Fantastic Planet

Fantastic Planet (French: La Planète sauvage, lit. The Wild Planet) is a 1973 cutout stop-motion science-fiction film directed by Rene Laloux. The film was an international production between France and Czechoslovakia and was distributed in the United States by Roger Corman. The film is based on a novel written by Stefan Wul called Oms en serie. The film depicts a future where human beings are creatures on the home-planet of the Draags. Basically, the Draags are an alien species with a similar structure to humans, (See the Cover?) but are actually one-hundred times larger than they are, and they also live much longer as well.

In this planet, the humans are seen as nothing more than pests and are exterminated periodically. However, humans are kept domestically as pets as well. A group of the alien children accidentally kill a woman while they are playing, and leave a small infant as an orphan. The baby is taken as a pet, with a collar and everything, and is given to an alien child named Tiva. It’s eventually discovered that the human’s reproduce at a rampant rate, and basically, everything else, I’ll leave you with. I think this is a film that really needs to be seen to be truly appreciated. 

The film is in French, which is fantastic if you speak it, but if not, subtitles will be necessary. Or, you may be able to find a dubbed version online. (You’ll be able to.)

I remember whenever I found this movie, I don’t remember where, I think I was simply looking up movies for the Science-Fiction month that I have been doing. I didn’t know what to expect. I thought that it looked enjoyable. It looked like a cool-story, but delving too far out-there didn’t turn out so well when I watched Star Knight. 

However, … I think this is an incredible film.

The animation looks really bizarre, and looks really inspired. It’s also one of the only films that I have seen which actually has nudity, and doesn’t actually draw attention to it. It’s just there, … because it would be there. The music is also eerie at times, and really, it’s actually kind-of a disturbing film. It’s disturbing in a different way than what one might usually expect. There isn’t blood pouring allover the streets, or anything like that, but it’s the idea.

When you think about a mother being killed and a child crawling around as an orphan, completely lost in the world and confused. Most people will feel bad about it. Of course, they will, and rightfully so, but how many squished bugs when they were little? We didn’t feel bad, and in this film, that’s how the aliens look at a small child. And it’s disturbing to see a baby wearing a collar that hurts it, or humans being stomped out like they are nothing. However, the way that they do it is so thought-provoking. 

I would recommend it full-heartedly. I think it’s different. And I don’t think it’s something that could have been done as well any other way. Admittedly, it is the kind-of film that I enjoyed in-retrospect than while watching, but I think there is something to say for it. It’s just a really interesting little film, and it is only seventy-two minutes, so if you get time to go look for it online, or if you are really, really lucky to find it at a store, or somewhere. I would say check it out.

Thanks for reading, guys!