.
The AVC encoded image (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation for "Fritz the Cat" provides a clear look at the animated artistry of the feature, which was created on a low budget. The viewing experience permits study of technique and creative choices, and frame detail is open for survey, with the production adding lots of information on signage and interior decoration. Colors are appreciable, securing brighter primaries on clothing, from the deep blues of the police uniforms to Fritz's red sweater. Urban tours are also filled with satisfactory hues. Source is in decent shape with a few points of damage, and some lengthier scratches are detected.
The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix secures the carnival-like atmosphere of "Fritz the Cat," offering decent dialogue exchanges which make use of free- flowing conversations. Music is appreciable, exploring different genres with passable instrumentation and volume.
"Fritz the Cat" is messy and probably hasn't aged well for some viewers. It's not a feature that works without some form of preparation, as Bakshi doesn't exactly welcome outsiders to this bizarre world of hedonism and mischief. The picture has its place in film history, with its X-ratedness and substantial box office take changing animation in the 1970s, giving Bakshi inspiration to experiment in wild ways. Perhaps that's the best way to approach the endeavor, which is certainly a curious creative offering, but not terribly compelling.
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