Tuesday 25 September 2012

Animalympics (1980)

Well, the London 2012 Olympics may have long since finished, but for this animated movie the Olympics keep going on forever ;-)

Animalympics, created by Lisberger Studios, was originally broadcast for NBC's summer Olympics coverage, released as two separate specials (Summer and Winter respectively). Although intended for a theatrical release, it never really found widespread fame until Warner Bros released it for home video, and in later years it saw sparing repeats on Disney Channel USA.

I haven't seen this movie since I was at least 12, but having viewed it again with fresh eyes I've come to fully appreciate every moment of this. Every carefully-timed scene, every tone in each character voice, even the psychedelic music sequences of the 80's. A fantastic parody / homage to the Olympic games, it features a variety of talent and future big-name stars;

  • For voice-acting we have Billy Crystal (Monsters Inc), Harry Shearer (The Simpsons), Gilda Radner and Michael Fremer.
  • Music and songs by Graham Gouldman.
  • Animation by, amongst many others, Brad Bird, Dan Haskett, Roger Allers, Chuck Harvey and John Norton.

It's still laugh-out-loud hilarious as ever to me, and it's little wonder why many still recall it fondly today. With great animation, fun characters and their engaging storylines, who wouldn't?

Or if you can't afford the DVD from Play.com, view it in its eternity below (while it's online).



3 comments:

  1. Animalympics is a cool warner bros movie due to animals competing for a gold medal

    ReplyDelete
  2. i love the part where a goat and puma at the end care about each other and not winning

    ReplyDelete