Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

La Planète Sauvage Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 3, 2010

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 British distributors Eureka Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include Rene Laloux's short films "Les dents du singe" (1960); "Les temps morts" (1965); "Les escargots" (1966); "Comment Wang-Fo fut sauve" (1987); and "La prisonniere" (1988); Florence Dauman's documentary film "Laloux sauvage" (2003); and legendary jazz pianist Alain Goraguer's entire soundtrack. In French and English, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

A Draag and his pet

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.

Note: This Blu-ray disc also contains five short films by director Laloux: Les dents du singe a.k.a. Monkey’s Teeth (1960), Les temps morts a.k.a. Dead Times (1965), Les escargots a.k.a. The Snails (1965), Comment Wang-Fo fut sauve a.k.a. How Wang-Fo Was Saved (1987), and La prisonniere a.k.a. The Captive (1988). Only two of these short films appear on Eureka Entertainment's DVD release of La planete sauvage.

La Planète Sauvage Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Rene Laloux's La planete sauvage arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Eureka Entertainment.

This is a strong high-definition transfer. Generally speaking, detail is very pleasing and contrast levels a lot more convincing than I expected them to be. The color-scheme is also dramatically improved - blues, yellows, greens, browns and blacks look fresh and stable. Heavy banding and artifacting are not a serious issue of concern. This being said, there are a few scenes in the film where some extremely minor color pulsations are noticeable. Occasionally, light noise is also easy to spot. Overall, however, the image quality is very strong, and I feel comfortable stating that La planete sauvage has never before looked this good. (Note: This is a Region-B Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

La Planète Sauvage Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. For the record, Eureka Entertainment have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

The French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track is solid. Its dynamic amplitude is surprisingly good - the ambient effects and Alain Goraguer's psychedelic soundtrack sound great. The dialog is crisp, clean, stable and very easy to follow. There are no audio dropouts, pops, or cracks to report in this review either.

In addition to the original French audio track, Eureka Entertainment have also provided an English DTS-HA Master Audio 2.0 dub track (apparently, an American dub track). The dubbing is rather good, but I must point that the translation is quite loose. Additionally, the optional English subtitles do not match the dubbing.

La Planète Sauvage Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Soundtrack - Eureka Entertainment have included legendary jazz pianist Alain Goraguer's entire soundtrack:

1. Déshominisation II
2. Déshominisation I
3. Générique
4. Le Bracelet
5. Terr et Tiwa
6. Maquillage de Tiwa
7. Course de Ten
8. Ten et Médor
9. Ten et Tiwa dorment
10. Ten est assomé
11. Abite
12. Conseil des Draags
13. Les hommes - La Grande co-existence
14. La femme
15. Mira et Ten
16. Mort de Draag
17. L' Oiseau
18. La Cité des hommes libres
19. Attaque des robots
20. La longue marche - Valse des statues
21. Les fusées
22. Générique
23. Strip tease
24. Méditation des enfants
25. La vieille meurt

Les dents du singe (1960) - Monkey's Teeth was director Laloux's first film, and it is about a man who decides to visit a dentist. In French, with optional English subtitles. (14 min).

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).

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).

Comment Wang-Fo fut sauve (1987) - How Wang-Fo Was Saved is about a famous painter who gets punished for his art. In French, with optional English subtitles. (15 min).

La prisonniere (1988) - The Captive is about two orphans who escape from a mysterious city. In French, with optional English subtitles. (7 min).

Laloux sauvage (2009) - a documentary film by Florence Dauman exploring director Laloux's life and legacy. In French, with optional English subtitles. (27 min).

La Planète Sauvage Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

British distributors Eureka Entertainment have put together a terrific package for Rene Laloux's mesmerizing La planete sauvage. As a bonus, the distributors have also included five short films by Laloux, only two of which appear on their old DVD release. I really enjoyed La prisonniere, which is just as good as La planete sauvage. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.