Cinema: Bad Trip

Full-length cartoon features have been based on novels (Gulliver's Travels), fairy tales (Snow White), even classical music (Fantasia). Yellow Submarine may be the first to be based on a song. Recorded in 1966, the Beatles' jaunty single was jolly good nonsense that even a tune-deaf kid could sing. It was also a sly euphemism for a drug-inspired freak-out. The movie ends up as a curious case of artistic schizophrenia. The score includes several hits by the Beatles and just as many misses. The plot and the animation seem too square for hippies and...

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