Smashbomb

Yellow Submarine (1968)

1968 | Animation, Fantasy, Music

7.4

(27 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Much-loved and iconic musical animation, with the Beatles setting sail on psychedelic oceans to save the idyllic Pepperland from kill-joy blue meanies. Quite charming in its way, but if it was anyone other than the Beatles I think it would be rather less beloved, considering that the story doesn't actually have any depth and it often feels like a contractual obligation for the Fab Four - the producer suggested they were only contributing sub-standard new songs to the soundtrack (he may have had a point), while the Beatles themselves only appear in person for about a minute near the end. As Lennon said of Hey Bulldog, it's a good-sounding song that really means nothing.

That said, some brilliant individual moments and sequences, and hey, it's the Beatles, so even if the songs are impenetrable or simply nonsense, they still sound awesome. You could watch the movie with your eyes shut and still have a pretty good time. But if so, you may as well just listen to the soundtrack album.