Fantastic Planet

Argos Films | Release Date: December 1, 1973

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

73	METASCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

Douglas Perry

Thirty-five years later, Rene Laloux's surreal animated film remains a singular psychedelic experience. For the uninitiated, think Yellow Submarine but way more arty, trippy and funky. Highly recommended. Read full review

Joshua Klein

Fantastic Planet uses an accessible medium to show the evils of propaganda and express the need for individuality. Laloux's vision of a Dali-meets-Krazy Kat alien landscape populated by twisted creatures is quite striking, even if the film's psychedelic elements haven't exactly aged well. Read full review

IndieWireZack Sharf

It’s not a hard movie to watch, but it’s a thought-provoking test about one’s capacity to push through distractions and discover what’s important. Read full review

Gary Dauphin

Although the visuals are worth the ticket alone, Fantastic Planet also crackles with emotional and political resonance. Read full review

EmpireAlan Morrison

Surreal and wonderful in a way not often seen from Europe. Read full review

Kevin Thomas

Director Rene Laloux and his co-writer, illustrator Roland Topor, in adapting Stefan Wul's science-fiction novel Oms en Serie, have created a surreal nightmare worthy of Dali, one that is filled with seemingly magical phenomena and bizarre and dangerous flora and fauna. [09 Oct 1998, p.F18]

TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh

Eerie, surreal and a welcome respite from Disney-style animation, this French sci-fi allegory may not offer any mind-blowing insights (genocide is bad isn't exactly a new thought), but it's a trip. Read full review

Carson Lund

Fantastic Planet’s blend of straightforward, almost elementary storytelling (any missing context is filled in via a voiceover by Jean Valmont as the adult Terr) with heady themes and eroticized imagery marks the film as a relic of an era with much looser standards around the dichotomy of the children’s film and the adult drama. Read full review

Noel Murray

Between the funky Alain Goraguer soundtrack, the sexy outfits, the surreal landscapes and the heavily metaphorical plot, the film still looks and sounds unlike anything else, either in animation or in sci-fi. [21 Jun 2016, p.C3]

David Sterritt

Set in an exotic world inhabited by humanoids of wildly different sizes, the fantasy reflects the interest of director Laloux and designer Roland Topor in surrealistic art. [24 Dec 1999, p.B6]

Howard Thompson

This is highly engrossing science-fiction, a French-Czechoslovak co-production in animation. Read full review

Don Druker

The film has a flat quality that cannot entirely be overcome by the sensational animation and the obvious good intentions of its creators. Read full review

Jim Sullivan

Some will say weird is fun for its own sake, but we say weird does not equal cinematic satisfaction. [05 Mar 1999, p.C6]