Some will say weird is fun for its own sake, but we say weird does not equal cinematic satisfaction. [05 Mar 1999, p.C6]
Fantastic Planet(La Planète sauvage)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
France, Czechoslovakia · 1973
Rated PG · 1h 12m
Director René Laloux
Starring Jennifer Drake, Sylvie Lenoir, Jean Topart, Jean Valmont
Genre Animation, Science Fiction
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
On the planet Ygam, the large, blue-skinned Draags rule over the small, human-like Oms. After a long history of the Draags keeping Oms as uneducated pets, a young Om boy is educated by a female Draag. With this new knowledge, an Om rebellion becomes a possibility.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
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.
Christian Science Monitor by 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]
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland 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.
Users who liked this film also liked
Antoine and Colette
(Antoine et Colette)
Will Colette ultimately fall for Antoine's romanticism?
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1962
- Director François Truffaut
- Cast Jean-Pierre Léaud, Marie-France Pisier, Rosy Varte, François Darbon, Patrick Auffay, Jean-François Adam
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Available on Criterion Channel
Solaris
(Солярис)
A psychologist must keep his mind intact as he navigates a space station full of strange visions.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Soviet Union • 1972
- Director Andrei Tarkovsky
- Cast Donatas Banionis, Natalya Bondarchuk, Jüri Järvet, Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Nikolay Grinko, Vladislav Dvorzhetsky
- Genre Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Science Fiction
- Available on Criterion Channel, TCM, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube
Nosferatu
(Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens)
A symphony of horror.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany • 1922
- Director F.W. Murnau
- Cast Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schröder, Alexander Granach, Georg H. Schnell, Ruth Landshoff
- Genre Drama, Fantasy, Horror
- Available on Screambox, Screambox Amazon Channel, Hoopla, fuboTV, FlixFling, Classix, The Film Detective, AMC+ Amazon Channel, Cultpix, Cohen Media Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kino Now, Alamo on Demand, Crackle, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, VUDU Free, Darkmatter TV, Cineverse, Redbox, Kanopy, Shout! Factory TV, Plex, Public Domain Movies, Popflick, Plex Player,
A Trip to the Moon
(Le Voyage dans la Lune)
A voyage to the beginning of narrative cinema
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1902
- Director Georges Méliès
- Cast Georges Méliès, Henri Delannoy, Bleuette Bernon, Brunnet, Depierre, Farjaut
- Genre Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Science Fiction
- Available on Criterion Channel, TCM, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Amazon Video, Public Domain Movies
Stalker
(Сталкер)
A stalker takes two men into a mysterious place in which deep seeded desires are granted.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Soviet Union • 1979
- Director Andrei Tarkovsky
- Cast Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy, Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Nikolay Grinko, Alisa Freyndlikh, Natasha Abramova, Faime Jurno
- Genre Science Fiction, Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Alamo on Demand
The Piano Teacher
(La Pianiste)
Perversion --- at its absolute best.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Austria, France, Germany • 2001
- Director Michael Haneke
- Cast Isabelle Huppert, Annie Girardot, Benoît Magimel, Susanne Lothar, Udo Samel, Anna Sigalevitch
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube
Throne of Blood
(蜘蛛巣城)
Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan ranks among his most acclaimed films.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1957
- Director Akira Kurosawa
- Cast Toshirō Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Akira Kubo, Takashi Shimura, Minoru Chiaki, Hiroshi Tachikawa
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Amazon Video
The Holy Mountain
(La montaña sagrada)
An alchemist assembles a group to replace the immortal gods at the top of Holy Mountain in this searing satirical drama.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Mexico, United States • 1973
- Director Alejandro Jodorowsky
- Cast Alejandro Jodorowsky, Horacio Salinas, Zamira Saunders, Juan Ferrara, Adriana Page, Burt Kleiner
- Genre Drama
- Available on FlixFling, IndieFlix, Alamo on Demand, Apple TV
The Triplets of Belleville
(Les Triplettes de Belleville)
A grandmother must save her grandson from the mafia.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Belgium, Canada • 2003
- Director Sylvain Chomet
- Cast Betty Bonifassi, Lina Boudreau, Michèle Caucheteux, Jean-Claude Donda, Mari-Lou Gauthier, Charles Linton
- Genre Drama, Animation, Comedy
- Available on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, DIRECTV, Google Play Movies, YouTube, AMC on Demand
Heavy Metal
A glowing orb terrorizes a young girl with a collection of stories of dark fantasy, eroticism and horror.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Canada, United States • 1981
- Director Julian Harris
- Cast Rodger Bumpass, Jackie Burroughs, Joe Flaherty, Harold Ramis, John Candy, Don Francks
- Genre Adventure, Animation, Fantasy, Music, Science Fiction
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, DIRECTV
Suspiria
Unfortunately for an American transplant, a German ballet school is home to the strange, the sinister, and the supernatural…
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1977
- Director Dario Argento
- Cast Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci, Miguel Bosé, Barbara Magnolfi
- Genre Horror
- Available on , Paramount Plus Apple TV Channel , Alamo on Demand, Tubi TV, Kanopy
Ugetsu
(雨月物語)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1953
- Director Kenji Mizoguchi
- Cast Machiko Kyō, Mitsuko Mito, Kinuyo Tanaka, Masayuki Mori, Eitarō Ozawa, Sugisaku Aoyama
- Genre Fantasy, Drama, Mystery
- Available on Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Apple TV, Amazon Video, Tubi TV, Kanopy
A Man Escaped
(Un condamné à mort s'est échappé)
During World War II, a French Resistance fighter tries to escape a Nazi prison before his execution.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 1956
- Director Robert Bresson
- Cast François Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche, Maurice Beerblock, Roland Monod, Jacques Ertaud, Jean Paul Delhumeau
- Genre Drama, Thriller, War
- Available on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Amazon Video
The Masters of Time
(Les maîtres du temps)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Switzerland, West Germany • 1982
- Director René Laloux
- Cast Sady Rebbot, Michel Elias, Monique Thierry, Yves-Marie Maurin, Jean Valmont, Frédéric Legros
- Genre Animation, Drama, Science Fiction, Mystery
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Sacrifice
(Offret)
To avert the end of the world, Alexander promises God that he'll give up everything he values in life, including his beloved son.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Sweden, France, United Kingdom • 1986
- Director Andrei Tarkovsky
- Cast Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood, Allan Edwall, Guðrún Gísladóttir, Sven Wollter, Valérie Mairesse
- Genre Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kino Now, Kanopy
Winter Light
(Nattvardsgästerna)
The pastor of a near-empty church is slowly losing his faith when a young couple approaches him needing guidance.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Sweden • 1963
- Director Ingmar Bergman
- Cast Gunnar Björnstrand, Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindblom, Max von Sydow, Allan Edwall, Kolbjörn Knudsen
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, YouTube
The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity
(人間の條件 第3部望郷篇/第4部戦雲篇)
First Sequel of an Anti-War Masterpiece
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1959
- Director Masaki Kobayashi
- Cast Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Kokinji Katsura, Jun Tatara, Michirô Minami, Kei Satō
- Genre War, Drama, History
- Available on Criterion Channel
OtherLife
A whole year in a minute
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Australia, United Arab Emirates • 2017
- Director Ben C. Lucas
- Cast Jessica De Gouw, T.J. Power, Thomas Cocquerel, Tiriel Mora, Liam Graham, Adriane Daff
- Genre Science Fiction, Crime, Mystery
- Available on Freevee, Redbox, Amazon Video, Vudu, VUDU Free, Peacock Premium, Plex, Tubi TV, Pluto TV, Darkmatter TV, Peacock, Plex Player, Cineverse, Midnight Pulp, DistroTV