B Plus Movies

Animation is for kids in America. This is accepted as common wisdom. In the 1980’s, however, there was a brief period where film makers tried out the “cartoons for adults”. The movie Heavy Metal came out of this period and went on to be a cult classic. Hollywood tried a few more films and apparently decided they’d stick to flesh and blood actors. Fortunately, before they were done, they gave us Rock n’ Rule.

Rock N’ Rule tells the tale of a group of mutant animals living in a dark future trying to make a living playing rock and roll. We meet Omar, the hotheaded guitarist; Angel, who plays keyboard and is a songwriter in her own right, and lastly Dizzy and Stretch, the comic relief rhythm section duo.The band gets courted by an aging super-rocker named Mok (unrepentantly fashioned on Mick Jagger) who wants to raise a demon to punish a world that has let him slip into obscurity. For that he needs Angel, her voice matching a sort of sonic key to finish his summoning ritual. She gets kidnapped and the rest of the band has to find her, save her and along the way keep the dream of rock and roll stardom alive.

If this film were released today, it would have a slew of merchandising. There would be a soundtrack album, Guitar Hero: Rock N’ Rule, plush toys and music videos. Alas, it came out in 1983 with weak backing by it’s studio and was a commercial flop. Contracts and business decisions kept it in relative obscurity, occasionally appearing on Cinemax at 3am, but recently it became available on DVD.

By 21st century standards, the animation is passable but the pace of the film is entirely too slow. There also seems to be some question if this was to be a kids film (which it looks like) or for adults (which is more how it’s scripted). They give us cute buffoonish characters one second then follow it with themes of drug use and devil worship the next.

Despite it’s target audience schizophrenia, there is a very, very good reason to watch this movie: the music. The singing was done by Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Debbie Harry and Cheap Trick. Rock N’ Rule was made with the idea that the music would work with the pictures rather than just be a backdrop and the climactic sequence, which takes place at massive stadium concert (of course) still sends chills down my spine with the way the sounds sync with the imagery.

In 1983, I’d have given this movie a B+, but now I can only give it a C. Still, I am proud to say when Unearthed Films released this on two disc special edition, I was on the pre-order list. Rock n’ Rule is a little dated, but definately worth the time to watch and even more to listen.

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