Forty Years Ago - Animalympics

Yeah, I’ve gone completely off-piste now. If any of you can claim that you were expecting me to pull this one out (and you’re not my sibling) then I’m afraid that I may have to accuse you of being a massive fibber and ask you to step outside.*

Animalympics (1980 - although it being 1980 is part of the story here…)
Dir. Steven Lisberger / Dur. 75 minutes
What’s It About? ZOO television network presents it’s TV coverage of the first ever animal olympic games.

Why’s It Any Good? It is entirely possible, and I’m more than happy to admit this one up front, that the “Any Goodness” of this one could well be entirely subjective. This is one of “lost films from childhood” and I mean “lost” in the sense that this was a film that we had taped off the telly on VHS for many years and, at some point, it got taped over. It wasn’t exactly a major release (having been originally commissioned as a couple of TV specials to be broadcast as an accompaniment to the US coverage of the 1980 Olympic Games, only to be bumped up to TV feature status once the US pulled out of the Games and there was suddenly a lot of very gaps in the TV schedule) so, once it had been taped over, it was some years before I was able to obtain a copy again.

There’s no real plot as such but there are a number of little subplots running throughout which all come to fruition at the end of the film. Really, it’s a more sketch-based model of filmmaking showing us various animals competing in various events. The notable things about it are the voice cast which includes Gilda Radner, Billy Crystal and Harry Shearer (of Spinal Tap and The Simpsons fame) and the number of future famous animators who worked on it - art director Roger Allers would go on to direct The Lion King (the proper first one) and animator would go on to The Simpsons before directing himself on films like The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouille (as well as branching into live action with Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol).

Is it worth a watch? If you’re interested in comedy and animation history then yes, it’s definitely worth a watch to see early work from performers like Crystal and Shearer as well as a film that would form part of the history of films like The Lion King and The Incredibles. Is it good in its own right? That I cannot tell you as it occupies that palace of youthful nostalgia which prevents me from looking at it without a sense of warm fuzziness. Still, it’s only 75 minutes, what have you got to lose?



*Of course, if the year is ever 1986, you can all put good money on Transformers: The Movie getting trotted out - the ultimate battle of good versus evil in giant transforming robot form.**

** No, not the Michael Bay ones. Nope. No, no, no. Oh deary me, no. Don’t ever bring those up again and we’ll say no more about it.