Truly Dreadful Film

Purely Joyful Movie!

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

I should have not seen this movie or at least not at my age. Heavy Metal is a film I have heard a bit about before I saw it. Like in that episode of South Park: Major Boobage, where Kenny gets high on cat pee and is sent to a fantasy world which parodies three of the films stories. I like that episode and I got all the references in the movie but I was not in store for all the adult stuff and naked things. I don't know it's just weird. I did find some of the scenes in the movie like the end of the Captain Sternn or too say most of the captain Sternn short especially the end. I only recommend this film too those who can handle this kind of material or who are fans of South Park or fans of the comic which spawned this movie. I never saw the comic and I didn't know there was a comic until before I saw this film.8 out of 10.

I can't imagine why this got so many low, mediocre reviews...Heavy Metal is the definitive cult classic, showcasing the sexual revolution. the animation is intentionally crude, having a nice group of scantily clad or nude women popping up all through it. If you are a healthy male, of any age, you'll love it for that alone...But if your also a fairly balanced individual, and I include women here too, you'll enjoy the weird stories woven into the movie...heck, I expect there are many women that will be aroused by the sexually suggestive aspects of the film...Did I mention this is an early animated film ?? Sure the animation is right out of a porn store comic book, and that was intentional I believe. It is supposed to arouse you both physically and emotionally...I, for one, adore it...and I'm 69 now...

I just don't get it. Maybe it was the fact that so many talented people were involved. Perhaps it was just unusual to have a major release of an animated film with this kind of content. Or maybe it just has something to do with the fact that for the first time an animated film brought about the elements of a bawdy comic book and played it out for the mentality of 13 year-old boys.Whatever the reasons for the success of 'Heavy Metal', I'm afraid I just don't get it. I see the images, I see some original writing in spots, I see the potential for a cult classic. But, for me, 'Heavy Metal' looks dated, silly, disjointed and out of all eight stories I find myself defending only two.I found 'The Legend of Tarrna' (the last one) to be a true original. Sure, it seems sexist and Tarrna is a complete male fantasy but I found it to be strikingly original in its visual imagination. She comes out of the sky riding a giant condor and carrying a sword. She walks into the bar, is hit on by three slobbering goons and you can fill in the rest. This well animated scene owes more than a little to the Clint Eastwood westerns (Did I say a little? She even squints her eyes). I caught myself smiling at this scene, that's why I liked it.I have to admit that 'So Beautiful, So Dangerous' is curiously funny. An alien spacecraft breaks into the Pentagon and kidnaps a secretary. She is kidnapped by a trio of robots, one of whom has an over-inflated libido in it's programming. I wasn't all that keen on this segment as a whole but I have to admit a certain admiration for any scene that opens with a robot and a naked woman in bed after sex and ends with the line: 'Okay, but I want a Jewish wedding'.The rest is pretty routine. I liked where 'Harry Canyan' was going but it seemed to be over before it began. 'Den', a story about a geek who gets turned into a giant blue hulk is little more than a prepubescent fantasy. 'Captain Sternn' had some fun dialogue before disintegrating into predictability. 'B-17' the disturbing story of a plane being taken over by the living dead is a matter of taste (but not mine). The framing material about a sickly green orb that tells these stories to a frightened girl is just plain baffling.'Heavy Metal' is based on a popular behind-the-counter comic book that would make Bob Guiccione blush. The movie isn't anywhere near the graphic level of that book but to fans of this movie that hardly matters. I haven't a clue what makes this film so popular. I find chunk-style movies like this lacking almost by definition. It has it's moments, it fills it's quotient of T&A and graphic violence, but I wasn't all that impressed.Ratings (out of four): 'Soft Landing'- *½; 'Grimandi' - **; 'Harry Canyan' - **½; 'Den' - **; 'Captain Sternn' - **½; 'B-17' - *; 'So Beautiful, So Dangerous' - ***; 'The Legend of Tarrna' - ***.

Animated anthology about a glowing green orb called the Loc-Nar, which is apparently pretty bad stuff. All of the stories tie back into the orb somehow. The best stories were: "Harry Canyon" about a cabbie in futuristic New York who becomes involved with a sexy woman on the run from bad guys, "Den" about a nerdy teenager who is transformed into a muscular hero, and "Taarna" about a silver-haired big-breasted beautiful savior out to save her planet from an army of zombies. The rest of the stories are all okay, although I liked "Captain Sternn" the least. That's about a guy named Captain Sternn put on trial for his crimes where one of the witnesses turns into a monster. Anyway, they're all watchable. Some of them were adapted from stories from Heavy Metal magazine. The animation is crude at times but there's certainly a lot of imagination put into it. The story doesn't always make a lot of sense either but it's still very interesting and fun. The music is great. It's obviously for adults, not kids. It's good if you enjoy fantasy stuff and can manage to not take it all so seriously.