American Pop
1981 Directed by Ralph Bakshi
Synopsis
All those years, all those dreams, all those sons... one of them is going to be a star.
American Pop is an American animated film that film tells the story of four generations of a Russian Jewish immigrant family of musicians whose careers parallel the history of American popular music.
Popular reviews
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The epic story of how twentieth century American speech patterns grew more and more irritating with every successive generation.
I kind of wish I'd seen this before Coonskin, because the latter would have undoubtedly seemed like a breath of fresh air after this. Bakshi leans on baby boomer cliches so stale that Oliver Stone would send them back - but when his visual imagination is so strong that even the scenes we've seen a million times before look brand new.
And despite Bakshi making the kind of movie that sets a Vietnam montage to "Somebody to Love," he DOES make a couple cool song choices here. I particularly liked the appearance of a quasi-obscure live cut of "I'm Waiting For…
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Some segments were more effective than others and, unfortunately, the one that seemingly soaks up more screen time than the others was the least effective. Still, despite some visual hiccups, American Pop is a very well animated film that screams cool.
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One of my favorite films of all time, "American Pop" is the story of a long line of fathers and sons and their involvement in American popular music throughout the decades. The downsides are that the female characters are paper thin and barely there, and Bob Seger is purported to be the pinnacle of American rock music, but otherwise I think it's a really great movie that deserves to be seen and remembered. The rotoscoping really captures movement and emotion well, and the fact that the actors are actually acting on a stage instead of sitting in a recording studio reciting their lines makes a lot of difference in the quality of the performance. Many scenes are affecting and emotional, the use of color is excellent, and the artwork is fascinating.
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A fun walk through of popular music of the 20th century with with some luscious animation, would love to see this kind of idea be used again.
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I don't think I've ever seen characters so well portrayed in an animated movie, so well developed and well executed. The movie is very honest in it's representation of music culture, musicians and the consequences of their choices.
The animation is incredibly lush, vibrant and is easily my favorite of the many animated movies made in the 80s.
Recent reviews
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The epic story of how twentieth century American speech patterns grew more and more irritating with every successive generation.
I kind of wish I'd seen this before Coonskin, because the latter would have undoubtedly seemed like a breath of fresh air after this. Bakshi leans on baby boomer cliches so stale that Oliver Stone would send them back - but when his visual imagination is so strong that even the scenes we've seen a million times before look brand new.
And despite Bakshi making the kind of movie that sets a Vietnam montage to "Somebody to Love," he DOES make a couple cool song choices here. I particularly liked the appearance of a quasi-obscure live cut of "I'm Waiting For…
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Maravilla del rotoscopiado. Cuatro generaciones de músicos (frustrados o no) y su relación con la cultura, las drogas y el amor mientras, en paralelo, vemos desenvolverse la historia musical anglo del siglo XX. Ambiciosa premisa lograda por Bakshi, apoyado además en una banda sonora de clásicos que van desde Cole Porter y Sam Cooke, hasta Sex Pistols y The Doors.
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Some segments were more effective than others and, unfortunately, the one that seemingly soaks up more screen time than the others was the least effective. Still, despite some visual hiccups, American Pop is a very well animated film that screams cool.
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The film centers around One Family's multiple generations and it's Journey through the history of music.I wasn't too fond of the idea of rotoscope at first,but this film showed me how well it can be used in the right hands. This may be Ralph Bashki's best film to date.
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One of my favorite films of all time, "American Pop" is the story of a long line of fathers and sons and their involvement in American popular music throughout the decades. The downsides are that the female characters are paper thin and barely there, and Bob Seger is purported to be the pinnacle of American rock music, but otherwise I think it's a really great movie that deserves to be seen and remembered. The rotoscoping really captures movement and emotion well, and the fact that the actors are actually acting on a stage instead of sitting in a recording studio reciting their lines makes a lot of difference in the quality of the performance. Many scenes are affecting and emotional, the use of color is excellent, and the artwork is fascinating.
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A fun walk through of popular music of the 20th century with with some luscious animation, would love to see this kind of idea be used again.
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A 90 minute crash course in American history told through the legacy of one family and all of the incredible music created over 80 years.
Would love to see this get a blu-ray treatment, but due to music rights I don't see that happening. Find it on DVD through Amazon and other sources.
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I don't think I've ever seen characters so well portrayed in an animated movie, so well developed and well executed. The movie is very honest in it's representation of music culture, musicians and the consequences of their choices.
The animation is incredibly lush, vibrant and is easily my favorite of the many animated movies made in the 80s.